Sammy Smith Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service  MARTINSVILLE, Va. – At the end of Saturday’s chaotic Dead on Tools 250, Justin Allgaier rescued his season with an improbable victory that earned the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet a berth in the Nov. 4 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway. Allgaier’s Camaro crossed the finish line glued to the side of Sheldon Creed’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, scoring his first win at Martinsville, his fourth of the season and the 23rd of his career  byRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Sam Mayer claimed his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series oval-race victory in the second half of a NASCAR double-header at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday in the Contender Boats 300 after holding off last week’s race winner Riley Herbst by a mere .227-second. It marks the JR Motorsports driver Mayer’s fourth series victory of the season – and his career – most important for Mayer – who joked he didn’t breath the final four laps – it is his ticket into the Championship 4 finale that will decideRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Texas – John Hunter Nemechek made the winning pass with seven laps remaining in Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway to punch his ticket to the next round of the series Playoffs and increase his series-best and career-best single season total to seven victories. His No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led only 38 of the day’s 200 laps, but managed to get around Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman and race off to a 1.005-secondRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – On an ambivalent night for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier took advantage of a brilliant strategic call by crew chief Jim Pohlman to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the first event in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.  Charging from 13th after restart on Lap 257 of 300, Allgaier passed Daniel Hemric for the lead on Lap 288 and pulled away to win by 1.695 seconds, securing a spot in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs.  AllgaierRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Austin Hill survived an early race pit road speeding penalty, gambled on fuel strategy and prevailed in an incredible wheel-to-wheel run to the checkered flag in overtime to claim his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season in the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway on Saturday.  As important as the victory for the 29-year old Georgia-native his good day combined with an uncharacteristic disappointing day for his closest rivals in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings gave him aRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. – John Hunter Nemechek completed the first back-to-back victory effort of his career convincingly winning Saturday’s Ambetter Health 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to answer a big victory last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway too.  Nemechek held off rookie Chandler Smith by .424-second on an overtime restart, leading a race best 137 laps in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and becoming the winningest driver in the series this season with four victories – upping hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CHICAGO — Drenching rain and standing water on the Chicago Street Course forced NASCAR to declare Cole Custer the winner of The Loop 121 NASCAR Xfinity Series race three laps short of halfway and five laps short of the completion of Stage 2.  Custer had led all 25 laps of NASCAR’s first-ever street course race before lightning strikes in the area on Saturday caused NASCAR to red flag the race and then to postpone completion until Sunday morning. But the rain persisted, forcing NASCAR’sRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service SONOMA, Calif. – Aric Almirola knew Sonoma Raceway is a track that wouldn’t make him look like a “wanker.” Far from it. Holding off the dominant car of Kyle Larson—until Larson made a critical mistake—and then outrunning road course ace AJ Allmendinger over the final laps, Almirola won Saturday’s DoorDash 250 at the 1.99-mile road course. The victory was Almirola’s fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his first since 2017, when he won at Talladega for owner Fred Biagi. The win also was the first-everRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service CONCORD, N.C. – Saving fuel throughout a 66-lap green-flag run to the finish, Justin Allgaier collected his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season—and the first this year for JR Motorsports—in Monday’s twice-rain-delayed Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Allgaier, the pole winner, beat runner-up John Hunter Nemechek to the finish line by 7.829 seconds, as the top three finishers—including third-place Cole Custer—stretched their fuel mileage from a Lap 135 restart to the end of the race. Austin Hill and Ty Gibbs,Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DOVER, Del. – Of all the places for Ryan Truex to absolutely turn in a career day, the 31-year-old led a dominating 124 of the 200 laps at his hometown Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. He swept both stage wins and ultimately took the checkered flag an impressive 4.8-seconds ahead of the field to claim his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s A-GAME 200.  It was such a big day for the 31-year-old who has raced in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series – primarily part-timeRead More