Andrew Ravens Tue, October 27, 2026 at 4:04 PM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sammy Smith won two NASCAR races at Talladega Superspeedway in less than 24 hours. Both came on last-lap passes.
Smith won Friday's Truck Series race in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports . He passed Ty Majeski and Corey Heim in the final seconds for his first career Truck win, in his 11th start.
On Saturday, he won the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race in the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports . He passed teammate Carson Kvapil on the final lap to win again, less than a day after his Truck victory. The race ran Saturday afternoon, the day before the Cup Series' YellaWood 500.
It was Smith's fourth career O'Reilly Series win and his second at Talladega, after his October 2024 victory there. It also ended a winless streak of more than 50 races, which dated to his April 2025 win at Rockingham.
Only three other drivers have won two national-series races at Talladega on the same weekend.
The last was Dale Earnhardt Jr. in April 2003, when he won the Busch Series race on Saturday and the Cup race on Sunday. Earnhardt now co-owns JR Motorsports, the team Smith drives for in the O'Reilly Series.
Earnhardt's 2003 Cup win was part of a run of four straight Talladega victories. He held off Kevin Harvick after a three-wide pass for the lead.
His father, Dale Earnhardt, swept both races at Talladega in July 1993. He held off Michael Waltrip late in the Busch race, then beat Ernie Irvan by 0.005 seconds in the Cup race the next day. The elder Earnhardt holds the record for Cup wins at the track with 10.
Irvan was the first to do it. He won the first O'Reilly Series race ever held at Talladega, passing Earnhardt at the white flag. He then held off Sterling Marlin to win the Cup race the next day.
Motorsport.com also reported that Smith is the first driver without a full-time Cup ride to win two national-series races on the same weekend since Greg Biffle at Phoenix in 2001.
The weekend capped a busy few months for Smith. JR Motorsports announced in August that he would not return to the No. 8 in 2027, after his third season with the team.
Motorsport.com reported that Smith has signed with TRICON Garage for 2027, which would move him to the Truck Series full time.
Smith, 22, is from Johnston, Iowa, and is one of the young drivers working his way up NASCAR's motorsports ladder.
Source: Sports
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