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Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he was happy for Sammy Smith after his last-lap win at Talladega Superspeedway, but would rather have seen one of JR Motorsports‘ championship contenders get the points. “Both can exist,” he said.
Earnhardt, a co-owner of JR Motorsports, made the comments on his Dale Jr. Download podcast.
Dale Jr.: ‘Both can exist’
Smith passed JRM teammate Carson Kvapil on the last lap of Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race to win by 0.084 seconds. Kvapil had led 67 of the 94 laps, including 31 of the last 32.
“Sammy makes the move and wins the race. I would have rather the one or the seven to have gotten the bonus points,” Earnhardt said. “That can be true while also I can be happy that Sammy won the race. Both can exist.”
Kvapil drives the No. 1 and Justin Allgaier the No. 7, and both are still in the title fight. Earnhardt acknowledged that Kvapil might have thrown a hard block if Smith had stayed behind him, which could have wrecked both cars.
A team plan for the Chase
Earnhardt said JRM went into Talladega with set roles for each driver based on where they stood in the Chase. “Everybody’s going to have a specific role, and that will be determined by where you are in the Chase,” he said.
He said Smith and Rajah Caruth were asked to help Allgaier and Kvapil and that both gave up chances to make their own moves during the race so their teammates could collect stage points. Allgaier won Stage 2.
Smith said after the race that the plan was to “get the 1, 7 and 17 good stage points,” including Hendrick Motorsports’ Corey Day in the No. 17.
What the win meant for Smith
The win ended a 53-race winless streak in the series for Smith and completed a Talladega sweep, a day after his first career Truck Series win, as Pit This Time reported. He is leaving JRM after this season to race full time in the Truck Series in 2027.
The O’Reilly title fight
Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing leads Allgaier by 19 points with two races left. Allgaier cut his deficit from 36 points at Talladega. Corey Day is 29 back, Sheldon Creed 50 back and Kvapil 59 back. Smith is seventh, 108 back.
The O’Reilly Series races next in the National Debt Relief 250 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, on Saturday, October 31, at 4 p.m. ET on The CW, and ends its season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 7.
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