Resilient Sammy Smith Expands Playoff Cut Line Buffer

Sammy Smith in action Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

HAMPTON, Ga. – Sammy Smith was on a mission to avoid disaster and have a solid points day, and that’s exactly what transpired during Saturday’s Focused Health 250.

In what was an eventful afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which profiles like a superspeedway after its 2022 reconfiguration, the reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie-of-the-year put forth a resilient effort to improve his position in the playoff standings with two races left in the regular season.

The 20-year-old qualified his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet in 19th, but struggled to keep up with the lead pack in stage one, describing his car as “sketchy.”

Smith only gained one position in the first 40 laps, leaving him as the only JR Motorsports driver without stage points, especially considering Justin Allgaier earned his 14th stage win of the year at that point.

In an attempt to make up track position, Smith opted to stay on track while a majority of the lead-lap cars surrendered their positions for service. It wound up being the correct decision, as Smith restarted the second stage in the runner-up spot and stabilized there until teammate Sam Mayer brought out a caution with two to go in the segment.

Though it was bad luck for Mayer, it was a net positive for Smith, netting him nine critical stage points in his continued pursuit of an Xfinity Series playoff berth.

Things got dicey in the final segment for the Johnston, Iowa native, but he was able to persevere on more than one occasion.

First, during pit stops at the second stage break, the No. 8 crew held their driver for a 17-second pit stop – in an effort to pack as much fuel in the car as possible – and he wound up restarting fourth.

Then, another caution flew nine laps later, in which Smith pitted yet again to mitigate any concerns of a fuel-mileage finish with 60 to go.

After restarting 30th, Smith tagged the wall trying to evade a car that was trailing up the track. Fortunately, there was no damage to his Chevrolet – just some lettering rubbed off the right-rear tire – and he surged his way back up to 20th by time the next yellow flew just six laps later.

Unable to gain any ground on track, Smith was able to stay out of harm’s way back in 17th and benefit immensely from a caution with 19 to go, as teammate Allgaier got caught up in a wreck involving Cole Custer, Taylor Gray, Riley Herbst and Ryan Sieg while challenging for second.

Entering the third-to-last race of the regular season, Smith was only 10 points to the good over Sieg as the 12th-ranked driver in contention for the playoffs. After jumping into the top 10 with 13 laps left, he hung on for a seventh-place finish and extended his lead over the playoff cut line to 44 points.

“It was a good day overall,” Smith said after the race. “We kind of helped our (points) margin there, and going into these last two weeks, I feel good with the tracks that are coming. So, it was a good day overall.

“We brought a fast car. Just were missing a little bit, I think, but overall [it was] a good day.”

Since the Olympic break, Smith has recorded three top 10s, including two fifth-place finishes, in his last four starts. A 23rd-place run at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway was the only outlier.

But after scoring his maiden victory for Joe Gibbs Racing last year at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway, Smith is still searching for his first triumph since joining JRM. He’d prefer to get it done over his next two starts, in order to officially lock himself into a second consecutive postseason berth.

Smith and the rest of the Xfinity Series field head next to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International for the running of the Mission 200 at the Glen.

Broadcast coverage is slated for Saturday, Sept. 14 at 3 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.