Happy Hour Racing race recaps break down what actually decided the race, in plain language, for fans who watched it and for fans who missed it.
The Short Version
Sammy Smith won the Love's RV Stop 225, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, on Friday, October 23, 2026. It was his first Truck Series win in only his 11th start, and it came in overtime by 0.091 seconds after he was still running third coming off Turn 4 on the final lap. The day also had a seven-truck wreck that ended Tony Stewart's race, a rookie third-place finish, and a championship leader who gave the win away by moving too early.
How Sammy Smith Won It on the Last Lap
A wreck on lap 80 involving Thomas Annunziata, Grant Enfinger and Kaden Honeycutt sent the race to overtime. The scheduled distance was 85 laps. They ran 86.
On that final lap, Ty Majeski and Honeycutt went side by side for the lead down the frontstretch. That is the oldest mistake at Talladega. Two trucks fighting each other slow each other down, and the line behind them keeps its momentum. Smith was third in that line in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Tyler Ankrum got to Smith's bumper and shoved, and the two of them cleared both leaders before the stripe.
Smith beat Ankrum by 0.091 seconds. Ankrum then beat Austin Green by 0.002 seconds for second. Majeski settled for fourth and Honeycutt for fifth, which is a brutal way to lose a race you were leading with half a lap to go.
Honeycutt owned it afterward. "I should have stayed onto Majeski a little bit longer and made my move a little bit later," he said. "Once he side-drafted me, it pulled me back." Smith kept it simple about his truck and his crew, crediting crew chief Brian Pattie and the Spire group, and said the truck was fast and the team put him in the right spot.
The timing was almost too neat. Hours before the race, Smith announced he will run the Truck Series full time in 2027 in the No. 15 TRICON Garage Toyota. Then he went out and won in somebody else's truck.
The Lap 17 Wreck That Ended Seven Days
The first stage ended under the biggest wreck of the day. On lap 17, Stewart Friesen got loose in Turns 1 and 2, took contact from behind from Andres Perez De Lara, and slid left into Kris Wright. Wright shot across the track and hit the outside wall hard. The pile that followed collected Tony Stewart, Corey LaJoie, Daniel Hemric, Cole Butcher and Cleetus McFarland.
NASCAR red-flagged the race on lap 19 for just over ten minutes to clean it up. Seven trucks never ran another lap: Friesen, Perez De Lara, Wright, LaJoie, Stewart, Hemric and McFarland.
Stewart, who was making his second Truck start of the season at 55 years old, was checked and released from the infield care center. His take was about what you would expect from a three-time Cup champion. "It's just a racing deal," he told FS1. "It's part of it at restrictor plate races." McFarland, the YouTube builder turned part-time racer making his third Truck start, got sideways trying to go low under the mess and put his No. 4 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet into the inside wall. He blamed himself for it.
Strategy at Talladega Is Really Just Survival
Superspeedway strategy is not about tire wear. It is about where you are sitting when the caution comes out, and this race had five of them for 26 laps. Three different trucks took the free pass back onto the lead lap, and two of them, Chandler Smith and Corey Heim, used it twice.
Christian Eckes is the clearest example of how fast it can go wrong. His No. 91 McAnally Hilgemann Chevrolet had multiple flat tires and a hard hit on the frontstretch wall. He lost laps for repairs, clawed one back with a free pass, and still only salvaged 21st.
The other side of that coin is the trucks that started deep and simply stayed clean. Brenden Queen rolled off 36th and last, and finished seventh. Landen Lewis started 30th and finished sixth. Spencer Boyd started 32nd and finished ninth. At Talladega, patience and a straight nose are worth more than qualifying speed.
The Numbers Behind the Race
Fifteen different drivers led a lap. The lead changed 32 times in 86 laps. Smith led 21 of them, more than anyone, and Austin Green led 14 in his first career Truck Series start before finishing third. Ty Majeski won the pole at 177.389 mph. Giovanni Ruggiero took Stage 1 and Tanner Gray took Stage 2, and neither of them was anywhere near the front at the end.
Who Is Hot and Who Is Not
Hot. Sammy Smith, obviously, with a first win and a full-time ride already lined up for 2027. Tyler Ankrum, whose second place moved him from tenth to ninth in the Chase. Austin Green, who led 14 laps and finished third in a Truck Series debut, which almost nobody does. Brenden Queen, for turning the last starting spot into a top ten.
Not. Kaden Honeycutt still leads, but he lost a race he had won. Christian Eckes lost real ground with a 21st. Giovanni Ruggiero won a stage and finished 25th. Grant Enfinger finished 24th and sits last among the ten Chase drivers with two races to go.
The Chase Picture With Two Races Left
Honeycutt leaves Talladega with 2,371 points and a 43-point cushion on Layne Riggs, who finished eighth and sits on 2,328. After that it gets tight and a little academic. Majeski is third on 2,230, Chandler Smith is fourth on 2,229, and Eckes is fifth on 2,227. Three points separate third from fifth, and 141 points separate third from the lead.
In practical terms this is a two-truck championship now. Under the 2026 Chase format there are no eliminations, so every one of the ten qualifiers runs all the way to Homestead and the most points wins. Riggs needs Honeycutt to have a bad day, and there are only two left: Martinsville on October 30 and the finale at Homestead-Miami on November 6. You can see the full season and the current points on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule and standings.
One subplot worth watching. Riggs was not happy with Majeski, a fellow Ford driver, for leaving him hanging late. "I've seen it, now. I don't know what that was," Riggs said. "That's not what we do as Ford teammates." Martinsville is a half-mile with no room to hide, so that one may not stay quiet.
The Bottom Line
Talladega did what Talladega does. The leaders raced each other instead of the field, and the guy in third won the race. Sammy Smith got his first Truck Series trophy out of it, and Kaden Honeycutt got a 43-point lead he probably does not feel very good about.
Your turn. Was Honeycutt wrong to pull out on Majeski when he did, or was the push from Ankrum just unbeatable no matter what the leaders did? Tell us how you saw that last lap.
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Smith has now won at Talladega in two different series. Here is the gear tied to the drivers who shaped this race:
