TALLADEGA, Ala. — Two months removed from a frustrating finish at Daytona International Speedway, the JR Motorsports drivers showed that they had heard team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. loud and clear.
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Winning the race was important, but the drivers in the lineup needed to take care of each other when the pressure became the greatest.
"Obviously, the last couple competition meetings haven't been very pleasant," race-winner Sammy Smith said. "...I thought Dale was very adamant on what he wanted today out of the team.
"He wanted us to put the 1 (Carson Kvapil), the 7 (Justin Allgaier), and the 17 (Corey Day) in a position to get stage points to close that gap, and obviously we were in a position there at the end to win the race."
What a finish by Sammy Smith!!!
A late surge for the 8 gives @sammysmithSS his first victory of the season at Talladega! pic.twitter.com/k32GF5J0CA
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) October 24, 2026
The difficult meetings followed the latest in what had been a trend of superspeedway struggles.
The JR Motorsports drivers had controlled multiple races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway in recent seasons, but they had made mistakes late that kept them from winning.
They had wrecked each other or simply lost the lead while battling each other for the win instead of keeping other drivers at bay.
Missing out on wins was one thing, but the chatter after the races clearly wore on the drivers involved in these late-race mistakes.
"I hate looking at social media on Monday morning and people talking about how we screwed it up," Justin Allgaier told FanBuzz on Saturday.
"But I also hate when we get ready to go to a superspeedway and they talk about 'How bad are the JR Motorsports Chevy's gonna screw this one up?'"
The most recent example occurred at Daytona International Speedway in August. Carson Kvapil, Rajah Caruth, and Allgaier ran first, second, and third in the closing laps. They had control of the race and an opportunity to lock up a win.
However, the situation went awry when Caruth slowed to build a run. Kvapil also slowed. Allgaier hit Caruth from behind and sparked a wreck.
The race went to overtime as series veteran Ryan Sieg scored his first career win. Kvapil finished third while Allgaier finished sixth.
Earnhardt spoke about that particular race on his podcast and indicated that meetings would happen to reinforce the expectations for the respective drivers.
This clearly happened, as the drivers showed on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. This group, which also included Corey Day, stuck together throughout the race. They controlled lanes and put themselves in position for stage points.
Kvapil won the first stage while Allgaier won the second. JR Motorsports locked out the top three positions in each of the first two stages.
It's a @JRMotorsports stage sweep!@J_Allgaier wins Stage 2 at Talladega. pic.twitter.com/M02Kc0Cmht
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) October 24, 2026
Once the end of the race approached. They continued working together. The only time they truly got disconnected was when Smith dove to the inside of Kvapil to challenge for the win.
Though this ultimately paid off as JR Motorsports drivers controlled both lanes on the final lap. They blocked defending champion Jesse Love as he sought his second consecutive win of the Chase.
Smith won as Kvapil finished second. Allgaier finished fourth and Day finished sixth.
Caruth, who had finished second in stage 1, ended the race in 17th after he lost track position. Jake Finch finished last after a tire issue sent him into the outside wall.
"I mean I never felt like we were in a deficit by being able to work together," Allgaier added. "We just kept putting ourselves in better and better positions, and I feel like our company as a whole does a really good job of building race cars we know are fast.
"How you get to the finish line is kind of up to us, and obviously, we did that today. You know, if the 8 (Smith) doesn't pull down to block, the 2 (Love) probably wins the race.
"So you know, at the end of the day, we did what we came here to do without winning the race, and a JR Motorsports car still won the race. So it's not a bad day."
