Skip Barber Racing School alumni made their mark at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, led by a remarkable two-race sweep from Sammy Smith. He won Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished third in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event. Other alumni filled five more positions in the Cup Series’ top ten, and Aaron Jeansonne added a Porsche Carrera Cup podium at Circuit of The Americas.
Sammy Smith Delivers Rare NASCAR Double at Talladega
Smith opened the weekend by taking the victory in Friday’s Love’s RV Stop 225 in a Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. He started second, led 21 laps and beat Tyler Ankrum by just 0.091 seconds in the overtime finish.
He returned on Saturday in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and won The Progress Group 250 with a last-lap move, beating teammate Carson Kvapil by 0.084 seconds. Smith led only the final lap, ending a 53-race winless streak in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. With his win on Saturday, he became the first non-Cup driver to win the Truck Series and O’Reilly/Xfinity Series races at the same track on the same weekend since Greg Biffle accomplished the feat in 2001.
Other Skip Barber alumni in Saturday’s O’Reilly race included Brandon Jones (ninth), Anthony Alfredo (10th), Jeb Burton (11th) and Mason Maggio (12th).
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Takes Cup Podium; Six Alumni in Top Ten
Sunday’s YellaWood 500 featured a dramatic overtime finish. Kyle Larson won by 0.041 seconds over William Byron, with Skip Barber alumnus Ricky Stenhouse Jr. third and Ross Chastain fourth.
The alumni contingent saw six drivers in the top ten: Stenhouse (third), Chastain (fourth), Carson Hocevar (sixth), Todd Gilliland (seventh), Alex Bowman (ninth) and Michael McDowell (10th).
Chris Buescher won Stage 1 and led a race-high 53 laps before finishing 32nd. Joey Logano won Stage 2, led 23 laps, and was in contention for the win, but was caught in a late multicar accident that overturned his No. 22 Ford; he finished 34th after exiting his car uninjured.
Porsche Carrera Cup — Circuit of The Americas
During the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix weekend, Aaron Jeansonne finished second in Saturday’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America race, earning another Pro-class podium and securing runner-up position in the season championship. He was classified 10th in Sunday’s finale after a track-limits time penalty cost him a more promising result.
Fellow alumni Connor Bloum finished eighth Saturday and ninth Sunday; Nikita Lastochkin finished 13th Saturday and 12th Sunday. Masters-class champion Marco Cirone was involved in a Saturday incident and did not start Sunday’s race.