Sammy Smith will be piloting the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry for the upcoming NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Chase events at Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway to cap off the month of October.
The 22-year-old Smith from Johnston, Iowa, is currently competing in his fourth consecutive season in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division as a full-time competitor. He is also campaigning in his third and final season at JR Motorsports, where he is ranked in seventh place in the 2026 Chase standings and trails the points lead by 137 points. While his 2027 plans remains to be determined, he has three-scheduled events remaining to contend for his first series’ victory of this season and maintain his championship bid.
The upcoming Truck events at Talladega and Martinsville are scheduled to mark Smith’s second and third starts in the series, respectively. He finished in 11th place in his first and lone Truck start to date of this season at Rockingham Speedway in April.
Smith’s entrance to compete in this weekend’s Truck event at Talladega with Spire Motorsports was revealed on October 19 by the organization, where the Iowa native will be sponsored by Spectrum for his first series’ start at the 2.660-mile tri-oval superspeedway venue in Lincoln, Alabama. Smith has made six total starts at Talladega in the O’Reilly division to date, where he notched a victory in October 2024.
On October 22, Spire Motorsports revealed that Smith will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet entry for a second consecutive Truck event, which will be next Friday’s penultimate event of the 2026 season at Martinsville Speedway. The driver will be sponsored by Alpha Craft Technologies for his second series’ start at Martinsville. Smith finished eighth in his lone Truck start at Martinsville to date in April 2024 and has notched seven top-10 results in eight current O’Reilly starts at Martinsville, including three runner-up results.
Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet team, which is led by crew chief Brian Pattie, is currently ranked in ninth place in the 2026 Truck Series’ owner’s standings and trails the points lead by 195 points. The entry was piloted into Victory Lane twice by the late two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch at EchoPark Speedway in February and at Dover Motor Speedway in May. The entry has also finished in the top-five mark seven times and in the top-10 mark 11 times through 22-scheduled starts while piloted by nine competitors, including Smith. Connor Mosack, who has made the most starts in the entry at 11, is scheduled to drive the entry for this year’s season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 6.
With two Truck events added to his schedule, Sammy Smith’s first return in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division with Spire Motorsports occurs this Friday, October 23, at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, for the Love’s RV Stop 225. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 4 p.m. ET. Smith’s next Truck start with Spire at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, for the Black’s Tire 200 follows suit next Friday, October 30, at 6 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
