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TALLADEGA, Ala. — Sammy Smith jumped from last in the Xfinity Series playoff standings to the first driver to move on to the second round by winning Saturday’s race in overtime at Talladega Superspeedway.

It was the first win of the year for the JR Motorsports driver, who was 12th in the 12-driver playoff field at the start of the race. Four drivers will be cut from the field next Saturday on the hybrid road course/oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Smith, who has two career wins, snapped a 56-race losing streak after picking team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s brain about racing at Talladega. Earnhardt won six Cup Series races at the Alabama superspeedway.

“We sat down with him Wednesday, wasn’t a whole lot, just kind of some of the stuff he’d do in those situations,” Smith said. “But, man, it feels very good to win here.”

Smith was in second when the race restarted with a two-lap sprint to the finish as it marked the 13th time this season an Xfinity Series race has gone to overtime. The front four broke away from the pack, and it became a race for the win among Smith, Riley Herbst and Chandler Smith.

But there was so much jockeying for position, and the four found themselves darting all around the track seeking a drafting partner. Sammy Smith finished .177 seconds ahead of Ryan Sieg, who is not a playoff driver.

Herbst led a trio of playoff drivers in finishing third ahead of Sheldon Creed and Chandler Smith.

The standings headed into next Saturday’s race at The Roval show the series’ top names in danger of elimination. Justin Allgaier, the top seed at the start of the playoffs, is below the cutline along with AJ Allmendinger, Shane Van Gisbergen and Parker Kligerman.

All were contenders to win Saturday at Talladega until each was collected in a late accident.

“I don’t know what the points are, we’ll see how far in the hole we are,” Van Gisbergen said of heading into The Roval in danger of elimination.

Allmendinger is 4-for-4 on the hybrid road course/oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of next week’s elimination race when four drivers will be dropped from the field.

NASCAR announced during the race that if the event could not be completed by 6:15 p.m. local it would be declared over and official. NASCAR placed a time limit on the 250-mile event because Talladega does not have lights.

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Va. Tech LB Woodson arrested on DWI charge

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Va. Tech LB Woodson arrested on DWI charge

Virginia Tech junior linebacker Caleb Woodson, a team captain, was arrested Saturday on a charge of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.

Woodson, 21, was jailed and released Saturday on $2,500 unsecured bond. He has a court date scheduled for Sept. 9. According to online court records, this is his first DWI offense.

Coach Brent Pry said Woodson will face internal discipline following his arrest, and that his status for Sunday’s opener against No. 13 South Carolina in Atlanta has not been determined.

“There’s been a lot of discussions over the last few days regarding this matter,” Pry said. “And there’s certainly internal program consequences at play, measures at play, and then the university’s policy, the athletic department policies, we’re committed to seeing that out.”

Pry also told reporters that Woodson’s status as a team captain, which he earned last week, has been removed, although he will have the chance to earn it back.

Woodson started 11 of 13 games for the Hokies last season, finishing second on the team with 72 tackles while recording 7.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception.

Woodson, from Haymarket, Virginia, started one game and played in all 13 during his 2023 freshman season, when he had 22 tackles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Bama, WVU nix series in wake of schedule change

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Bama, WVU nix series in wake of schedule change

Alabama and West Virginia mutually agreed to cancel their home-and-home series that had been scheduled for 2026 and 2027, the schools announced Tuesday.

Alabama said it was making adjustments to its nonconference schedule in response to last week’s announcement that the Southeastern Conference would go from playing eight to nine league games starting in 2026.

West Virginia said it wanted to align with the scheduling philosophy followed by many teams contending for a College Football Playoff berth. That means playing a fellow power-conference opponent, one from the Group of Five and one from the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision.

Alabama will now play East Carolina on Sept. 5, 2026, as well as South Florida on Sept. 12 and Florida State on Sept. 19. West Virginia now plays Coastal Carolina on Sept. 5, UT-Martin on Sept. 12 and Virginia on Sept. 19.

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Colorado names transfer Salter QB1 for opener

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Colorado names transfer Salter QB1 for opener

Colorado coach Deion Sanders named Kaidon Salter the Buffaloes’ starting quarterback on Tuesday, ahead of the team’s opener Friday against Georgia Tech.

“The kid has a ton of experience, dual threat, can throw the heck out of the ball as well,” said Sanders. “He’s the guy. He’s the guy at this point.”

Salter, who transferred to Colorado after three years as a starter at Liberty, was the presumed starter but had been competing with five-star true freshman Julian Lewis.

“He’s done it before,” said Sanders. “This is not his first time running out the tunnel and getting the start. … I like what he did in the spring, and he’s growing and growing and growing.”

Sanders credited offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and volunteer assistant coach Byron Leftwich for their work with Salter.

“I defer to those two coaches to allow me to understand what I see as valid,” said Sanders, who added that he is hopeful Lewis will also get game reps.

Salter appeared in two games for Liberty in 2021, before starting most of the team’s games of over the next three years. During that span, he threw for 5,889 yards with 56 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He also ran for 2,006 yards.

He will replace Shedeur Sanders, who started the past two years for Colorado, before being drafted in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.

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