Jesse Love disqualified, Sammy Smith declared winner of Xfinity Series race at Rockingham

The win is the third of Smith's Xfinity Series career, his second with JR Motorsports and his first of the 2025 season. The win also guarantees Smith a berth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs for the third season in a row. 

After qualifying 13th on Saturday morning, Smith finished 14th in Stage 1 and 12th in Stage 2. He made his way to the front in Stage 3, and was passed by Love on the race's final restart. With questions about fuel mileage swirling, Smith held on for what was a initially a second-place finish. Now, Smith holding off the likes of Parker Retzlaff, Harrison Burton, Brennan Poole and Taylor Gray for the runner-up position becomes the move that ended up winning the race. 

Smith will go for his second consecutive win on April 26 when the Xfinity Series visits Talladega Superspeedway for the Ag-Pro 300 (4 p.m. ET, the CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Smith won the last time the Xfinity Series visited the 2.66-mile superspeedway in October of 2024.