ROCKINGHAM — A three-person panel on Wednesday upheld NASCAR’s disqualification of the No. 2 car, solidifying Sammy Smith’s win at Rockingham Speedway.
Driver Jesse Love took the checkered flag and trophy in overtime at the N.C. Education Lottery 250 on Saturday after a hard-fought race, leading 53 of the 256 laps.
However, his car failed a post-race inspection and Smith was declared the winner of the Xfinity race — the first at the Rock since 2004 — after the crowd and many of the media personnel had left the track.
Team owner Richard Childress Racing appealed the DQ on Monday.
“The panel finds that it is more likely than not that there was a violation of 14.14.2 Rear Suspension, I-5.H,” according to a statement reported by nascar.com. “The panel was unable to determine whether the violation was intentional or unintentional. The panel finds that the mating surfaces between the truck trailing arm and the U-bolt saddle were not in contact with each other.”
As part of the penalty, Love was bumped back to 27th place and was only awarded one point, according to NASCAR, instead of the 45 points if he had kept the win.
The Rock would have been Love’s second win of the season, after winding up in Victory Lane at Daytona. The 20-year-old Californian has six top 10 finishes in the first 10 races of the season and is currently fourth in points behind Austin Hill (3), Sam Mayer (2) and 2024 Xfinity Series champ and points leader Justin Allgaier.
RCR issued a statement on social media saying: “RCR is disappointed in NASCAR’s decision today to uphold the disqualification of the No. 2 team. We will focus our efforts on moving forward and being competitive at Talladega this weekend.”
Rounding out the top five in the Rockingham race were runner-up Parker Retzlaf, Harrison Burton (3), Brennan Poole (4) and Taylor Gray (5).
Kasey Kahne, who made his return to NASCAR for the first time since 2018, qualified fourth in the No. 33 car, but wound up finishing 14th after being involved in two wrecks.
The N.C. Education Lottery was in front of a sold-out crowd, according to promoter Track Enterprises, and reportedly was the second-most watched Xfinity race in series history.
This was the first win of the season for Smith, who drives the No. 8 for JR Motorsports. He also placed 16th in the Black’s Tire 250 — his only race so far this season in the Craftsman Truck Series — driving the No. 7 for Spire Motorsports.
Smith will be looking for his second consecutive win for the season at Talladega Superspeedway, as well as his second consecutive win at the track, having won the United Rentals 250 in October ‘24.
The Iowa native is currently eighth in points for the 2025 season, with five top 10 finishes.
