SAMUEL  L  "SAMMY"  SMITH   -   06/02/2004

Smith began racing at the age of 8 in go-karts, and then began racing legends cars and late models.  His dad inspired him to start racing.  Smith made his debut in the CARS Tour in May 2019, driving the #12 Toyota for Barry Nelson.  He was 14 years old at the time.  He would run five more races for Nelson that year and another in 2020, before running two races in the #19 for Marcus Richmond.  Smith returned to Nelson's team in 2021 to compete in the race at Orange County Speedway.  Smith competed full-time in the CARS Series in the Super Late Model Tour in 2020, driving the #51 (or on occasion, the #51S) for Kyle Busch Motorsports.  That year, he also competed in the World Series of Asphalt.  In 2021, KBM decided to temporarily close down their late model team, so Smith moved to Wilson Motorsports for his late model starts that year.  He again entered the World Series of Asphalt and won the race driving the team's #22 car. On February 3, 2021, it was announced that Smith would compete in the first five races of the ARCA Menards Series East season as well as the West Series season-finale at Phoenix, all in Joe Gibbs Racing's #18 car.

In his series debut at New Smyrna, Smith would lose the race to Max Gutiérrez in a three-wide photo finish with him and Taylor Gray.  Smith would then go on to win and lead the most laps in the next two races at Five Flags and the Nashville Fairgrounds.  At Southern National Motorsports Park, Smith would pick up his third win of the season.  He would win the ARCA East series in both 2021 and 2022.  He would also run three events in the main ARCA Menard Series at the end of the 2021 season.  He started fourth in Iowa and ran near the front; but got tangled up in a crash with about 50 laps to go and finished 18th.  At Milwaukee he was only outrun by team mate Ty Gibbs as Gibbs led all 150 laps and Smith finished second.  The same thing happened at Bristol as Gibbs led 197 of 200 laps and Smith came home second.  When 2022 rolled around, Smith ran  

2016 Legends Series

2021 Cars Series win

16 of the 20 main ARCA Menard Series races and win six of the races he ran.  Even though he missed four races, he finished fourth in the points as he garnered six wins.  In his 16 races he posted some very impressive results.  He finished third in his first race (Phoenix) and second the next (Iowa).  The following week he would grab the win at Berlin Raceway (MI); and back that up with yet another win at Elko Speedway (MN). Mid-Ohio saw him finish third again; before his season's worst performance at Pocono.  He had issues and got a lap down and was never able to make it up.  This race would be the only race he finished outside the Top 5.  He won at Milwaukee again; and closed out the season winning the final three events.  For the year he had 15 finishes in the Top 5 in 16 races; and 12 finishes in the Top 3.  On June 9, 2022, it was announced that Smith would drive for eight races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, starting at Road America.  He 

would have run more; but his age limited him from running some of the large tracks prior to turning 18.  His first Xfinity race came at Elkhart Lake where he would start eighth.  He ran well; and as it wound down he was involved in a crash and finished 24th. He was caught up in a crash at Pocono; and then finished 12th at Michigan.  He got his first Top 5 finish at Watkins Glen where he came in third.  Ha added an eighth and tenth before the seasons end.  He qualified great with only one start outside the top eleven, and seven starts inside the top eight.  He ran well; but his lack of experience in the Xfinity saw him put himself in some bad positions and cost him some much better 

2022 ARCA win - Salem IN

First Xfinity start - 2022 Road America

finishes.  Smith will drive full time in the Xfinity Series in 2023 for Joe Gibbs Racing in the #18 for Joe Gibbs Racing.  He opened the year with two finishes of 19th and a 17th.  When the series rolled into Phoenix, he had a great run and claimed his first win in the series with a dominant performance, leading 92 laps.  He won his first pole the next race at Atlanta, but finished 17th.  He had a good run at Martinsville, finishing second to John Hunter Nemechek.  His season was up and down, finishing inside the top ten several times, but also finishing 30th or worse.  Over the span of 14 races he had five finishes of 28th or worse, and seven top tens.  He managed to make it into the playoffs they found a new gear and performance improved.  In the 

Round of 12 he finished ninth, third and eleventh; advancing to the Round of 8.  Las Vegas was a rough race, finishing 17th, but the team bounced back, and they finished ninth at Homestead, and third at Martinsville.  The finish at Martinsville wasn’t good enough to advance him into the race for the Championship.  He finished ninth in the season finale’ at Phoenix, and was sixth in season points.  Pretty good for his Rookie season.  He also made his first Truck series start in 2023.  It came at Daytona as the season opened.  He drove the #17 for TRICON Garage and started 20th.  He ran a good race and brought home the truck in seventh place.  He will be leaving JGR to go 

First Xfinity series win - Phoenix 2023

First Truck series start - Daytona 2023

drive for JRM in 2024.  Some info from Wikipedia.

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