Sammy Smith

Samuel L. Smith (born June 4, 2004) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro SS for JR Motorsports, and part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports.

Smith previously competed in the ARCA Menards Series, and won two consecutive ARCA Menards Series East championships in 2021 and 2022. He also has competed in the CARS Tour, where he has driven for car owners Barry Nelson, Marcus Richmond, and Donnie Wilson as well as Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Racing career Late model racing Smith began racing at the age of eight 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 No. 12 Toyota for Barry Nelson. He was fourteen 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 No. 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 No. 51 (or on occasion, the No. 51S) for Kyle Busch Motorsports. That year, he also competed in the World Series of Asphalt. 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 No. 22 car.

ARCA

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 No. 18 car. In his 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. He also won the pole at Five Flags. At Dover, JGR entered Ty Gibbs (their full-time driver in the main ARCA Menards Series) in the No. 18 and moved Smith to a new second car for the team, the No. 81. (It was originally the No. 18E on the entry list, but since this race was not a combination race, numbers with letters were not allowed and the team had to change the number.) Gibbs would win that race and Smith would finish fourth. At Southern National Motorsports Park, Smith would pick up his third win of the season. While the remaining three East Series races were not on his initial schedule, Smith is expected to return to the No. 81 in those three races (at least Iowa) to hold onto the points lead and win the championship. Those three races are combination races with the main ARCA Menards Series, so Gibbs will be in the No. 18.

Smith returned to the East Series in 2022, this time driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports. He started the season on a high note, winning the season opener race at New Smyrna, after starting from the pole and leading 167 laps. He scored another win the in following race at Five Flags, leading 107 laps. His third win of the season came at Nashville, as he once again led the most laps, with 156. Smith would also run the main ARCA Menards Series schedule full-time, but because he will not turn eighteen until June 4, 2022, he would skip four races at the larger tracks, Daytona, Talladega, Kansas, and Charlotte. He earned his first main ARCA win at Berlin, leading the final eight laps after race leader, Daniel Dye, suffered a mechanical problem. He would get a second win in the following week at Elko, dominating the race and leading 233 laps.

O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Joe Gibbs Racing: 2022–2023

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. On December 6, JGR announced that Smith would drive the No. 18 full-time in 2023 with sponsorship from Pilot Flying J.

During the 2023 season, Smith scored his first win at Phoenix; at the age of eighteen, he became the youngest Xfinity Series winner at Phoenix and the fourth youngest winner in series history.

JR Motorsports: 2024–2026

On September 26, 2023, it was announced that Smith would leave JGR after the 2023 season and move to JR Motorsports in the No. 8 car for 2024. Smith started the season with a 23rd-place finish at Daytona. He made the playoffs as the 12 seed with no wins, four top-fives, and thirteen top-tens. During the playoffs, Smith scored his second career Xfinity win (first win of the 2024 season) at Talladega.

Smith started the 2025 season with a 24th-place finish at Daytona. At Martinsville, he wrecked Taylor Gray while fighting for the lead on the final overtime lap, triggering a multi-car pileup. As a result, Smith was docked 50 driver points and fined 25,000. At Rockingham, Smith finished second to Jesse Love, but Love was disqualified after failing post race inspection; as a result, Smith earned his first win of 2025.

Smith started the 2026 season with a 5th-place finish at Daytona. On August 26, it was announced that Smith would not return to JRM for 2027.

Craftsman Truck Series On February 3, 2023, it was announced that Smith would make his Truck Series debut in the 2023 season-opener at Daytona, filling in for Taylor Gray in the Tricon Garage (previously David Gilliland Racing) No. 17 truck due to Gray still being seventeen years old and therefore not able to race there.

Spire Motorsports announced on March 27, 2024, that Smith was added to the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado for a four-race schedule.

Motorsports career results (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Racing career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Top 5 Top 10 Points Position 2021 ARCA Menards Series Joe Gibbs Racing 3 0 2 2 107 35th ARCA Menards Series East 8 3 7 7 385 1st ARCA Menards Series West 1 0 1 1 41 39th 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Joe Gibbs Racing 9 0 1 3 230 30th ARCA Menards Series Kyle Busch Motorsports 16 6 15 15 851 4th ARCA Menards Series East 7 5 7 7 375 1st ARCA Menards Series West 2 1 2 2 143 24th 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Joe Gibbs Racing 33 1 6 15 2248 6th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tricon Garage 1 0 0 0 0 NC† ARCA Menards Series West Hattori Racing Enterprises 1 0 1 1 42 38th 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series JR Motorsports 33 1 7 16 2185 11th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Spire Motorsports 4 0 1 3 0 NC† 2025 Michelin Pilot Challenge – GS Van der Steur Racing NASCAR Xfinity Series JR Motorsports 33 1 8 18 2222 8th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Spire Motorsports 4 0 1 3 0 NC† † As Smith was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

O'Reilly Auto Parts Series NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Pts Ref 2022 Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Toyota DAY CAL LVS PHO ATL COA RCH MAR TAL DOV DAR TEX CLT PIR NSH ROA24 ATL NHA POC31 IRC MCH12 GLN3 DAY38 DAR KAN8 BRI14 TEX TAL ROV LVS HOM MAR18 PHO10 30th 230 2023 DAY19 CAL19 LVS17 PHO1* ATL17 COA4 RCH19 MAR2 TAL33 DOV6 DAR11 CLT10 PIR30 SON9 NSH34 CSC6 ATL10 NHA5 POC6 ROA31 MCH38 IRC28 GLN18 DAY21 DAR17 KAN35 BRI9 TEX3 ROV11 LVS17 HOM9 MAR3* PHO9 6th 2248 2024 JR Motorsports 8 Chevy DAY23 ATL10 LVS8 PHO9 COA36 RCH9 MAR7 TEX8 TAL21 DOV33 DAR34 CLT3 PIR3 SON33 IOW4 NHA12 NSH30 CSC13 POC9 IND18 MCH5 DAY23 DAR5 ATL7 GLN19 BRI15 KAN22 TAL1 ROV10 LVS32 HOM22 MAR2 PHO15 11th 2185 2025 DAY24 ATL4 COA11 PHO14 LVS14 HOM21 MAR10 DAR9 BRI4 CAR1 TAL31 TEX18 CLT38 NSH10 MXC10 POC8 ATL33 CSC7 SON9 DOV24 IND7 IOW15 GLN3 DAY2 PIR22 GTW33 BRI37 KAN4 ROV3 LVS20 TAL9 MAR2 PHO6 8th 2222 2026 DAY5 ATL30 COA3 PHO6 LVS5 DAR9 MAR3 CAR12 BRI13 KAN16 TAL4 TEX13 GLN16 DOV9 CLT11 NSH10 POC19 COR5 SON11 CHI13 ATL18* IND19 IOW17 DAY36 DAR GTW BRI LVS CLT PHO TAL MAR HOM -* -*

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2023 Tricon Garage 17 Toyota DAY14 LVS ATL COA TEX BRD MAR KAN DAR NWS CLT GTW NSH MOH POC RCH IRP MLW KAN BRI TAL HOM PHO 102nd 01 2024 Spire Motorsports 7 Chevy DAY ATL LVS BRI COA MAR8 TEX KAN DAR NWS5 CLT GTW NSH POC IRP6 RCH MLW17 BRI KAN TAL HOM MAR PHO 83rd 01 2025 DAY ATL LVS HOM MAR BRI CAR16 TEX KAN NWS10 CLT NSH MCH POC LRP IRP GLN6 RCH4 DAR BRI NHA ROV TAL MAR PHO 84th 01 2026 DAY ATL STP DAR CAR11 BRI TEX GLN DOV CLT NSH MCH COR LRP NWS IRP RCH NHA BRI KAN CLT PHO TAL MAR HOM -* -*

Season still in progress Ineligible for series points

ARCA Menards Series ARCA Menards Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Ref 2021 Joe Gibbs Racing 81 Toyota DAY PHO TAL KAN TOL CLT MOH POC ELK BLN IOW18 WIN GLN MCH ISF MLW5 DSF BRI2 SLM KAN 35th 107 2022 Kyle Busch Motorsports 18 DAY PHO3* TAL KAN CLT IOW2 BLN1 ELK1* MOH3 POC12 IRP2 MCH4 GLN5 ISF4 MLW1* DSF3 KAN3 BRI1* SLM1** TOL1 4th 851

ARCA Menards Series East ARCA Menards Series East results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts Ref 2021 Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Toyota NSM2* FIF1* NSV1* SNM1 1st 435 81 DOV4 IOW18 MLW5 BRI2 2022 Kyle Busch Motorsports 18 NSM1* FIF1* DOV5 NSV1* IOW2 MLW1* BRI1* 1st 426

ARCA Menards Series West ARCA Menards Series West results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts Ref 2021 Joe Gibbs Racing 81 Toyota PHO SON IRW CNS IRW PIR LVS AAS PHO3 39th 41 2022 Kyle Busch Motorsports 18 PHO3* IRW KCR PIR SON IRW EVG PIR AAS LVS PHO1* 24th 143 2023 Hattori Racing Enterprises 81 PHO IRW KCR PIR SON2 IRW SHA EVG AAS LVS MAD PHO 38th 42

CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.) CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts Ref 2019 Nelson Motorsports 12 Toyota SNM HCY ROU ACE9 MMS3 LGY3 DOM CCS3 HCY5 ROU2 SBO 13th 173 2020 SNM ACE5 HCY HCY DOM14 FCS LGY 24th 61 R&S Race Cars 19 Toyota CCS19 FLO GRE 2021 Nelson Motorsports 2N Chevy DIL HCY OCS20 ACE CRW LGY DOM HCY MMS TCM FLC WKS SBO 57th 13

CARS Super Late Model Tour (key) CARS Super Late Model Tour results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts Ref 2020 Kyle Busch Motorsports 51S Toyota SNM12 JEN2 BRI7 NSH20 3rd 207 51 HCY7 HCY6 FCS2* FLC3 2021 Donnie Wilson 22 Toyota HCY GPS3 NSH5 JEN1 HCY MMS TCM20 SBO 7th 75

ASA STARS National Tour (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.) ASA STARS National Tour results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts Ref 2023 Wilson Motorsports 22 Toyota FIF MAD NWS4 HCY MLW AND 44th 90 22S WIR21 TOL WIN NSV