Chandler Smith: Driver, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass® Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: Wise Power 200, Race 7 of 22, 134 Laps – 30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 1, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Mr. Smith Goes to the Sunflower State:
- Chandler Smith and the No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass team head to Kansas Speedway for Saturday’s Wise Power 200. The 18-year-old rookie is coming off his best finish of the season, a fourth-place result at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. Smith was out front for 24 laps before giving way to teammate and eventual race winner John Hunter Nemechek with 17 laps remaining and eventually sliding back two more spots in the closing laps with older tires on his Tundra.
- The Georgia native will be making his second career Camping World Truck Series start at Kansas. He led one lap and finished fifth last October at the 1.5-mile track. During last year’s race, he posted an average running position of 6.0 and a driver rating of 111.3. Smith also has one ARCA Menards Series start in The Sunflower State, a 13th-place finish in 2020.
- Smith comes into Saturday’s race 12th in the Camping World Truck Series championship standings. He currently sits 12 points behind Johnny Sauter for the 10th and final spot in the playoffs. In the Rookie of the Year standings, Smith sits second, 10 points behind Carson Hocevar. Smith’s fourth-place result at Richmond earned him the rookie of the race award, his third of the season.
- The Toyota Racing Development driver has finished inside the top five in nine of his 22 career Camping World Truck Series starts, including a career-best runner-up finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in 2019.
- The talented teenager recorded nine wins, 10 poles and an average finish of 5.3 across 33 ARCA Menards Series starts the last three seasons. He captured the pole in his series debut at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville (Tenn.) in April of 2018 and set an ARCA Menards Series record by winning four consecutive poles to start his career. He earned his first victory at Madison (Wis.) International Speedway in just his fourth series start in June of 2018. Despite running a part-time schedule, he led the series in laps led in both 2018 and 2019.
- Veteran crew chief Danny Stockman will call the shots for Smith and the No. 18 team this season. Stockman led the No. 51 team to four wins in his first season atop the pit box at KBM in 2020. He came to the organization with experience as a crew chief in all three national series, including a Truck Series championship with Austin Dillon in 2011 and an Xfinity Series championship with Dillon in 2013. Stockman’s Camping World Truck Series drivers have totaled one top-five and three top-10 finishes across five starts at Kansas. Smith’s fifth-place result last October was his best result. In Xfinity Series action, his drivers recorded three top-five and four top-10 finishes across five starts, including runner-up finishes with Austin Dillon (2012) and Daniel Hemric (2018).
- Safelite AutoGlass – the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair, replacement, and recalibration services – will be the primary sponsor of Smith’s Tundra this weekend at Kansas and for 15 races total this season. Smith General Contracting and Katerra will be associate partners on the bedtop of the No. 18 Toyota for Saturday’s 134-lap event.
Chandler Smith, Driver Q&A:
After some tough luck earlier in the year, how important was it for you and your team to have a top-5 finish at Richmond?
“It was definitely big getting that top five at Richmond. We’ve definitely had some horrible luck at the beginning of this season. I feel like things are starting to turn around and work in our favor. We’re going to start chipping away at it.”
As a young driver with no practice or qualifying, how much does it help going back to tracks you’ve already raced at?
“Considering I’ve already been to Kansas once in a Truck and that there is no practice here again, it’s going to be a big help that I was there last year. We were really strong. We are coming back with the same setup, so I’m really excited to get my Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra out there and park it in victory lane!”
How does Kansas compare to the other 1.5-mile tracks you’ve raced at?
“Kansas is just different. Each mile-and-a-half track varies. It’s just a completely different track. The characteristics are that there is a lot of grip to where you can run the top or the bottom just depending on how your truck is. Last year, I was able to make the bottom work all race where everyone else was running the top and I ran the same speed. It’s a really cool track. I’m excited to go back. It’s one that I’ve had circled.”
Chandler Smith Career Highlights:
- Across 22 career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts has recorded 139 laps led, nine top-five and 11 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 14.1.
- Posted an average finish of 7.7 across his final seven of 12 total Truck Series starts in 2020, including third-place finishes in the series finale at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway and his first career superspeedway start at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October.
- Produced three top-five and four top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.2 across his first four career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts in 2019. He led 55 laps and finished eighth in his Gander Trucks debut at Iowa Speedway last July and then posted top-five finishes in his final three starts, including a runner-up finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
- Has collected nine wins, 10 poles, 1761 laps led, 22 top-five and 29 top-10 finishes en route to an average finish of 5.2 across 33 career ARCA Menards Series starts. Set an ARCA Racing Series record by winning four consecutive poles to start his career and earned his first victory after leading a race-high 102 laps at Madison (Wis.) International Speedway in his fourth series start.
Chandler Smith’s No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Tundra:
KBM-63: The No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass team will unload chassis number KBM-63 for Saturday’s Wise Power 200 at Kansas. The Tundra has an average finish of 6.0 across five career starts, including a victory with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway last June. Smith got behind the wheel of KBM-63 once last year, a fifth-place finish at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway in September.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected four wins, four poles, 621 laps led, 13 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 9.9 across 34 starts at Kansas.
- Noah Gragson led a race-high 128 laps and swept all three stages in the 2018 event at Kansas. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected two wins at Kansas (2014 & 2017) and William Byron earned his first career Camping World Trucks victory there in 2016.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (84) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Track, Martin Truex Jr. became the 16th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
- The No. 18, the number which was on the first Tundra that went to victory lane for KBM in 2010, has 21 career victories.
