Chandler Smith: Driver, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass® Toyota
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview:
Event: LiftKits4Less.com 200, Race 8 of 22, 147 Laps – 45/45/57; 200.1 Miles
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.336-mile egg-shaped oval)
Date/Broadcast: May 7, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
Mr. Smith Throws it Back:
- Chandler Smith and the No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass team head to Darlington Raceway for Friday’s LiftKits4Less.com 200. As part of Darlington’s throwback weekend, Smith will have fresh colors on his Tundra under the lights Friday night. Smith’s normal paint scheme on his Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM)’ entry is based off Safelite’s MobileGlassShop vehicles that have been predominately black with silver and red stripes since 2013. This week the No. 18 will throw it back to before 2013 when Safelite’s MobileGlassShop vehicles were predominately white with red and black stripes on the side. Safelite AutoGlass – the nation’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair, replacement, and recalibration services – has been a partner of KBM since the 2017 season and will be the primary sponsor on Smith’s Toyota for 15 races this season.
- Smith will be making his second career Camping World Truck Series start at Darlington. Making just his ninth career Camping World Truck Series start last September, the Georgia native had maneuvered his way up to the sixth position with just under 20 laps remaining when he reported a bad vibration. As the condition worsened, he was forced to pit road and would end the day a lap down in the 23rd position.
- The Georgia native comes into Saturday’s race 11th in the Camping World Truck Series championship standings. He currently sits 14 points behind Johnny Sauter for the 10th and final spot in the playoffs with eight races remaining in the regular season. Across seven starts this season, Smith has one top-five and two top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 17.7. He produced a season-best result of fourth at Richmond (Va.) Raceway in April. He leads the Rookie of the Year standings by two points over Carson Hocevar and his 11th-place result at Kansas last week earned him his fourth rookie of the race award of the season.
- The Toyota Racing Development driver has finished inside the top five in nine of his 23 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 earned one top-five finish across three starts. Dillon’s fifth-place finish in 2010 was his best result. In Xfinity Series action, his best result across six starts was also a fifth-place result with Dillon in 2012.
- Friday’s race kicks off the Triple Truck Challenge presented by Womply in the Camping World Truck Series. This year’s program will consist of the events at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and concludes at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. An extra $50,000 is on the line for each of those three events. If a driver can win all three races, they will get a $500,000 bonus.
- Smith General Contracting and Katerra will be associate partners on the bedtop of the No. 18 Toyota for Friday’s 147-lap event.
Chandler Smith, Driver Q&A:
What is your outlook heading into Friday night’s race at Darlington?
“Overall, I’m just looking for a solid day and get some stage points to have a good weekend. We struggled a little bit at Kansas, but we are looking for a good rebound.”
What does it take to be successful at Darlington?
“Darlington is unique and has its own character to it. Tire conservation in our series is kind of critical but not because the stages are so short. Overall, Danny (Stockman) and the guys are going to give me a good Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra to get it going.”
What does it mean to you as a driver to have bonus program like the Triple Truck Challenge in place?
“It’s really cool to have a partner out there to foot out a bonus for these next three races. I’m really proud to be part of something big and be a small part of it. It’s really cool to be a part of it.”
Chandler Smith Career Highlights:
- Across 23 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 14.0.
- 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-67: The No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass team will unload chassis number KBM-67 for Friday night’s event at Darlington. Smith was relegated to a 35th-place result with this Tundra at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. same Tundra earlier this season after suffering a parts failure. Kyle Busch was victorious with KBM-67 at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth last July. Smith piloted it three times last year, with a best result of fifth coming at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
KBM Notes of Interest:
- KBM drivers have collected one win, 95 laps led, two top-five and three top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 11.2 across five starts at Darlington. Kasey Kahne led a race-high 95 laps en route to victory in the 2011 event.
- KBM holds the Camping World Truck Series records for most career wins (85) 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.
