Sam Hunt Racing announced that Chandler Smith will be piloting the team’s No. 26 Toyota Supra in three NASCAR Xfinity Series events throughout the 2022 season, which will mark his inaugural appearances in the series.
The 19-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, will making his Xfinity debut at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23 followed by Dover Motor Speedway on April 30. He will cap off his Xfinity schedule by competing at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 22 during the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs.
Smith currently competes on a full-time basis in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Through 43 career starts, he has achieved three victories, including one this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. He has also achieved a pole, 17 top-five results, 22 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 14.0. Smith also captured the 2021 Truck Rookie-of-the-Year title on the strength of two victories and making the 2021 Truck Playoffs, where he finished in eighth place in the final standings.
To go along with his achievements in the Truck Series, Smith has also achieved nine victories, 10 poles, 22 top-five results and 29 top-10 results in 34 career starts in the ARCA Menards Series.
“It’s definitely going to be exciting,” said Smith. “The experience just being able to come up and do a longer race and have more pit stops with a different car instead of a truck is going to be all in all a lot different than what I’m accustomed to. I’m really looking forward to the challenge. It’s big for me to join Sam’s team. SHR is still kind of a smaller team. They are still learning a lot and in their baby years, and I feel like I may have a little bit to bring to the table myself to help them excel and to bring a new aspect to the team. Hopefully I can be an asset and help a little bit with their development and growth. I can’t wait to be a small part of this team’s huge success as it continues to grow.”
Smith’s three-race schedule with Sam Hunt Racing means that he will become the sixth different competitor to drive for the organization based in Mooresville, North Carolina, throughout the 2022 Xfinity Series season. Other competitors who have competed for the team this season include Parker Chase, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Derek Griffith, John Hunter Nemechek and Ryan Truex. The team’s current best result through the first seven scheduled Xfinity events is a fifth-place run at Phoenix Raceway in March with Nemechek.
Sam Hunt Racing is currently in its second full-time season in the Xfinity circuit. The team made its debut during the 2019 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and campaigned on a part-time basis throughout the 2020 season before fielding the No. 26 Toyota Supra as a full-time entry that was piloted by eight different competitors. This past September, John Hunter Nemechek recorded the team’s current best ever result of third place at Richmond Raceway. Since 2021, the team started to field a second part-time entry, the No. 24 Toyota Supra, that has thus competed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in August 2021 with Sage Karam and at Daytona International Speedway in February 2022 with Jeffrey Earnhardt.
“Our entire organization is excited to add Chandler to our roster,” Sam Hunt, owner of Sam Hunt Racing, added. “His ability speaks for itself and it will be fun to begin his transition from the truck series into the Xfinity series here at SHR. These races will serve as a great opportunity for him to learn these cars, how they drive, and how the races flow at this level. Seeing his success in the truck series, there’s no reason he can’t be competitive out of the gate with us. Our spotter, Chris Lambert, works with Chandler at KBM, making this transition even simpler. We’re also proud to partner with the ChargeMe brand for these races, and cannot thank Bill and his entire team for coming on board. It’s going to be a fun couple of races and a great next step for Chandler’s climb in NASCAR.”
Also joining Sam Hunt Racing is Charge Me, a company that provides off-grid charging solutions powered by natural gas and propane with a focus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also placing electric vehicles at the forefront towards a greener future. Charge Me, which will sponsor Smith in five Truck events this season, will sponsor Smith’s three-race Xfinity effort.
“Charge Me is excited to be sponsoring Chandler Smith as he continues to show real heart and grit out there on the race track,” Bill Marr, Executive Vice President of Charge Me, added. “Chandler embodies a lot of the ideals we strive for at Charge Me, and we’re proud to support him. At Charge Me, we want to help build electric vehicle infrastructure across America. But we recognize the need for off-grid solutions in the form of clean fuels like propane and natural gas. We want to electrify America the way Chandler electrifies race tracks – burning fuel responsibly.”
Smith is set to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway on April 23 with the event’s coverage to occur at 4 p.m. ET on FOX.
