Chandler Smith will be returning to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division and will drive a Ford F-150 entry on a full-time basis for Front Row Motorsports (FRM) in 2025.
The news comes as the 22-year-old Smith from Talking Rock, Georgia, is coming off a full-time Xfinity Series campaign at Joe Gibbs Racing, where he notched two victories, three poles, 17 top-five results, 22 top-10 results, 664 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.3 throughout the 33-race schedule. He also made the 2024 Xfinity Playoffs before settling in fifth place in the final standings. Previously, he was competing in his first full-time Xfinity season at Kaulig Racing in 2023, where he notched his first career victory at Richmond Raceway, made his first Playoffs and finished in ninth place in the standings.
The 2025 season will mark Smith’s first appearance in the Truck Series since he last competed at Talladega Superspeedway in a one-race stint with Rackley W.A.R. in 2023 and first piloting a Ford. It will also mark his first as a full-time series competitor since 2022 when he was driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM).
“I’m excited to join Front Row Motorsports truck program,” Smith said in a released statement. “They are a top contender in the Truck Series and have proven so with championships and wins. I like what they are building here and am honored to have the opportunity to add to it. We are getting a bit of a late start, but I am excited about the caliber of talent we are talking to in being a part of this program for 2025.”
Smith made his Truck Series debut at Iowa Speedway in June 2019, where he piloted the No. 51 KBM Toyota entry to an eighth-place result. He would make three additional starts for KBM throughout the season, where he finished in the top four in all starts, before he returned for 12 starts in 2020, the latter season of which he recorded five top-five results.
Beginning in 2021, Smith competed as a full-time Truck competitor in KBM’s No. 18 Toyota entry. Over the next two seasons, he notched five victories, one pole, 15 top-five results, 25 top-10 results, 662 laps led and two Playoff appearances. During the span, he claimed the 2021 Rookie-of-the-Year title and made the Championship 4 round in 2022, where he settled in a career-best third place in the final driver’s standings.
Through 62 events as a Truck Series competitor, Smith has recorded five victories, one pole, 24 top-five results, 35 top-10 results, 755 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.5. To date, the Georgian has also made 69 starts in the Xfinity Series events and three in the Cup Series.
The 2025 racing season will mark Front Row Motorsports’ first season fielding two full-time entries in the Truck Series after the organization debuted in the series in 2020. Over the previous five seasons, FRM has notched one championship, which occurred with Zane Smith in 2022. The team has also tallied 10 victories, nine of which have come from the No. 38 Ford entry while one was recorded by the No. 34 Ford entry that made a single-race appearance with Brett Moffitt at Talladega in 2023. To go along with the race victories, the team has recorded three poles, 46 top-five results, 66 top-10 results and 1,359 laps led through 115 combined starts.
This past season, Layne Riggs piloted FRM’s No. 38 Ford entry to his first two career victories in back-to-back weekends at the Milwaukee Mile and Bristol Motor Speedway, respectively, during the Playoff’s Round of 10. He would proceed to capture the Rookie-of-the-Year title. Both he and Chandler Smith will represent FRM with combined efforts to notch their first respective title in the series and the first for the team in three seasons.
Additional plans involving Smith’s number, crew chief and sponsorships along with FRM’s Truck Series program in 2025 will be revealed at a later date.
With his racing plans for next season set, Chandler Smith’s return to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division with Front Row Motorsports is scheduled to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 14, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
