Samuel L. Smith (born June 4, 2004) is an American professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

driver. He competes full-time in the

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level NASCAR Cup Series, Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a Undercard, support ...

, driving the No. 8

Chevrolet SS The Holden Commodore (VF) is a full-size car that was produced by Holden between June 2013 and October 2017. It was the second and last significantly restyled iteration of the fourth (and final) generation of the Holden Commodore to be manufac ...

for

JR Motorsports JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller, L. W. Miller, L.W. Miller, and Rick Hendrick. It c ...

and part-time in the

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

, driving the No. 07 Chevrolet Silverado RST for

Spire Motorsports Spire Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team competing in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series, and the ARCA Menards Series West. The teams ownership group consists of co-founder ...

. Smith previously competed in the

ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car racing, stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into ...

and won two consecutive

ARCA Menards Series East The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly known by other names) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Races are h ...

championships in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. He also has competed in the

CARS Tour The zMAX CARS Tour (formerly known as the USARacing Pro Cup Series, USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, CARS Pro Cup Series, Rev-Oil Pro Cup Series, CARS X1-R Pro Cup Series) and the SPEARS CARS Tour West are a pair of stock car auto racing series in the ...

, where he has driven for car owners Barry Nelson, Marcus Richmond, and Donnie Wilson as well as

Kyle Busch Motorsports Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is an American professional dirt racing team that competes in dirt divisions across the United States. They formerly competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, CARS Tour, CRA Super Series, A ...

Racing career

Late model racing

Smith began racing at the age of 8 in

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performanc ...

s and then began racing legends cars and

late models Late Model stock car racing, also known as late model racing and late models, refers to a type of auto racing that involves purpose-built cars simultaneously racing against each other primarily on oval tracks. This type of racing was early-on ...

. His dad inspired him to start racing. Smith made his debut in the CARS Tour in May 2019, driving the No. 12

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

for Barry Nelson. He was 14 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 Orange County Speedway is a asphalt oval in Orange County, North Carolina, near Rougemont. It first opened in 1966 as a and a dirt oval (Trico Speedway), which operated until 1967 and 1973, respectively. The facility was reopened and paved i ...

. 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

. That year, he also competed in the

World Series of Asphalt New Smyrna Speedway is a 1/2-mile asphalt Oval track racing, oval racetrack located near New Smyrna Beach, Florida, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, that races the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series every Saturday night. It also has a smaller trac ...

. In 2021, KBM decided to temporarily close down their late model team, 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

season as well as the West Series season-finale at Phoenix, all in

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

'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 The Nashville Fairgrounds, also known as The Fairgrounds Nashville and the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, is an entertainment complex in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The site is located southeast of Downtown Nashville on the Nolensville P ...

. He also won the pole at Five Flags. At

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, JGR entered

Ty Gibbs Tyler Randal Gibbs (born October 4, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 54 Toyota Camry (XV80), Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing and part-t ...

(their full-time driver in the main

) 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 Southern National Motorsports Park (formerly Southern National Speedway and Southern National Raceway Park) is a auto racing track in Lucama, North Carolina. History Southern National Motorsports Park hosted 4 NASCAR Southeast Series races b ...

, 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

. 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 Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, 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 18 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 Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, leading the final 8 laps after race leader,

Daniel Dye Daniel Wayne Dye (born December 4, 2003) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for Kaulig Racing. He has previo ...

, suffered a mechanical problem. He would get a second win in the following week at Elko, dominating the race and leading 233 laps.

Xfinity Series

On June 9, 2022, it was announced that Smith would drive for eight races in the

for

, starting at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

. On December 6, JGR announced that Smith would drive the No. 18 full-time in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

with sponsorship from

Pilot Flying J Pilot Travel Centers LLC, trade name, doing business as Pilot Flying J, is a North American chain of truck stops in the United States and Canada. The company is based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The company is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The comp ...

. During the 2023 season, Smith scored his first win at Phoenix; at age 18, he became the youngest Xfinity Series winner at Phoenix and the fourth youngest winner in series history. Sammy Smith 8 Xfinity Sonoma 2024

On September 26, 2023, it was announced that Smith would leave JGR after the 2023 season and move to

in the No. 8 car for

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. Smith started the season with a 23rd place finish at

Daytona Daytona may refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach, Florida * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach Motor racing * Dayto ...

. He made the playoffs as the 12 seed with 0 wins, 4 top 5s, and 13 top 10s. During the playoffs, Smith scored his 2nd career Xfinity win (first win of the 2024 season) at Talladega. Smith started the 2025 season with a 24th-place finish at

. 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 Jesshill Michael Gregory Love Jr. (born January 14, 2005) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for Richard Chil ...

, but Love was disqualified after failing post race inspection; as a result, Smith earned his first win of 2025.

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 Tricon Garage, formerly known as David Gilliland Racing, DGR-Crosley, and Team DGR, is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in early 2017 ...

(previously David Gilliland Racing) No. 17 truck due to Gray still being 17 years old and therefore not able to race there.

announced on March 27, 2024, that Smith was added to the No. 7

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long-running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from the to ...

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

^† 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.)

Xfinity Series

Craftsman Truck Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

ARCA Menards Series

ARCA Menards Series East

ARCA Menards Series West

References

External links

*
Official profile at JR Motorsports
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sammy 2004 births Living people Racing drivers from Des Moines, Iowa NASCAR drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers People from Johnston, Iowa Sportspeople from Polk County, Iowa Joe Gibbs Racing drivers JR Motorsports drivers ARCA Midwest Tour drivers Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers Trans-Am Series drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers