(Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
LAS VEGAS — Ahead of just his sixth NASCAR Xfinity Series start, Chandler Smith secured the pole for Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Smith laid down a lap of 29.489 seconds (183.119 mph) in his Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro to beat out Justin Allgaier by six one-hundredths of a second.
Dating back to 2022 with AJ Allmendinger, it’s the third consecutive pole at Las Vegas for the No. 16 team.
“It takes a lot of confidence in yourself and your team knowing that everything is going to stick,” Smith said in a press conference. “I’ve looked over data with AJ. He’s got a good record here with getting the pole and seeing his throttle trace.
“The Xfinity cars got a little more power. They don’t have as much downforce and sideforce as a truck … I had to live up to the expectations of the 16 group and get that poll today for them.”
Smith is in his first season driving for Kaulig Racing after spending the last two seasons driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports. When Busch switched to Richard Childress Racing and Chevrolet in the Cup Series, Smith jumped ship to Kaulig.
The move ended a five-year tenure for Smith at Toyota.
(Photo: Myk Crawford | The Podium Finish)
“I feel like Xfinity cars definitely suit my driving style from my background with super late model racing and short-track racing,” Smith said. “I’m loving being at Kaulig Racing. There was a lot of thought for me and my wife on where we were going to end up landing for this year. We’re believers, and I believe definitely this is where the good Lord wanted me to be.”
So far, things are off to a good start. After finishing 12th at Daytona International Speedway, Smith ran in the top 10 most of the day at Auto Club Speedway and walked away with a fourth-place result.
Despite his first Xfinity top five, Smith acknowledged that he made many mistakes in Sunday’s rain-delayed event.
“I made a lot of mistakes on my part which cost me to be in a better position at the end of the race for that caution to maybe have bettered my result,” Smith said. “I got to clean that stuff up on my end.”
“Auto Club is a racetrack that really shows what weak points you have in your program. Knowing how we were, what we fought balance-wise, how we progressively got better throughout the whole race, I knew where we were going to be as a group coming here.”
Using the same car as last weekend, Smith hopes he can better that result.
In four NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at Las Vegas, Smith has a victory, which came last spring, and two top fives. A win Saturday would be the first in his Xfinity career and would likely lock him into the Playoffs.
“This track is definitely one of the most amplified tracks we go to where it changes constantly, especially with track temperature,” Smith said. “The biggest thing is [the 16 team has] a good notebook here in the past. So we’re going to read off those notebooks and adjust accordingly.”
