(Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — With his back deep against the wall, Sammy Smith threw an ace down Friday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway. With a time of 20.035 seconds, Smith edged Justin Allgaier to snatch the pole for Saturday’s Dead On Tools 250 — the penultimate race of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
Smith locked up his brakes on his first lap but recovered to top the chart in his final lap.
“That first lap was a little bit off,” Smith explained in a press conference. “I had a little bit of lock up, so I tried to adjust that a little bit and was able to get the pole there on the second lap. I kind of knew that second lap, going in, was going to be faster. Just kind of needed to get heat in the tires with it being colder right now.
“You just have to go hard to get heat in the tires, and it seemed like a lot of guys, their first lap – their fastest lap was the first lap, so I kind of knew I needed to get heat in the tires, and not make too big of a mistake on that first lap, and then my second lap was going to be faster.”
Smith’s goal is pretty cut and dry — win and get in. At 49 points behind Austin Hill and Cole Custer for the final spots on points, it would take a miracle to come remotely close to pointing in.
Three finishes within the top 11, including a third at Texas Motor Speedway, helped prevail Smith into the Round of 8 by a mere seven points. The semifinal round, however, hasn’t been as kind with a 17th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, two laps off the pace. Although he recorded a top 10 last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, a lack of playoff points puts the 19-year-old from Johnston, Iowa in a dire spot.
Smith’s off to JR Motorsports next season, but he still hasn’t given up on his 2023 championship hopes.
(Photo: Christopher Vargas | The Podium Finish)
“I think there is really no strategy for us,” Smith said. “We just have to go out and win. I feel like that is the biggest thing for us. I feel like we can do that. I feel like we need to do whatever it takes.
“I feel like we have a really good Pilot Flying J, Pringles Supra for [Saturday]’s race. I feel like practice was good, qualifying was good. Just have to go execute [Saturday].”
In two career starts at Martinsville, Smith has had success. Though he finished 18th last fall, he led a lap and battled out front before spinning late in the race. Back in April, he finished runner-up to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate John Hunter Nemechek.
“I’ve been here a couple of times in the Xfinity car and a couple of times in a late model,” Smith said. “This year – the first race – I learned a lot, what I need to do to my car, where John Hunter and Cole Custer were running. I feel like they were the best two cars all night. I think we learned a lot with what we needed to do. I feel good going into [Saturday].”
And if Smith can make the Championship 4, he’d return to the site of his only Xfinity win to this point — Phoenix Raceway. But of course, a win at Martinsville would have to happen first.
Saturday’s Dead On Tools 250 is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Ty Gibbs won last year’s race and Nemechek won in the spring.
