Sammy Smith led 147 laps on Saturday at Martinsville. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — In many ways, Saturday was a career-best performance for Sammy Smith.
Even though he has scored a win, the Johnston, Iowa, native notched his first pole and had the No. 18 Pringles Toyota out front for a career-high 147 laps.
Unfortunately for Smith, a 49-point deficit meant that Smith needed a win. Despite the strong run and chaos surrounding him, a third-place finish was not enough to compete for the Xfinity series championship.
“I think we did everything right,” Smith told NBC after the race. “Just kind of typical for this race, for what it brings. We just have to move onto next week.”
Through the first two stages, Smith appeared to have the car to beat. After pit strategy relegated him to sixth in the opening stage, he won the second stage handily.
Smith lost the lead for good on Lap 177 when he pit after Parker Kligerman brought out the caution. With fresh tires, he was in the catbird seat if the race could see a green flag stretch.
That did not happen, as the race never saw more than a 12-lap green flag run for the final 73 laps.
Smith would do all he could to try and advance, having battles with the likes of Cole Custer and race-winner Justin Allgaier, but never got the track position back.
Next week is the championship race at Phoenix, where the 19-year old scored his first win back in March.
While Smith will not race for a championship, his teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, will.
Amidst the wild final stretch of the 15-caution war of attrition, Nemechek was notably racing hard with his teammate, notably not giving Smith help when it came to restart lane choice.
While not promising payback, Smith, who will move to JR Motorsports next year, said he will not forget the gesture come next week.
“They were telling me he wasn’t going to make any enemies,” Smith said. “I asked him to choose the top if he wasn’t going to do that. I had a good run on him and he went to go block me. I’m very frustrated right now, he definitely made one.”
After a sluggish end to the regular-season that saw three DNFs in the final seven races, Smith has turned it on for four top-10s in the six playoff races. He has one more chance to end his Joe Gibbs Racing tenure on a high note before heading to the No. 8 car for 2024.
