Sammy Smith / No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota GR Supra Preview – Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway

No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota GR Supra News and Notes: 

  • SMITH AT KANSAS: This weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race at Kansas Speedway will be Sammy Smith’s first race at the track in any series. The start will be Smith’s sixth of the season with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) with three more remaining on his schedule. Smith will also run the ARCA Menard’s Series (AMS) race for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) following the NXS race on Saturday. 
  • DAYTONA RECAP: Qualifying for the NXS race at Daytona International Speedway was rained out giving Smith a third-place starting position. Smith spun out on lap 15 of the race and hit the wall, taking him out of the race. The No. 18 Pilot Flying J GR Supra finished 38th.    
  • 2022 ARCA SERIES: Smith has won three 2022 AMS races – Elko, Berlin, and Milwaukee. He has six poles this season with an average starting position of 2.3 and an average finish of 4.5 after finishing in the top five in 10 of the 11 races he has competed in. In the ARCA Menards Series East (AMSE), Smith has four wins this season – New Smyrna, Pensacola, Nashville, and Milwaukee – and finished in the top five in both of the other races he has run. He won the 2021 AMSE championship after winning three races and collecting one pole award. 
  • HE MAY BE A ROOKIE BUT…: Crew Chief Jason Ratcliff certainly is not! Ratcliff has 27 combined NXS and NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) starts at Kansas with one win in each series. His NXS win came in 2003 with David Green and the NCS win came in 2013 with former JGR driver Matt Kenseth. In the NCS, Ratcliff has two top-fives, six top-10 finishes, and two pole awards. In the NXS, he has three top-five finishes, six top-10 finishes, and one pole award.  
  • NO. 18 IN 2022: The JGR No. 18 has had eight different drivers so far in 2022 – Drew Dollar, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Truex, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Connor Mosack, Christopher Bell, and Sammy Smith. The No. 18 team has an average start of 9.8, an average finish of 17.4, 259 laps led, six top-five finishes, and 10 top-10 finishes.  
  • JGR AT KANSAS: A Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) car has won 11 of the last 15 NXS races at Kansas Speedway accounting for all of the victories JGR owns at the track. Ty Gibbs won the most recent race at the 1.5-mile oval in 2021 after passing Austin Cindric with 11 laps to go in the race. In 58 combined NXS starts, drivers have put up five pole starting positions with an average start of 10.3, led 1,216 laps, have 18 top-five finishes, 32 top-10 finishes, and an average finish of 13.4. 
  • FOLLOW ALONG: Follow along for updates and a behind-the-scenes look at Smith’s 2022 NXS/ARCA Seasons.  

Twitter: @SammySmithSS I Facebook: Sammy Smith Racing I Instagram:  @sammysmithss_ 

  • RACE INFO: The NXS Kansas Lottery 300 will start at 3:00 PM ET on Saturday, September 10. The race will be broadcasted on USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM Radio, and available to stream on the NBC Sports app. 

 

From the Driver’s Seat: 

Sammy Smith: “I’m looking forward to getting out to Kansas this weekend. It will be my first mile and a half track in the Xfinity car but the 18 guys have had good runs at those tracks this year so I feel confident in the car we’ll bring.  We’re hoping to have a good race and get a strong finish out of the No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota GR Supra.” 

JGR PR