Chandler Smith lands full-time at Kyle Busch Motorsports

On Monday, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that Chandler Smith will drive the No. 18 Toyota Tundra full-time with Safelite AutoGlass sponsoring him. Danny Stockman will be his crew chief for the 2021 season. Smith has competed in sixteen races for KBM part-time for the last two seasons with eight top-five and nine top-ten finishes.

𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎: @CSmithDrive to Drive the No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass® Tundra in 2021@safelite | @ToyotaRacing https://t.co/e0mtRNmGQj pic.twitter.com/WvbUoqgNaS — Kyle Busch Motorsports (@KBMteam) December 7, 2020

Smith, a native of Talking Rock, GA, spent the 2020 season in the Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, and the ARCA Menards Series East. He made 27 starts for all three of those series with two wins, two poles, eight top-five and ten top-ten finishes in the ARCA Menards Series, one top-five and one top-ten finish in the ARCA Menards Series East, and five top-five and five top-ten finishes in the Camping World Truck Series.

Smith released a statement regarding competing full-time saying, “Since I started racing at a young age, I’ve worked hard towards my goal of getting to compete full time in NASCAR, so being named to drive the Safelite AutoGlass Toyota Tundra and being able to chase a championship in the Camping World Truck Series next year is very rewarding. I’ve learned a lot from Kyle the last few years, and I’m thankful to be in a position where I can continue to learn from him. KBM is a top-notch organization, and I know that with the hard work from everyone in the shop combined with the support from Toyota and TRD that every time we go to the racetrack, we’ll have a chance to compete for wins as long as I do my part.”

Smith began his racing career in 2013, winning the Bandoleros national championship. He then competed in the Cars Super Late Model Tour, scoring seven top-five and eight top-ten finishes. In 2018, he made his ARCA Menards Series debut and competed in nine races. He won the pole four times in the first four races to go along with two wins, six top-five, and nine top-ten finishes.

In 2019, Smith continued to run the ARCA Menards Series on a part-time basis and debuted in the Camping World Truck Series, along with an appearance in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series. During the 2019 season, he won four poles, five races, eight top-five and ten top-ten finishes in the ARCA Menards Series, and three top-five and four top-ten finishes in the Camping World Truck Series.

Kyle Busch released a statement on the addition of Smith full-time stating, “Chandler is following the path that other Toyota Development drivers have in past seasons where they gain valuable experience driving a limited schedule for a couple of seasons and then graduate to running full time for a championship once they are eligible to do so. He showed that he could run up front on the short tracks right out of the gate in his first season and at the end of this year once he started to understand the aerodynamics of racing on the bigger tracks in the Truck Series, he proved capable of producing top fives no matter where we were racing. Next season, we expect him to continue his progression and be able to turn some of those second and third-place finishes into wins and put himself into the mix for the championship.”

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season starts Friday, February 12th, at Daytona International Speedway.

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