Chandler Smith

Chandler Smith

21-Year-Old Driver  
Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing
2024 Fantasy Outlook
The rookie Xfinity Series season was a success for Smith last year. He'd race to one win and 13 Top-10 finishes as well as a surprising ninth-place points finish. Smith moves on from Kaulig Racing and into Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 81 Toyota for 2024. The young talent will be an interesting prospect for the upcoming season. Smith will be paired with Jeff Meendering at crew chief. The veteran has 228 Xfinity Series starts under his belt and eight victories, all with very young drivers. That's good news for Smith. His 36 starts of experience in this division of NASCAR is just scratching the surface, and he's in need of a talent like Meendering. Joe Gibbs Racing always has good cars and support, so this is a driver and team situation that is poised to grow and maybe quicker than we give them credit. Read Past Outlooks
Third in DUDE Wipes 250
XFINITY Series
April 6, 2024
Smith finished third in the DUDE Wipes 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway Saturday night.
ANALYSIS
Smith overcame starting 37th on the grid to wage an incredible drive forward at the Virginia short track. The driver of the No. 81 Toyota would finally crack the Top 10 by the end of stage 2 and would continue picking off positions. The overtime restart and finish would see Smith battling to hold off Carson Kvapil for third-place. It was his sixth Top 5 of the season and Smith leaves Martinsville with the championship standings lead.
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Chandler Smith See More
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19 days ago
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47 days ago
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NASCAR Draft Kit: 2024 Xfinity Rankings
93 days ago
The 2024 Xfinity Series lineup is stacked with new and returning talent. Mark Taylor thinks Austin Hill can put together another big season and challenge for the title in Phoenix.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2021
2020
After an impressive five-win, 28 Top-10 finish campaign for Kaulig Racing last season, AJ Allmendinger makes the move to full-time racing in the NASCAR Cup Series this season. The fantastic car and Kaulig team that helped him to make that happen have tabbed Smith to continue on with that great work in the Xfinity Series. The young driver comes over from the Craftsman Truck Series where he piloted a KBM Toyota to five wins and 25 Top-10 finishes over the past two campaigns. Smith was a championship contender in that division of NASCAR, but came up short of the title the last two seasons. The No. 16 Chevrolet team is well established now and has the sponsorship, leadership and excellence to propel Smith to wins and title contention in the Xfinity Series.
Last season was the young Georgian's first full-time season in the truck series. Smith left quite an impression after his two-win, nine Top 10 performance. The No. 18 Toyota was strong, and Smith got better with each start in 2021. He finished the campaign strong with his two victories coming in the last five events of last season. Smith will carry that momentum into 2022 and look to propel this team towards a championship run. The young driver will be paired with crew chief, Danny Stockman, once again and they'll look to continue building on what they established last year. At just 19-years-old, Smith still has much to learn but it appears he has loads of talent.
The young prospect completed a 12-race schedule last season for KBM. It was a very promising campaign with Smith grabbing five Top-5 finishes in those dozen starts. There was some inconsistency early in the schedule, but Smith settled in nicely posting most of those good finishes in the stretch run. He should carry that momentum into 2021 as Kyle Busch Motorsports moves him into full-time competition and the team's No. 18 Toyota truck. This is the same team that Christian Eckes raced last season to the tune of seven Top-5 and 11 Top-10 finishes. KBM expects more from this team and they're going to look to Smith to deliver in his first full season. The young driver will look to crew chief Danny Stockman to mentor his efforts in pursuit of Rookie of the Year this season.
This was easily the most successful and dominant of the multi-driver teams in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2019. The team featured Christian Eckes and Brandon Jones mostly, but threw in a dash of Kyle Busch and other drivers for good measure. It all added up to six victories, 15 Top-5 and 17 Top-10 finishes. Those would be championship winning numbers were it not for the driver rotation. Busch was responsible for five of the six wins, and Greg Biffle picked up the other one with a surprising one-off start at Texas. We should see a similar driver lineup for 2020. Busch will get the maximum allowed of five starts, Smith should see the bulk of the remaining starts and Jones could equal or better the four starts he had with the team last season. You can count on this team being strong each weekend, and a threat to win every time Busch races.
More Fantasy News
Wins ToyotaCare 250
XFINITY Series
March 30, 2024
Smith won the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond Raceway Saturday afternoon.
ANALYSIS
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Wins Phoenix Xfinity Race
XFINITY Series
March 9, 2024
Smith won the Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway.
ANALYSIS
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Third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
XFINITY Series
March 2, 2024
Smith finished third in The LiUNA NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon.
ANALYSIS
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Runner-up Finish at Atlanta
XFINITY Series
February 24, 2024
Smith finished second in the Raptor King of Tough 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday evening.
ANALYSIS
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Moves to JGR for 2024
XFINITY Series
December 13, 2023
Joe Gibbs Racing announced their driver and crew chief lineup for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The team will field four Toyota GR Supras - two with full-time drivers and two with a rotating schedule of part-time drivers. The lineup will be headlined by Sheldon Creed driving the No. 18 GR Supra and Smith piloting the No. 81 GR Supra.
ANALYSIS
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