Born to a racing family, Smith began his racing career at the age of four, racing go-karts and microds. Early in his career, he won numerous regional and state championships. In 1995, his family moved from Cato, New York to Mooresville, North Carolina to allow Smith to advance in his racing career. In 1998, Smith joined the World Karting Association, driving for a factory-supported team, and winning the championship that year.[1] Smith also began competing in the Allison Legacy Series in 1998, where he would race for two seasons, winning Rookie of the Year and the championship title in 1999.[2] In 1999, Smith made his series debut in the Hooters Pro Cup Series at USA International Speedway, where he finished last place after crashing 18 laps into the race.[3]
Smith began driving full-time in the Hooters Pro Cup Series in 2000, finishing his first season with five top-ten finishes and a single top-five finish, which came at Myrtle Beach in May.[4] He returned to the series in 2001, starting from the pole at Thompson, Louisville, IRP, and Chemung.[5]
NASCAR
2002–2004
Smith began his NASCAR career in 2002, making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at South Boston in the No. 63 Ford F-150 for MB Motorsports. He qualified 28th but had engine issues mid-race and finished 29th. In October, Smith made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Memphis, driving in the No. 07 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Ed Whitaker. Smith qualified 16th in his Busch debut, but would finish in 39th after a wreck. He made one last start during the 2002 season in the Craftsman Truck Series at Phoenix, again racing for MB Motorsports. Smith qualified 12th for the race, finishing 30th place after ignition issues ended his race early.
In 2003, Smith joined Bost Motorsports in an attempt to run a full-time season for the team, starting at Rockingham.[6] Despite a lack of sponsorship, Smith had three top twenty finishes and was second place in the Rookie of the Year standings halfway through the season. However, following the July race at Daytona, Bost and Smith parted ways, the team opting to run a rotating door of drivers for the remainder of the season.[7] Smith returned at Pikes Peak, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Innovative Motorsports. He qualified 29th for the race, finishing 40th after having ignition issues. To finish the season, Smith joined Mac Hill Motorsports, driving the No. 56 Chevrolet Monte Carlo at the season finale at Homestead. He finished the race in 28th after qualifying 19th.[8] Smith finished the season 38th in points.[9]
Smith ran a part-time schedule in 2004, running for multiple teams throughout the season. He attempted the season-opener at Daytona with Mac Hill Motorsports but failed to qualify. He made six straight races with the team. At Nazareth, Smith practiced and qualified the No. 38 Dodge Charger for Akins Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne, who was with his Winston Cup team during that time.[10] The following race at Charlotte, Smith would fail to qualify for the race and was released by the team.[11] His best finish for Mac Hill Motorsports came at Nashville Superspeedway, where he finished 17th. Holigan Racing hired Smith for three races. During this time, Smith appeared in a few episodes of The Reality of Speed on SpikeTV, which was a reality show which followed the team. The team would suspend operations mid-season. Phoenix Racing hired Smith to run the No. 1 Dodge Charger for the race at Pikes Peak, where he qualified 19th and finished in 15th. At Memphis, Smith would again practice and qualify a car for a Nextel Cup Series driver, this time doing so for Greg Biffle's No. 60 Roush Racing Ford.[12]
Smith made a return to the Craftsman Truck Series for the season finale at Homestead, driving the No. 06 Chevrolet Silverado for MRD Motorsports. After qualifying 25th, Smith drove through the field and finished 9th place, his first top-ten in NASCAR competition.[13]
2005–2007
Smith began the 2005 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 19 Chevrolet for Xpress Motorsports. However, after being caught up in a wreck in the season opener at Daytona, blowing an engine at Fontana, and then failing to qualify for the race at Atlanta, Smith was let go from the team after failing to find sponsorship. Smith was hired soon after by Glynn Motorsports to drive the team's No. 65 Dodge Ram beginning at Mansfield. After moderate success in four races with the team, Smith was moved to Glynn's Busch Series team, replacing a struggling Brent Sherman in the No. 58 Dodge in an attempt to keep the car above 30th in points.[14] Smith found some success during the season, finishing 15th at Nashville, Loudon, and Gateway and qualifying in the top-ten six times.[15] Despite this success, Smith was released by the team before the series finale.
Smith finished the season back in the Craftsman Truck Series returning to the No. 06 Chevrolet for MRD Motorsports for three races. During this stretch of races, Smith struggled, finishing 29th at Atlanta before wrecking out at Texas and having a mechanical issue at the season finale at Homestead.[16]
In November 2005, Smith signed with Team Rensi Motorsports to run the 2006 Busch Series full-time in the team's No. 35 McDonald's sponsored Ford, replacing Jason Keller.[17] He successfully ran the entire season with the team, finishing the season with one top-ten, a 10th place finish at Charlotte, ending the season 20th in points. In October 2006, Ginn Racing owner Bobby Ginn announced that Smith would begin testing with the team with the goal to move him to the Nextel Cup Series 16-race part-time for the 2007 season, sharing the No. 01 Chevrolet with Mark Martin.[18]
2007–2008: Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Smith racing at Infineon Raceway in June 2007Smith's No. 01 car in 2008
Smith attempted his first career Cup race at the 2007 Daytona 500, in a fourth car, numbered 39, for Ginn Racing. After qualifying 25th fastest in the field, Smith entered the Gatorade Duels 8th fastest of the drivers not locked in and failed to qualify after finishing 19th in his Duel. During this time, Smith also raced the No. 4 part-time for Ginn Racing in the Busch Series, getting his first top-ten of the season at Fontana.[19]
His Cup debut came at the Food City 500 at Bristol, which was also the debut race of the Car of Tomorrow.[20] Smith qualified 12th for the race, and finished 25th after struggling on pit road.[21][22] Smith clinched his first top-five of the season in the Busch Series race at Nashville. In July, Ginn Racing released full-time drivers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin midseason and announced that the team had added the rest of the season to Smith's schedule before promoting him to full-time for the 2008 season.[23] However, before Smith could run another race, Ginn Racing merged with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Due to the merge, the No. 14's owner points were transferred to Paul Menard's No. 15 and the No. 14 was shut down, leaving Smith without a ride.[24] Smith finished out the 2007 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet for Morgan Dollar Motorsports.
Smith returned to the No. 01 full-time in 2008, as Mark Martin moved over to the No. 8 alongside Aric Almirola to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. Since he didn't reach the minimum amount of starts to be considered for Rookie of the Year, Smith was eligible to be Rookie of the Year in 2008. In October, Smith was apart of a controversial finish at Talladega, where he crossed the line first but later had the win taken away and given to Tony Stewart after NASCAR determined that Smith went below the yellow line to make the race winning pass. After the race, Smith claimed that the reason he went below the yellow line was because Stewart had pushed him down there.[25]
After the 2008 season, DEI shut down the No. 01 after merging with Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR operation and Smith was released. On January 14, 2009, he signed with Furniture Row Racing to drive the No. 78 for its part-time 2009 slate of races. He made eighteen of twenty attempts with the team, and was hired to drive for the team full-time in 2010, with the team being offered Richard Childress Racing chassis and Hendrick Motorsports engines.
In 2010, he did not score any top-tens. His best finish was twelfth (twice) but still finished 28th in the point standings, his best of his career. The team changed engine providers, becoming a user of Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies (a joint venture of his former DEI team and Childress Racing) engines for the 2011 season, with Stewart–Haas Racing offering pit crews.
At the 2011 Daytona 500, Smith returned to the No. 78 car. Smith finished seventh after crashing in the final laps while battling for the lead. Although disappointing, he was able to come back and finish seventh in the first top-ten finish of his Cup Series career and for Furniture Row Racing.
On May 7, 2011, at the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Smith won his first Sprint Cup race, holding off Carl Edwards at the end. On a late caution, Smith stayed out on older tires while Edwards and most of the lead lap cars pitted for fresh right side tires. Smith fended off Edwards for two restarts to claim the first cup win of his career at Darlington Raceway. Smith in recalling the Talladega race he lost in 2008 said he was not worried about it anymore, and said the Darlington win meant more to him than what he would have experienced at Talladega. The win was somewhat overshadowed by a post-race altercation between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. It was only the third time a driver had won his first Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway, the first being Terry Labonte in 1980, the second being Lake Speed in 1988.
At the 2011 Brickyard 400, Smith had enough fuel to end with a solid 3rd-place finish by passing Jamie McMurray on the last lap, for his second top five of 2011. His former teammate Paul Menard ended up winning the race. Also a strong run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway proved that Smith was ready for the Sprint Cup Series with another top ten position. At the fall race at Talladega Superspeedway, Smith was accidentally turned by Mark Martin and smashed extremely hard head on into the wall. Smith was able to walk away from the crash uninjured but said the crash was one of his hardest wrecks in his career.
In 2012 when the Daytona 500 frustrated many fans and NASCAR officials because of a long rain delay on the planned date, a rain delay in the morning, and then the bizarre fire red flag delay caused by Juan Pablo Montoya's crash into a jet dryer in turn three on lap 160, Smith told the public he was so happy and excited for the first time in his career to leave Daytona that night. Smith had been involved in a crash on lap 188 involving several other drivers, but was able to continue on the lead lap.
At the 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race, Smith had gotten through two cautions that resulted in Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart crashing out of the race[citation needed] until he ended up spinning Danica Patrick away from a top ten finish. Patrick crashed head-on and when climbing out of her car, before leaving with officials she thought about tossing her helmet at Smith's car like Stewart had done to Matt Kenseth previously in the past caution, but instead vented her anger/fury by wagging her finger at him when he came by to lap her down. After the race Smith maintained that he did not intentionally crash her while Patrick believed he did and both left Bristol without any penalties.
It was announced on September 24, 2012, that Smith would not be returning to Furniture Row Racing for the 2013 season. He was replaced by Kurt Busch.[26] In his last start for FRR, in the fall race at Talladega, Smith had a fifth-place finish after clearing a 23-car crash in turn four on the last lap.
Smith was set to finish the 2012 season by swapping rides with Busch, with Busch taking over Smith's No. 78 and Smith taking over the unsponsored No. 51 Chevrolet at Phoenix Racing, but Smith was announced on October 11, 2012, as the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the works team's No. 88 Chevrolet for the Charlotte and Kansas Chase races after Earnhardt was diagnosed with a concussion after his testing crash at Kansas Speedway in August and after involvement in the same last lap crash during the Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega on October 7, 2012, so for these two races, Smith was replaced in the No. 51 by A. J. Allmendinger. Qualifying 26th and performing well during both practice sessions, Smith had a top ten car before the engine failed for the first time on the No. 88 team in the season, and finished the race in the 38th position. In the following race at Kansas, Smith performed well, and managed to muster a top ten finish. Earnhardt returned to the 88 at Martinsville. Allmendinger would drive the No. 51 at Martinsville and Texas, while Smith drove the car at Phoenix and Homestead. On November 17, Smith won the Ford EcoBoost 300 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driving the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevy for JR Motorsports. It is his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series win in his first and only start of 2012. Prior to the win at Homestead Miami, his last start came in 2007.
For 2013, Smith returned to the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 7 for JR Motorsports.[27] On the final lap at the season-opening DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona, Smith was leading while heading into the final turn, but when he attempted to block Brad Keselowski, but then spun up the track, causing a twelve-car crash that injured 28 fans.[28] On May 4, Smith got his second Nationwide Series victory at the Aaron's 312 at Talladega; Smith, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne were racing three-wide to the finish, and despite Kahne crossing first, Smith had been the leader at the time of the caution coming out.[29] At Michigan's Nationwide race, Smith took the lead with thirteen laps remaining after Parker Kligerman pitted, and Smith held off Kyle Larson for his third Nationwide victory.[30] On September 6, Smith stepped into the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports car for Jimmie Johnson in practice and qualifying for the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond, since Johnson was awaiting his second child's birth.[31]
Smith won the season-opening DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona.[citation needed]
On May 24, Smith was tabbed as standby driver for the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports car of Jeff Gordon in the event Gordon did not run the Coca-Cola 600 due to back spasms.[33] Gordon would run the full 600 miles.[34] On August 10, Smith was hired to replace Tony Stewart in the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen after Stewart hit and killed a driver during a sprint car race the previous day.[35]
Smith nearly swept the Daytona Nationwide races by nearly winning the Subway Jalapeño 250. He got edged at the start-finish line by teammate Kasey Kahne in a photo-finish. The spring Daytona race was proven to be Smith's only win of 2014. He finished second in the championship standings to teammate Chase Elliott who clinched the championship during the autumn race at Phoenix.
2015
Smith's 2015 Xfinity Series car at Road America
Smith was picked up by Stewart–Haas Racing to drive the No. 41 Haas Automation car, upon the indefinite suspension of its normal driver Kurt Busch. It marked the second time in seven months that Smith replaced a SHR driver (the other being when he replaced Stewart at Watkins Glen in 2014). Upon Busch's reinstatement, Smith did not return to the Cup Series until the STP 500, when Smith replaced Kyle Larson in the No. 42 Target car of Chip Ganassi Racing after Larson had fainted the day before the race.[36]
In the Xfinity Series race at Daytona, he flipped over for the first time in his career causing him to finish 35th.[37]
On August 8, at Watkins Glen, Smith started a fight against Ty Dillon when Dillon dumped him in turn one costing him in a great finish. On August 15, Smith won the Nationwide Children's Hospital 200, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, passing the leader, Alex Tagliani, in the last lap after slight contact while racing for the lead.[38] On October 3, Smith won his second race in 2015 at Dover, after holding off Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.
On October 17, Smith stated that he would not return to JR Motorsports for 2016 and expected to join a team that is competing in the Cup Series in 2016. It was announced on October 28 that Justin Allgaier would bring a Brandt sponsorship and drive the No. 7 in 2016.
Smith returned to the Cup Series in 2016, driving the No. 7 for Tommy Baldwin Racing, a few hours after Alex Bowman was released from the ride.[39] He started his season with a solid eighth place finish in the Daytona 500. He had a dismal spring and summer showing with his best finish in sixteen starts being 22nd, at Pocono. He later rebounded at the 2016 Pennsylvania 400 with a third place finish,[40] matching the best finish in the history of TBR set by Dave Blaney at the 2011 Good Sam Club 500.[41] Smith ran the full 2016 schedule for TBR with the exception of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 400, for which he was replaced by Ty Dillon as he flew to North Carolina to await the birth of his child.[42]
Smith lost his ride after it was announced on November 17 that Tommy Baldwin Racing would no longer compete full-time after the season was over.[43]
In June, Smith became a color commentator for Fox NASCAR's broadcast of the Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway.[48] In August, Smith joined Joe Gibbs Racing's Xfinity team on a one race deal at Mid-Ohio.
On November 29, 2017, Fox NASCAR announced Smith would become a pit reporter for Cup and Xfinity races in 2018.[49]
On September 6, 2018, it was announced by Leavine Family Racing that Smith would be driving the No. 95 Chevrolet as a substitute for Kasey Kahne starting at the Brickyard 400. Smith has three top-20 finishes and a 10th-place finish with that coming at the fall Talladega race. Smith received the blessing of his Fox NASCAR superiors to take the ride with LFR.[50] He said during the LFR stint that he never considers himself retired when looking for a ride, just not in the seat.[50] Smith said that working the 2018 season on television helped him to know the entire NASCAR community better because he was not bound by team alliances anymore and could talk to anyone in the garage.[50] Smith would go on to finish every one of his starts in the No. 95 and scored a best finish of tenth at Talladega.
Smith married Megan Mayhew in 2011 and the couple have two children, a son named Rhett Lee born February 25, 2015, and a daughter named Eliza Grace born September 18, 2016.[53][54]
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold– Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics– Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. *– Most laps led.)
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