Garage 66 tabs Chandler Smith for Daytona 500
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Chandler Smith will attempt to make his first Daytona 500 next month.
The 23-year-old driver was tabbed by Garage 66, formerly known as MBM Motorsports, to drive the team’s No. 66 entry in The Great American Race, the team announced Wednesday (Jan. 22).
“The last few days have been a whirlwind of phone calls and emails after Mike Wallace was not approved to be the driver of our Daytona 500 entry,” team owner Carl Long said in a press release.
“After several days of non-stop communication with available drivers who could race a Ford, the pieces came together to place Chandler Smith in our car.”
Smith has raced in the NASCAR Cup Series three times — all in 2023 with Kaulig Racing, posting a career-high 11th-place finish at Talladega in October.
2025 will Smith’s second attempt at making the Daytona 500, failing to qualify for the race in 2023.
“I’m very excited for the opportunity to race our way into the Daytona 500 with Garage 66,” Smith said. “Being in The Great American Race is such an honor, and I can’t thank QuickTie and Carl Long enough for helping put this all together.”
Smith will race full-time for Front Row Motorsports in the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series after spending the last two seasons in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.