Sammy Smith’s original ARCA East deal with Joe Gibbs Racing was supposed to include only six races on the development tour’s regional series.
After the Des Moines native captured two wins and a second-place finish through the first three races of the season, he’s locked in to chase a championship.
At just 16 years old, it will be the first time he’s done that in his racing career.
“It’s been really good,” Smith said. “I feel like I’ve adapted to ARCA pretty well. We haven’t struggled too much with it. I think this week might be a little tougher with my teammate Ty (Gibbs) running against me.”
Smith originally was not going to race two of the eight races on the slate, but after his stellar start to the year, he’s been given the bump by JGR.
He’ll be driving for the team for the remainder of the ARCA East season, with three of the next five races coming up against national ARCA talent.
“With these next couple of races coming up with the (combined) ARCA Series, it will be a lot tougher,” Smith said. “It will give me a little bit of a different feel.”
Smith will take his super late model experience into the larger field races.
He currently drives for Wilson Motorsports during some of the big asphalt late model races around the country. He said its prepared him as well as anything could.
“It’s honestly been so good,” Smith said. “The super late model world has taught me so much just about how to race. The competition in the super’s is the toughest I’d say all the way up to Xfinity or even trucks. You’ve got about seven top teams at all the big races – your team just has to be better.”
Smith has grown up around racing his whole life.
His dad owns RSMG – an agency that has represented the likes of NASCAR’s Michael Annett, Derek Kraus, and Drew Dollar as well as Iowa State Wrestling’s Brent Metcalf.
There isn’t a bigger state of Iowa crossover to NASCAR racing.
“He was really close to Harrold Annett – Michael’s dad obviously,” Smith said. “Sammy Swindell drove for his sprint car team. My dad grew up with them and he got me into it. He didn’t really have to do much to get me into it.”
Once Smith got to middle school, he eventually made the call to chase racing as a full-time career.
“I missed probably 50 or 60 days of school my last year of in-person schooling, so that was really tough,” Smith said. “It was kind of easier not knowing if I was going to make a career out of racing, but that’s my passion and we’re going to work towards that.”
Now, he’s racing in the development series for one of the top teams in the entirety of the motorsports world.
His next chapter comes on Friday at Dover.
“I’ve never tried to run for a championship, so this will be the first time in my career where (I’m doing that),” Smith said. “I honestly just want to go out and win every race and if a championship happens, it happens.”
Friday’s ARCA East race at Dover is scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. CT and will be televised on NBC TrackPass. A subscription to the service can be purchased for just $3.99 a month.
Remaining ARCA East Schedule
May 14 | Dover
June 12 | Southern National Motorsports Park
July 24 | Iowa Speedway
Aug. 29 | Milwaukee
Sep. 16 | Bristol
| ARCA East Points Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Sammy Smith | 141 | – | |
| 2 | Mason Diaz | 126 | -15 | |
| 3 | Max Gutierrez | 119 | -22 | |
| 4 | Joey Iest | 117 | -24 | |
| 5 | Rajah Caruth | 111 | -30 | |
| 6 | Parker Retzlaff | 111 | -30 | |
| 7 | Daniel Dye | 110 | -31 | |
| 8 | Carson Kvapil | 96 | -45 | |
| 9 | Dick Doheny | 93 | -48 | |
| 10 | Taylor Gray | 85 | -56 | |
