He isn’t Landon Cassill nearly winning at a plate track or Brett Moffitt earning the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series championship, but there’s another Iowan that’s making his name for himself in asphalt stock car racing.
Johnston, Iowa’s Sammy Smith will be driving for Joe Gibbs Racing at Bristol this Thursday (5:30 p.m. CT FS1) with his eyes set on the ARCA East Series title.
Smith, a rising star in stock cars, has collected three wins in seven races with the series in 2021.
It’s landed him the points lead (+24) going into the final race of the season. All Smith needs to do to capture the title is finish anywhere from first to 19th.
Aside from the race at Iowa Speedway, Smith has yet to finish outside the top five. He was involved in a wreck at Iowa which landed him 18th in his worst finish of the season.
The race will serve as a combination race between the regional series and the national ARCA Menards Series, pitting drivers like Ty Gibbs, Sam Mayer and Corey Heim up against the East side.
It’s the third race of its kind this season on the side, and Gibbs has came away with each of the previous two.
Smith will go up against them and the rest of the field on Thursday, chasing a finish just inside the top 20 to clinch his first title in the NASCAR sanctioned series.
He’ll be running in the No. 81 since Gibbs will run the 18, but Smith is expected to be running up into the No. 18 Joe Gibbs car in the ARCA Menards Series in 2022.
The road to the big trophy ends on Thursday night, and this Iowa driver has all the tools to turn this into a long, successful career.
