Garrett Smithley didn’t just stand idle while Kyle Busch called into question whether the 27-year old driver deserves to have a spot in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Busch was miffed after he stumbled to a 19th-place finish after contact with Smithley in the final Stage of the race. Busch had rallied from two laps down Sunday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to be within an earshot of a top-five finish in the opening round of the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs. Then, as Busch was coming up on lapped traffic, he slammed into the rear of Smithley’s No. 52 Rick Ware Racing machine.
After the race, Busch called into question whether drivers –like Smithley — who haven’t ever even won a late model race should even be racing in the highest level auto racing series in America.
Busch continued echoing his thoughts on social media throughout Sunday night, and even attacked certain media members for choosing to only post his post-race bullpen answers on social media.
While Busch was seething, Smithley was busy defending.
NASCAR.com’s Zack Albert caught up with Smithley in the garage, when asked about Busch’s comments about his driving skill, Smithley responded, “He’s never been in the position we’ve been in, so he doesn’t know how that goes. That’s the way I see it.”
When talking to Jerry Jordan of KickinTheTires.net, Smithley went on to say, “Put me in one of [Busch’s] late models or trucks and I will win.”
One last parting shot for Smithley at Busch was a tweet where Smithley embedded a video of the incident that riled up Busch. In the video, you can clearly see William Byron in the No. 24 car pass Smithley low, then Busch slams square into the back of Smithley, and then Alex Bowman in the No. 88 passes Smithley to the outside.
Smithley reiterated that he held his line and he questioned why Busch couldn’t avoid his No. 52 car when two other drivers could.
Held my line…2 cars got around ????? https://t.co/pZCRb4uFay
— Garrett Smithley (@GarrettSmithley) September 16, 2019
Smithley, who was making his eighth Cup Series start of 2019 on Sunday, is a full-time driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In 125 starts in the NXS, Smithley has four top-10 finishes and a high finish of fifth which came at Daytona in 2018.
Smithley currently sits 18th in the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver standings.
2 Responses
Kyle Busch has no right to bad mouth a driver he ran into cause others drove around him so Kyle should have also.
I think he did it cause he was tired of driving.
Kryle Busch could have avoided that She just needed an excuse because she didnt win. Cant stand a spoiled little crybaby who’s had a silver spoon in their mouth their entire career Others are not that lucky