Garrett Smithley, who was not scheduled to run this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, will now slide behind the wheel of the No. 78 BJ McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, the team announced on Thursday.
When NASCAR did not grant approval for James Davison, who was looking to make his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series start and first-ever NASCAR start on an oval, to run this weekend’s event in the Spire Motorsports No. 77 machine, BJ McLeod was asked to fill in for Davison in the No. 77.
McLeod was scheduled to run the race in his own No. 78 machine, but when he moved over that opened up space for Smithley.
Smithley, 28, has 27 NASCAR Cup Series starts in his career, including 10 so far in 2020. His career-best finish was a 26th-place effort at Bristol Motor Speedway a few races ago.
The Pennsylvania-native will look to better that finish this weekend.
