At 22 years old, we could be seeing the end of Chandler Smith’s NASCAR National Series career unfolding in front of us. At the very least, the native of Talking Rock, Georgia faces an uncertain 2025 season, one where he very well could be left out of the shuffle when it comes to landing a ride.
Smith was asked about his 2025 plans following a 13th-place run in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and the driver was very candid about his situation.
Chandler Smith, who is 28 points below the cutline, said he could be working for his dad’s construction business next year so no craps will be given as he tries to win and advance at Martinsville: pic.twitter.com/wG98LgBtKS
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 26, 2024
“Well, I don’t have a ride next year,” Smith said in a post-race media scrum following a 13th-place run at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday evening.
Smith, who started from the pole in the Credit On NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300, but faded to a 13th-place finish after adjustments throughout the race didn’t agree with his No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra, says he could be working for his dad next season instead of racing.
“I could be working for my dad’s construction business, and I could be hanging it up at the end of this year,” Smith continued.
While it feels like a total shame that a driver the caliber of Smith could be on the outside looking in next season, the three-time NASCAR Xfinity Series race winner and five-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race winner is determined to do everything in his power to end the 2024 campaign by hoisting the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
With one race remaining in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, which takes place next Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, Smith says he has nothing to lose and will leave everything on the track in that race as he heads into that event the first driver outside of the Playoff cutline, 28 points below Cole Custer, the final driver currently inside the provisional Championship 4 field.
“With that being said, all craps will not be given at Martinsville,” Smith stated. “And we were really fast there in the Spring, just don’t need a wreck in practice so I can make my life a little bit easier and not have to drive from the back, hopefully. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If not, we’ve still had an amazing season this year, and super super grateful for the opportunity that I had this year with everybody I was able to work with at Joe Gibbs Racing.”
Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Smith’s name has been in swirling in the rumor mill, and the driver was even tied to a potential opportunity to go full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing at one point. But with how things went down in the Charter Agreement situation between NASCAR, Front Row Motorsports, and 23XI Racing, it has changed the financial terms for a driver looking to pilot a car for either of those teams next season.
“There’s not really any seats open,” Smith said in frustration. “The only seats left open, you have to bring a big, big, big pocketbook with you, and I don’t have a big pocketbook.”
It seems unfathomable, but the driver who picked up wins earlier this season at Phoenix Raceway, where the championship will be decided in two weeks, and Richmond Raceway, doesn’t have any potential leads on a ride for next season at the moment.
As Smith was navigating the NASCAR free agency market, seats in the NASCAR Xfinity Series have also been filling fast. The juggernauts of the series, Joe Gibbs Racing, JR Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, and Kaulig Racing all seem to have no room at the inn, even for a driver as talented as Smith.
Will Chandler Smith find a place to race next season? That remains to be seen, but the young and talented racer is going to try to make sure he puts an exclamation point on the 2024 season in case it is his last time getting to wheel a NASCAR National Series car full-time.
