SciAps 200
Saturday marked Garrett Smithley’s fifth trip to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In his previous four starts, all with JD Motorsports, he bettered his finishing position from an average start of 28.0 to 25.5.
For this race, Smithley hit the track with Kase Kallenbach atop the pit box and Brent Wentz on the spotter’s stand. When Mother Nature had other plans for the weekend and washed out practice and qualifying on Friday, teams were forced to line up per the rule book, putting Smithley in P34.
Prior to taking the green flag, NASCAR officials brought the cars to their pit stalls to switch to wet-weather tires. This would mark the first time the NXS ran these tires on an oval.
Stage 1
After a shaky start as drivers took the green, they settled into three-wide battles throughout the field.
After Kallenbach noted that Smithley “was earning it,” his driver claimed P29 on Lap 6. Smithley quickly radioed in that he was “really, really tight in the center.”
Lap 11 brought the first caution as NASCAR was ready to re-check the track surface and see if teams could go back to slicks. Smithley came in for four tires and adjustments and returned to the track in P37 for the Lap 17 restart.
Within three laps of restarting on slicks, Kallenbach noted Smithley was running two seconds faster than before. Smithley had settled into a quiet race and was working hard to learn, after admitting pre-race he wasn’t usually good at this track.
Lap 26 saw Patrick Emerling with issues and a lap later, the yellow was out with Smithley in P35. He noted, “This thing drives really dang good.” He felt like the car was a “touch tight” but was overall very happy with the car.
The No. 4 team was hapy to stay on track and maintain track position during this caution. This allowed Smithley to line up P25 with 12 left in the opening stage. However, two laps later, the caution was back in the air after the No. 98 got into AJ Allmendinger. Allmendinger slid into Parker Kligerman and Kligerman slammed the wall.
Once again, the No. 4 team opted to stay on track after seeing the majority of the leaders take to the pits. This allowed Smithley to restart P16 with six to go and he was warned, “A lot of top 10s with tires behind you.”
Smithley gained two spots on the restart and sat top of three for most of a lap with Anthony Alfredo and Christopher Bell. Once the battle shook out and the green-white-checkered waved, he was scored P28.
He immediately radioed in, “I need to be freed up!” Kallenbach said, “We’ll do tires, fuel, and some adjustments.”
Wentz noted Smithley was hanging in there and encouraged his driver. Then, there was discussion about the weather as everyone made sure rain was staying away.
Before the second stage started, Smithley said, “We’re only one stage in and this is probably the most fun I’ve had at New Hampshire! Thanks Kase!” Kallenbach responded, “Team effort, man!”
Stage 2
After the stop, Smithley lined up P33 to start Stage 2. Smithley quickly radioed in, “He jumped the restart!” And sure enough, Nathan Byrd was assessed with a restart penalty.
The ensuing laps were quiet for Smithley as he went back to working the track. He was running P34 until five remained in the second stage. Suddenly, Smithley was yelling, “No brakes! No brakes!”
Kallenbach asked him to nurse it around the track, but it was ultimately Smithley’s call. He made it to the end of the stage and he finished P32, down one lap.
He felt the brakes came back after cooling them off, but the team worked out a plan to assess the situation under caution.
Stage 3
Stage 3 began with Smithley in P35, down one lap and still having fun despite the brake issues.
With 100 to go, the caution came out as the No. 6 of Armani Williams went spinning. Smithley was scored P34 on the restart with 95 to go. He gained two spots on the restart and held his ground.
The track began to change as the sun tried to peek through, and Smithley maintained P33. Drivers ahead of him started to get squirrley with 70 to go, but the race stayed green.
Green flag pit stops started with Ryan Sieg on Lap 142. Twenty-three laps later, Smithley took to the pits and was completing his stop when A. Williams again went spinning and brought out the caution.
With 27 to go, Smithley restarted P31 down one lap and both eyes forward. Two laps later, the caution waved as Chandler Smith went for a spin.
The next restart came with 19 to go and Smithley was sitting P31. The team agreed the leaders were not done wrecking.
Sure enough, as soon as drivers took the green flag, the yellow was in the air as a handful of drivers attempted to take the race four-wide.
Another restart came with 12 to go and Smithley running P31. And within a lap, there was another caution as the Nos. 15 and 92 got into each other, tearing their cars apart.
Smithley was still sitting P31 for the next restart which came with six laps remaining. He found himself sitting three-wide once again and after he worked himself out of that situation, was sitting P32 when the next caution waved a lap later. This time, it was for Mason Massey going for a spin.
Sitting in the Lucky Dog spot, Smithley was P31 in an Overtime Restart. The team opted to not take 30-lap scuffed tires and keep their spot on track.
The green flag waved and the field managed to keep it clean. NASCAR Cup Series regular, Christopher Bell ended up winning the race, while Smithley brought it home P30.
“That’s officially the most fun I’ve ever had at this race track! Thank you guys!”
Sponsor Shoutout + Driver & Team Socials
Finally, NASCAR fans know sponsors make the sport go ’round. We want to give a shoutout to Trophy Tractor, Inc. who played a huge part of the weekend for Garrett and the No. 4 team.
Be sure to give Garrett Smithley (Facebook, Instagram, X) and JD Motorsports (Facebook, Instagram, X) a follow to keep up with the latest news from the driver and team.
