DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chandler Smith had a fast car in Duel 1 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Thursday night, but a crash in Turn 2 on Lap 15 cost him and Motorsports Business Management (MBM Motorsports) a starting spot in Sunday’s DAYTONA 500.
Starting 22nd in the No. 66 Quick Tie Ford Mustang, Smith quickly worked his way through the field with the draft, surging to third place. But a costly mistake triggered an eight-car wreck.
While running the high lane, Smith suddenly moved down and clipped Justin Haley’s No. 7 Chili’s Chevrolet Camaro, sending both hard into the outside wall. The crash triggered the race’s second caution and also collected IndyCar superstar Helio Castroneves, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon, Tyler Reddick, and Bubba Wallace.
Castroneves, driving the No. 91 Wendy’s Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, was also vying for the one available open-car spot. However, NASCAR granted his team the open exemption provisional, expanding the field to 41 cars.
The No. 91 Trackhouse team, however, will not receive any points from the “Great American Race” or any prize money.
“I got hit and ended up hitting the wall in turn two pretty hard and broke a toe link. I should have actually just brought it in slower,” offered Castroneves. “We went really fast trying to fix the car, and then obviously, when I hit the banking, the car just snapped to the right. It’s disappointing because the No. 91 Wendy’s Chevy was really good.
“The boys on the PROJECT91 team did an amazing job. They have a little bit of work to do, unfortunately. It wasn’t the night that we wanted, but we’ll take the provisional. So many people have been talking about it, but we will take it and we will learn more for the race.”
After an extensive check-up at the infield care center, Smith returned to the track for Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Fresh From Florida 250.
“I’m all good,” said Smith. “I’m super grateful for everybody in the care center, taking the right precautions and making sure – not just letting me clear the normal protocols and just walk out the door.
“They were a little concerned and wanted to take some X-rays, so we did that, and everything looked good there. I’m grateful that we have that good of an infield care center.”
The 22-year-old, vying for his first bid in the DAYTONA 500, took full responsibility for the crash, admitting he made a bad judgment call.
“My digital mirror ended up going out, so I couldn’t really see that,” Smith explained. “I couldn’t see out of my left side mirror and just got cleared on the inside and was about to drop down and kind of leave that lane.
“My spotter said the No. 7 (Haley) is getting ready to start, come inside, and I knew for that opportunity I could start seeing the two cars in front of me was the 21 and I think the No. 9 started blending bottom a little bit, so I started fading with them and just made a bad judgment call.
“I didn’t know exactly where they were, where the No. 7 was that is, and there’s a lot of really good torn up race cars tonight for something that was avoidable.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
