Chandler Smith Returns to Familiar Nashville Fairgrounds for Next ARCA Menards Series Start
CONCORD, NC | MAY 2, 2019 — Returning to the site of his ARCA Menards Series’ driving debut last season, short track ace Chandler Smith (No.20 Craftsman Toyota) returns to action with Venturini Motorsports in Saturday night’s General Tire Music City 200 at the Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville.
In his first ever ARCA start at Nashville last season, Smith set a track qualifying record before starting on the pole and finishing fifth in his series debut.
“I’m excited to get back in the car this weekend,” said Smith. “Nashville is a special place. This is where I started in ARCA and last year we went out and set the track record by three-tenths of a second and sat on the pole.”
“One thing about this place is you have to really take care of your equipment, and even with all of my experience there I used my stuff up too quickly last year. I was too heavy on the brakes and it burned the tires off of it really quick. But I learned from that and used that experience at Madison, which is pretty similar, and we won that race. Nashville is a great place to come and race because you learn so much you can take to other race tracks all across the country.”
A member of the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) family, Smith is in the midst of an 11-race ARCA schedule along with making four NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts with Kyle Busch Motorsports later in the season. Set for his third start of the season, Smith brings added sponsorship support from 828 logistics and Quick Tie Systems.
Already with a pair of fourth-place finishes and one General Tire Pole Award on the season, sixteen-year old Chandler Smith will rely on his talent and previous Nashville experience to break back into the win column.
“I’ve been racing at Nashville since I was 12 years old. I started in pro late models, then super late models. It really helps that I have a lot of laps there. I made my first ARCA start there and I had as many laps there as anyone in the field. I’m probably most comfortable racing at Nashville as anywhere else we go to throughout the season. I’m excited to come back this week and have a shot at winning.”
Returning to ARCA for his sophomore season, the Georgia native splashed onto the ARCA scene by earning four consecutive General Tire Pole Awards to start his career in 2018. He also won twice, winning at Madison International Speedway in June before closing his season with a dominant performance at Salem Speedway in which he led 199 of 200 laps.
Since making his debut at Nashville in the spring of 2018 Smith has made a total of 11 ARCA starts. Yet to finish outside the top-10 the youngster has posted impressive numbers – winning twice and earning five pole awards. He’s captures eight top-5’s and has led 804-laps.
The General Tire Music City 200 presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions is scheduled for Saturday, May 4. The day will get started with practice at 2:15 pm ET/1:15 pm CT, General Tire Pole Qualifying will follow at 5:15 pm ET/4:15 pm CT, and the race will go green shortly after 9 pm ET/8 pm CT. The race will be televised live flag-to-flag on MAVTV.
Sources: Venturini Motorsports PR