One more piece of the NASCAR Silly Season has fallen into place…

With Ty Gibbs moving up to the Cup Series next season to drive the number 54 car and replace the departed Kyle Busch, it has left a spot on the Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series team.

On December 7, team owner Joe Gibbs announced that teen driver Sammy Smith would be taking over the full time driving duties of the number 18 Xfinity Series car with Jeff Meendering as the crew chief.  Pilot Flying J, Allstate Peterbilt, the Renda Group, Sinclair Tractor, and Mobil 1 will serve as sponsors on the car for the 33 race season.

Joe Gibbs Racing is just ne of two teams in the Xfinity Series that fields a Toyota; the other is Sam Hunt Racing.  The news of Sammy Smith joining Joe Gibbs Racing comes just two days before Toyota is set to announce the full driver lineup for the Xfinity Series Toyota drivers.

The 18 year old Smith is a two time ARCA Menards Series East champion and won six races in the ARCA Series last season.  He drove nine Xfinity Series races last season.

Executive Vice President of Xfinity Series and Driver Development for JGR Steve DeSouza spoke on Smith saying, “Sammy is a fantastic addition to our 2023 Xfinity lineup. He proved to have the passion and the talent necessary to compete for wins in the races he ran for us in 2022.  We are excited to get him in the number 18 full-time and know he will be competitive from the jump.”