After Mike Wallace’s Daytona 500 entry was rejected by NASCAR, the newly rebranded Garage 66 team, formerly known as MBM Motorsports has lined up Garrett Smithley for the preseason Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Smithley is no stranger to NASCAR’s top tier, having made 76 Cup Series starts, with his most recent appearance in 2022.
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This season, Smithley is also set to take the wheel of the SS-GreenLight Racing’s #14 Chevrolet Camaro full-time in the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series. He will be guided by veteran crew chief Jason Miller and supported by long-term partner Trophy Tractor in the junior series.
Smithley’s best finish in NASCAR’s top tier came in 2022, securing a 21st-place finish at Auto Club Speedway behind the wheel of Rick Ware Racing’s #15 Ford. However, Garage 66 team owner Carl Long believes that the compact and challenging track at Bowman Gray provides an ideal stage for Smithley and the #66 crew to excel this season.
He said, “It has been a while since Garrett last drove for our organization, but I am glad to have him back in our car. He has a solid deal in Xfinity that also gives him more freedom to race in the Cup. Garage 66 does not have the high-budget simulators that some other teams utilize, but Garrett has done well on short tracks, and they don’t get much shorter than Bowman Gray.”
Excited to get to run The Madhouse in Cup! Thankful to @MBMMotorsports and Carl to give me an opportunity in the Cup Series again https://t.co/IaAbmbMdtJ
— Garrett Smithley (@GarrettSmithley) January 18, 2025
Smithley, thrilled about his return to the Cup Series, even if just for a non-points event, expressed his excitement, “It’s awesome to be back in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025. I’ve been talking to Carl [Long] for a while now about putting something together, and finally, all the pieces fell into place. I am looking forward to running this historic race at Bowman Gray, and hopefully, we can do more together throughout the year.”
Long’s decision to bring Garrett Smithley back to The Clash is primarily because of their on-and-off partnership over the years, despite Smithley’s unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 in 2021.
With over a decade in NASCAR and no victories to his name, Smithley’s career highlights come in the form of five top-10 finishes in the Xfinity Series. Although never a full-time contender in the Cup Series, he has participated in the Xfinity Series full-time for over four seasons.
During his tenure in the junior series from 2016 to 2019, Smithley’s performance peaked with finishes of 18th, 21st, 19th, and 19th, respectively.
Moreover, in his previous 11 NASCAR Xfinity Series races for SS-GreenLight Racing, Smithley clinched a top-10 at Talladega Superspeedway in 2020. It will be interesting to see how the Pennsylvania-born driver adapts to the Next Gen car this year on a track as compact as Bowman Gray.
