Making his first career start behind the wheel of the Kyle Busch Motorsports’ iconic No. 51 Super Late Model, Sammy Smith dominated Night One of the world Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway.
Smith, who collected the championship in the Pro Late Model portion of last year’s World Series, started from the third position after a six-car invert, but wasted no time getting to the front of the field. The talented teenager worked his way around Derek Griffith on a lap-4 restart and remained out front from the remainder of the 35-lap event, crossing the stripe .891 seconds ahead of Griffith
After one event, Smith leads Griffith by two points in the championship standings. Smith and the No. 51 TMC Transportation team will be back in action tonight at New Smyrna for a 35-lap feature event at the 0.48-mile oval. Tonight’s race will be the second of seven races before the World Series of Asphalt champion is crowned on Saturday, Feb. 15.
Sammy Smith, driver of the No. 51 TMC Transportation Camry for Kyle Busch Motorsports:You looked awful good out there tonight, how do you feel about driving for KBM this season?“I can’t thank all these guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports enough. TMC, Communication Data Link, Sinclair Data Link and Toyota for all the help.”
You won the Pro Late Model championship last year, how important is it for you to come out and win this championship in the Super Late Models?
“I think it’s really important to try and back it up – keep getting these top fives and wins and we’ll be there.”
Notable wins for the KBM Late Model team since its inception in 2007 include: Wisconsin All-Star 100 at the Milwaukee Mile (Kyle Busch 2008), Red Bud 300 at Anderson Speedway (Kyle Busch 2009 and Raphael Lessard 2018), Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway (Kyle Busch 2009, Erik Jones 2013 & 2014 and Noah Gragson 2017), Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway (Noah Gragson 2018, Kyle Busch 2009 & 2017 & Erik Jones 2013), SpeedFest at Lanier National Speedway (Kyle Busch 2009 & 2010), SpeedFest at Watermelon Capital Speedway (Kyle Busch 2012), Rowdy 251 at Berlin Raceway (Kyle Busch 2010, 2011 & 2012), All-American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville (TJ Reaid 2010), Slinger Nationals at Slinger Super Speedway (Kyle Busch 2011), the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway (Kyle Busch 2011), Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown at Richmond International Raceway (Kyle Busch 2013), the Howie Lettow Memorial at the Milwaukee Mile (Kyle Busch 2013 and Erik Jones 2014), the Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway (Christopher Bell 2015), the Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway (Kyle Busch, 2018) and Short Track U.S. Nationals (Raphael Lessard, 2018).
KBM PR
