Chandler Smith driving for Garage 66 at Daytona 500
Yesterday at 03:33 PM
Garage 66 has signed Chandler Smith to compete in the 67th Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, driving the No. 66 QuickTie Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
The Talking Rock, Georgia native has ascended the NASCAR ranks and already picked up several race victories in his young career. After graduating from the ARCA Menards Series with ten wins, Smith has earned five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins and three NASCAR Xfinity Series wins, including two last season on his way to a Top 5 finish in the championship. In 2025, he will be racing full-time for Front Row Motorsports in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
"I‘m very excited for the opportunity to race our way into the Daytona 500 with Garage 66. Being in The Great American Race is such an honor, and I can‘t thank QuickTie and Carl Long enough for helping put this all together," said Smith.
The 22-year-old already has NextGen superspeedway race experience, finishing in the Top 15 in the 2023 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. He has Top 20 finishes in all three of his NASCAR Cup Series starts to date.
Carl Long, who operates Garage 66 with co-owners Rocky and Tom Smith as well as John Jackson, had a tumultuous few days after Mike Wallace was ruled ineligible to compete in the 500 and had to scramble to put another deal together.
"The last few days have been a whirlwind of phone calls and emails after Mike Wallace was not approved to be the driver of our Daytona 500 entry. After several days of non-stop communication with available drivers who could race a Ford, the pieces came together to place Chandler Smith in our car," said Long.
"I am super pleased to have Chandler in our seat. He has friends behind the wheel of the other cars. At Daytona, we will need all the friends we can find to help race our way into the show! There are a lot of really quality cars attempting this race, which could easily make the most exciting part of the 2025 Daytona 500 the race to be in the race. With Roush-Yates power and Chandler behind the wheel, the odds of Garage 66 and our No. 66 team making the event just got stronger."
The hood of the MBM Cup entry during Speedweeks will carry QuickTie, a proprietary, patented hold-down system for high wind and seismic construction. Quick Tie Products, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, manufactures and distributes the QuickTie System and a full line of framing hardware for both single-family and multi-family construction.
Coble Enterprises, which specializes in personalized property management for residential and commercial properties, remains committed to the No. 66 team in Daytona as an associate sponsor.
The NASCAR Cup Series action during Speedweeks begins on Wednesday, February 12 with practice and single-car qualifying, leading into the Daytona 500 Duels on Thursday, February 13 that will determine the starting lineup for the Great American Race. The 67th Daytona 500 is scheduled for Sunday, February 16 at 2:30 pm ET.
— Garage 66 —
