The final piece of the ongoing MBM-Garage 66-Mike Wallace-Daytona 500 saga has finally dropped into place, and the news is about as shocking as finding sand at the beach. Garage 66 has announced that (insert drum roll here) Chandler Smith will be behind the wheel of their Ford in a attempt to crack the lineup for this year’s Daytona 500. If you’re not exactly clutching your pearls at this revelation, you’re not alone.
This convoluted tale began in an almost “Once Upon a Time” fairytale way just weeks ago when the team—back then known as MBM Motorsports (that’s short for Motorsports Business Management, in case you were wondering)—revealed their intent to take on NASCAR’s most prestigious event. Leading the charge? None other than veteran racer Mike Wallace. Yes, the Mike Wallace, who hasn’t seen the inside of a Cup car since 2015 and whose last NASCAR appearance of any kind was in 2020. Predictably, NASCAR looked at this proposal, gave it the side-eye, and said, “Absolutely not.”
With Wallace’s hopes of a fairytale comeback dashed, co-owner Carl Long and his scrappy underdog outfit were left scrambling for a Plan B. Or C. Or possibly Z. First, they rebranded as Garage 66, presumably to signal a fresh start. Then, in a move that felt like a teaser trailer for a movie you’re only half-interested in, they announced Garrett Smithley as their driver. Not for Daytona, though. Smithley is slotted to wheel their entry in the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, leaving the Daytona seat still ominously vacant.
Cue the dramatic pause.
Fast forward to Wednesday, and the mystery is finally solved. The team named their Daytona 500 driver, and surprise (but not really), it’s Chandler Smith. At just 22 years old, Smith already boasts an impressive resume: five wins in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, three victories in the Xfinity Series (two of which came last season), and a top five finish in the Xfinity championship. And he’s no stranger to superspeedways or the Next Gen car, having made three Cup Series starts with Kaulig Racing in 2023. Two of those came at superspeedways, where he logged a respectable 15th-place finish at Daytona in the summer and an 11th-place showing at Talladega.
And while he will be entered into the Daytona 500 field, with sponsorship from QuickTie Products who have backed Smith since his Kaulig days, he will have to race his way in.
“I’m very excited for the opportunity to race our way into the Daytona 500 with Garage 66,” Smith said, radiating the unshakable enthusiasm of someone who still sees the sport as a grand adventure rather than an unrelenting grind. “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.”
For Long and his co-owners, Rocky and Tom Smith and John Jackson, landing Smith for their Daytona bid is the penultimate step in what has been a rollercoaster journey—minus the fun parts. “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,” Long explained, likely understating the chaos of the situation. “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.”
Long is counting on Smith to be more than just a warm body in the driver’s seat. He’s hoping the young gun can navigate the treacherous waters of Daytona’s qualifying races and deliver the team its Cinderella moment. “He has friends behind the wheel of the other cars,” Long noted. “At Daytona, we will need all the friends we can find to help race our way into the show!”
Of course, qualifying for the Daytona 500 is no small feat. With a grid packed full of high-quality entries, the fight to make the race might just be the most thrilling part of the event. But Long remains optimistic. “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,” he said.
Garage 66, the team that started this journey as MBM Motorsports and briefly seemed destined for obscurity, is now banking on a 22-year-old with a solid track record and a whole lot of determination. Whether this story ends in triumph or another chapter of NASCAR’s “What Might Have Been,” is all that’s left. One thing is certain: the road to Daytona has never been dull.
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