“There Is Really No Strategy”- Sammy Smith Spills the Beans Behind First-Ever Pole Win, Bluntly Dismisses Special ‘Must-Win’ Gameplan

For 19-year-old Sammy Smith, Friday at the Martinsville Speedway was special. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won his maiden pole position in the Xfinity Series. The driver of the #18 is a part of the round of 8. However, he is 49 points behind the cutline with just one race left. So he has no choice but to convert the pole into victory on Saturday if he wants to make it to Phoenix. However, the 19-year-old doesn’t really have any strategy to achieve that goal.

2023 hasn’t been a year that Sammy Smith has been dominant, but he is in a position to reach the championship race. The 19-year-old has only won once so far in the Xfinity Series at Phoenix. In the spring race at Martinsville Speedway, the JGR star finished in second place. It was only his second Xfinity race at the iconic track, and he will take a lot of confidence from his performance.

Sammy Smith’s maiden Xfinity pole couldn’t have come at a better time

He may only be 19 years old, but Sammy Smith is a smart racer. Managing your tires is crucial when it comes to qualifying, and the JGR man did that to perfection on Friday. At the post-qualifying press conference, Smith revealed how he managed his tires to get the most out of them. The trick was to have a clean but hard first run to heat the tires.

“You just have to go hard to get heat in the tires, and it seemed like a lot of guys, their first lap…their fastest lap was the first lap, so I kind of knew I needed to get heat in the tires, and not make too big of a mistake on that first lap, and then my second lap was going to be faster,” the driver of the #18 said as per Speedway Digest.

This first lap was not without error, however. While he mainly used it to heat his tires, things could have gone wrong for Smith. The 19-year-old revealed that he had locked up and had to adjust his car to keep it on the track. His second lap, however, was picture-perfect.

Going into the race on Saturday, Sammy Smith only has one thing that he can do. It has to be a victory for the 19-year-old otherwise he is out of the title race. A deficit of 49 points is near-impossible to make up in one race. However, when asked about his strategy, the JGR star’s answer might not be something his boss would have wanted to hear.

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“I think there is really no strategy for us. We just have to go out and win. I feel like that is the biggest thing for us. I feel like we can do that. I feel like we need to do whatever it takes,” the 19-year-old said. He may have won the pole for Saturday’s race, but Sammy Smith cannot expect to have a breezy start to the race. Starting in P2 and P3 will be Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer respectively. Both drivers will be looking to confirm their place in Phoenix as well.

Joe Gibbs’ star faced stiff competition right from the start

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Justin Allgaier’s #7 was the second-fastest car on Martinsville’s asphalt on Saturday. The 37-year-old sits in fifth place on the driver’s championship table, only 3 points below the cutline. The JR Motorsports star has a fantastic opportunity to join his teammate Sam Mayer in Phoenix next week. The veteran will certainly look to make the most of it.

“Qualifying this year has definitely been something that I focused on. I’m not a great qualifier by trade. Had to dig deep and this team has rallied behind that,” Allgaier said after his qualifying effort.

For Cole Custer, the key would be to hold on. In a season that has been utterly miserable for Stewart-Haas Racing, the 25-year-old has been the team’s only positive. He is currently above the cutline but only by 3 points. By no means is his spot in Phoenix confirmed.

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One thing is for certain, the top 3 starters at Martinsville will battle it out in the initial stages of the race for track position. It will be interesting to see how they manage their tires, who eventually comes out on top, and who crashes out of the title race.