AVONDALE, ARIZONA - MARCH 09: Chandler Smith, driver of the #81 QuickTie Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Call 811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2024 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) | Getty Images
(Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

ARCA graduates Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed and Jesse Love shine during Xfinity Series event at Phoenix

www.arcaracing.com March 12, 2024

While they weren’t the ARCA graduates everyone thought would be fighting for the victory in the late stages of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway, a twist of fate sent race leader – and 2008 ARCA Menards Series champion – Justin Allgaier into the outside wall and allowed eventual winner Chandler Smith to battle for the victory with a pair of former ARCA Menards Series champs, Jesse Love and Sheldon Creed.

Although Smith never ran a full ARCA Menards Series season and therefore doesn’t have a championship trophy in his collection, he has won 10 ARCA Menards Series races, the most recent in 2022 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Smith, now driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, scored his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series win. The 21-year-old native of Talking Rock, Georgia, made a huge splash when he debuted in the ARCA Menards Series as a 15-year-old driving for Venturini Motorsports in 2018. He set a modern era ARCA record when he started from the pole in his first four series starts, the last of which, at Madison International Speedway, resulted in his first career series win.

Smith would transition into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full-time in 2021, and he scored the first of his five career Truck wins that season at Bristol Motor Speedway. His first full season in the Xfinity Series was 2023, and true to form he scored his first career series win at Richmond Raceway.

Smith won on Saturday by just .365 seconds ahead of reigning ARCA Menards Series champion Jesse Love.

Love won the ARCA Menards Series West championship in 2020 at just 15 years of age to become the youngest champion in series history. He followed with another title in 2021 to become the youngest two-time series champion in history before he moved to the ARCA Menards Series on a full-time basis in 2023. Now 19 years of age, the Menlo Park, California native dominated the ARCA Menards Series in 2023, winning half of the series’ 20 races, finishing in the top-five 17 times and top-10 18 times along with seven General Tire Pole awards.

Love has quickly established himself as a driver to beat in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with pole awards at the first two races of the season at Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, 34 laps led at Daytona and a stage victory, and a dominant performance at Atlanta that saw him led 157 of 169 laps and win the first two stages only to have a late-race caution derail his chances for victory.

Creed, the 2018 ARCA Menards Series champion, departed for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2019. A solid rookie season that saw him finish in the top five a total of four times and tenth overall in the final standings was followed by a sophomore season that ended with five wins, nine top-five finishes, 13 top-10 finishes, 587 laps led and a seat at the head table at the awards ceremony as the series champion.

Creed was a contender for the Xfinity Series championship last year, but was eliminated from the playoffs following a controversial finish at Martinsville Speedway. He made the move to Joe Gibbs Racing in the off season and that move has paid immediate dividends with a runner-up finish at Daytona, a fourth-place result at Atlanta, and a third-place finish at Phoenix.