Roughly 70 miles north of Atlanta is a town named Talking Rock. It’s a quaint, tiny village located in the foothills of the north Georgia mountains, between Jasper and Ellijay, deep in the heart of Pickens County.
Talking Rock’s population depends on who you ask. If U.S. Census reports are the source, the town inhabits anywhere from 70 to 100 people. No matter how it’s presented, Talking Rock — named for nearby Talking Rock Creek — is the third-smallest town in Georgia.
The town doesn’t have much in the way of big-time notoriety, but give it a year or two.
Chandler Smith is poised to put Talking Rock on the map.
A 19-year-old, second-year driver for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Smith is on the short list of contenders for this year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship.
Smith is a quick learner behind the wheel. He’s got 10 poles and nine wins in 34 ARCA Menards Series starts, and two victories in 38 Truck Series events.
Smith, who turns 20 in June, won the prestigious Snowball Derby last December at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla. He emerged victorious in a 37-car super late model field that included NASCAR Cup Series drivers Erik Jones and Ryan Preece, as well as short-track luminaries including Bubba Pollard, Ty Majeski and the immortal Rich Bickle.
Capturing a well-earned victory in what Smith calls a “crown jewel” of short-track races capped off a whirlwind campaign for the Georgian. He finished eighth in points in his first full-time Truck Series season, winning the season finale at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway last November.
A dominant weekend saw Smith earn the pole by nearly a quarter of a second, win every stage and comfortably claim the checkered flag.
An early race tussle with 2020 champion Sheldon Creed kept Smith’s attention, but the two up-and-coming racers played fair from the start. As was the case whenever everyone challenged him on a November evening in the Arizona desert, Smith was peerless when it mattered most.
Smith’s second career win gave him a shot of positive momentum heading into the 2022 season, but it also put his passion for tough-but-fair racing on full display.
In the motorsports world, youth is often synonymous with aggression. It’s believed by many racers that those who lack age and experience tend to lack patience — and sometimes tact — but Smith doesn’t buy into such beliefs.
“We were able to race extremely hard without touching,” Smith recalled of his battle with Creed at Phoenix. “I’m sure the fans loved it. I felt like we put on a good show for that first stint. We raced hard, but we did it in a clean way. (The Truck Series) hasn’t had that in a while.
“It reminded me of being a kid and watching Cup races on Sundays and seeing that respect between drivers,” Smith added. “I race others the way I like to be raced. If somebody’s racing me really aggressively or doing stuff that isn’t necessary, I’ll do it right back or pay it back down the road, but I try to give everybody a break and race clean because I feel like that’s what this sport was built on. Guys were able to race each other clean and not be dirty about it.”
The Phoenix victory punctuated a debut season that also featured six top-five finishes, rookie-of-the-year honors and a maiden victory under the lights at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway last September.
Still, the results didn’t meet Smith’s lofty standards. He called his rookie year “a B-minus season” due to a slew of races which saw Smith’s No. 18 Toyota Tundra race better than it finished.
“Going into the season and halfway through the season, I knew we were capable and had the resources and everything at our disposal to win a championship, but we just weren’t all clicking,” Smith said. “We just weren’t consistent as far as showing up at the race track and being good, and when we did show up and were good, there were too many mistakes being made.
“Granted, we had the rookie stripe. So, I guess it was acceptable, but in my eyes, I still didn’t accept that. I’m glad we picked it up the last half of the season and the consistency started coming and the results started to show a little bit.”
Sophomore slump be damned, Smith expects the No. 18 team to be a Championship 4-caliber unit all season. The races that got away last year hurt, and a frustrating disqualification for a post-race height infraction at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l stuck in his craw. It’s a new year, though. And it represents a renewed sense of hope for the latest in a line of NASCAR racers from the Peach State.
One thing stands out, in Smith’s opinion, as being a major cause for optimism — and it’s not something personnel-related, or even something Smith did during the offseason. It’s something he hasn’t been able to do for the better part of a year — practice.
He’s not afraid to talk about practice — the thing missing for most of two full Truck Series seasons, due to a shortened race-week format brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I like to work on stuff in practice and having practice — even just 30 minutes or so — that can be really helpful for me,” Smith said. “We use the simulator a lot, but some things don’t always translate to the race track from the simulator. Practice is very valuable. When I started racing trucks (in 2019), we went to Iowa Speedway and had practice and I topped the charts and qualified on the pole. We probably should’ve won that race, too.
“Practice lets drivers like me gain a feel and get acclimated to things. It takes a lot of races for a driver to realize and get what he wants. Without practice, it’s hard for me to show my capability with these trucks.”
It also helped Smith build a rapport with Danny Stockman, his crew chief. Stockman guided NASCAR Cup Series star Austin Dillon to the Truck Series championship in 2011, the duo’s second year together.
This year marks Smith’s second full year with Stockman. Could a title be in the cards?
It’s possible.
“Our relationship got better (as the season went on),” Smith said, “and (Stockman) started to trust my input more. I started to trust his input more and the team started clicking. … I’m still not happy with the first half of my season, though.”
Two trophies in his last five races boosted Smith’s spirits. Having more on-track time this year bodes well for him, too. So does having his boss’ ear when he needs it. Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has 61 Truck Series victories, more than anyone in series history, so if anyone’s a titan of the tailgate, it’s the man who signs Smith’s checks.
He’s not a bad person to seek out for advice on a race weekend, too. Before the season finale at Phoenix, Busch stepped into Smith’s garage stall and gave him pointers on what to expect from the track’s racing surface. Smith credits the advice as being a major catalyst in springing him to his most complete race performance.
“Kyle is a great mentor, a great team owner and a great friend,” Smith said. “He’s given me loads of advice when I’ve needed it. I really couldn’t ask for more from him as a team owner.”
Smith asks for a lot from himself, though. When he wasn’t driving a super late model once the Truck Series season ended, Smith spent his time training for the challenges he’ll face in his second season. A repeat performance of 2021 — a couple of wins, a playoff appearance — won’t be enough to satiate Smith, Stockman or Busch.
He also knows that if he doesn’t put forth total commitment, there won’t be any success.
“These (Truck Series races) are so hard to win,” Smith said. “They take an incredible amount of work. I’ve had to work my butt off, doing sim time and watching film and everything you can think of, so I can be ready.”
There’s also a gap between where Smith is and where he wants to be — the NASCAR Cup Series. For a 19-year-old kid whose hometown has roughly twice as many residents as there are competitors in every Truck Series race, however, he’s done a bang-up job coming out of the gate.
If the end of his rookie season is any indicator, the best is yet to come for one of Talking Rock’s finest.
“I definitely think (the finish to 2021) doesn’t make me look bad,” Smith said. “We had our ups and downs and some bad luck quite a bit, but ultimately, we’ve shown a lot of speed and consistency. That looks good for me, for Danny (Stockman), for KBM and for (sponsor) Safelite.
“It’s a great building block for the future.”