2002–2004 Smith began his NASCAR career in 2002, making his
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at
South Boston in the No. 63
Ford F-150 for
MB Motorsports. He qualified 28th but had engine issues mid-race and finished 29th. In October, Smith made his
NASCAR Busch Series debut at
Memphis, driving in the No. 07
Chevrolet Monte Carlo for
Ed Whitaker. Smith qualified 16th in his Busch debut, but would finish in 39th after a wreck. He made one last start during the 2002 season in the Craftsman Truck Series at
Phoenix, again racing for MB Motorsports. Smith qualified 12th for the race, finishing in 30th place after ignition issues ended his race early. In 2003, Smith joined
Bost Motorsports in an attempt to run a full-time season for the team, starting at
Rockingham. Despite a lack of sponsorship, Smith had three top twenty finishes and was second place in the Rookie of the Year standings halfway through the season. However, following the July race at Daytona, Bost and Smith parted ways, the team opting to run a rotating door of drivers for the remainder of the season. Smith returned at
Pikes Peak, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for
Innovative Motorsports. He qualified 29th for the race, finishing 40th after having ignition issues. To finish the season, Smith joined Mac Hill Motorsports, driving the No. 56 Chevrolet Monte Carlo at the season finale at
Homestead. He finished the race in 28th after qualifying 19th. Smith finished the season 38th in points. Smith ran a part-time schedule in 2004, running for multiple teams throughout the season. He attempted the season-opener at Daytona with Mac Hill Motorsports but failed to qualify. He made six straight races with the team. At
Nazareth, Smith practiced and qualified the No. 38
Dodge Charger for
Akins Motorsports driver
Kasey Kahne, who was with his Winston Cup team during that time. The following race at
Charlotte, Smith would fail to qualify for the race and was released by the team. His best finish for Mac Hill Motorsports came at
Nashville Superspeedway, where he finished 17th. Holigan Racing hired Smith for three races. During this time, Smith appeared in a few episodes of
The Reality of Speed on
SpikeTV, a reality show that followed the team. The team would suspend operations mid-season.
Phoenix Racing hired Smith to run the No. 1 Dodge Charger for the race at Pikes Peak, where he qualified 19th and finished in 15th. At
Memphis, Smith would again practice and qualify a car for a Nextel Cup Series driver, this time doing so for
Greg Biffle's No. 60
Roush Racing Ford. Smith made a return to the Craftsman Truck Series for the season finale at Homestead, driving the No. 06
Chevrolet Silverado for
MRD Motorsports. After qualifying 25th, Smith drove through the field and finished in ninth place, his first top-ten in NASCAR competition.
2005–2007 Smith began the 2005 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 19 Chevrolet for
Xpress Motorsports. However, after being caught up in a wreck in the season opener at Daytona, blowing an engine at
Fontana, and then failing to qualify for the race at
Atlanta, Smith was let go from the team after failing to find sponsorship. Smith was hired soon after by
Glynn Motorsports to drive the team's No. 65
Dodge Ram beginning at
Mansfield. After moderate success in four races with the team, Smith was moved to Glynn's Busch Series team, replacing a struggling
Brent Sherman in the No. 58 Dodge in an attempt to keep the car above 30th in points. Smith found some success during the season, finishing 15th at Nashville,
Loudon, and
Gateway and qualifying in the top-ten six times. Despite this success, Smith was released by the team before the series finale. Smith finished the season back in the Craftsman Truck Series, returning to the No. 06 Chevrolet for MRD Motorsports for three races. During this stretch of races, Smith struggled, finishing 29th at Atlanta before wrecking out at
Texas and having a mechanical issue at the season finale at Homestead. In November 2005, Smith signed with
Team Rensi Motorsports to run the 2006 Busch Series full-time in the team's No. 35
McDonald's sponsored Ford, replacing
Jason Keller. He successfully ran the entire season with the team, finishing the season with one top-ten, a tenth place finish at Charlotte, ending the season 20th in points. In October 2006,
Ginn Racing owner
Bobby Ginn announced that Smith would begin testing with the team with the goal to move him to the
Nextel Cup Series 16-race part-time for the 2007 season, sharing the No. 01 Chevrolet with
Mark Martin. in June 2007|238x238px
2007–2008: Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. Smith attempted his first career Cup race at the
2007 Daytona 500, in a fourth car, numbered 39, for
Ginn Racing. After qualifying 25th fastest in the field, Smith entered the
Gatorade Duels 8th fastest of the drivers not locked in and failed to qualify after finishing 19th in his Duel. During this time, Smith also raced the No. 4 part-time for Ginn Racing in the Busch Series, getting his first top-ten of the season at Fontana. Smith's Cup debut came at the
Food City 500 at Bristol, which was also the debut race of the
Car of Tomorrow. Smith qualified 12th for the race, and finished 25th after struggling on pit road. Smith clinched his first top-five of the season in the Busch Series race at Nashville. In July, Ginn Racing released full-time drivers
Joe Nemechek and
Sterling Marlin midseason and announced that the team had added the rest of the season to Smith's schedule before promoting him to full-time for the 2008 season. However, before Smith could run another race, Ginn Racing merged with
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Due to the merge, the No. 14's owner points were transferred to
Paul Menard's No. 15, and the No. 14 was shut down, leaving Smith without a ride. Smith finished out the 2007 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet for
Morgan-Dollar Motorsports In 2008, Smith returned to DEI to drive the No. 01 full-time after Mark Martin moved over to the team's No. 8 car alongside
Aric Almirola to replace a departing
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Smith was eligible for Rookie of the Year after not reaching the minimum number of starts necessary in 2007. Despite it being announced that Smith was running the entire season, DEI elected to replace him at
Watkins Glen and
Sonoma with
Road course ringer Ron Fellows. In June, Smith joined Morgan-Dollar Motorsports for the Craftsman Truck Series race at
Michigan, driving the No. 46. He finished 17th in the race. At the Talladega race in October, Smith was part of a controversial finish. On the final lap, Smith made a successful last-lap pass on race leader
Tony Stewart, crossing the line first. However, after the finish, NASCAR determined that Smith drove below the yellow line onto the apron to make the pass and handed the win to Stewart. Smith was scored 18th, the final car on the lead lap. After the race, Smith claimed that the reason he went below the yellow line was because Stewart had pushed him down there. Smith finished the season 34th in points, his best finish being 14th at
Martinsville and
Bristol. He finished first in the Rookie of the Year standings over
Sam Hornish Jr.,
Patrick Carpentier,
Michael McDowell, and
Dario Franchitti, beating Hornish by seven points. He also became the first Rookie of the Year winner to finish their rookie season without a DNF.
2009–2012: Furniture Row Racing Following the 2008 season, DEI would merge with
Chip Ganassi Racing and become Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. The No. 01 ride was shut down due to the merge and Smith was released by the team. Smith joined
Furniture Row Racing for a part-time schedule for the 2009 season. Initially a 12-race deal, Smith attempted a total of 20 races in 2009, failing to qualify twice towards the end of the season. He returned to Furniture Row in 2010, this time to run a full-time schedule. His best finish of the season came at both Fontana and Talladega where he finished 12th place and he ended the season 28th in points. in 2011|leftSmith started the 2011 season strong in the
Daytona 500. After qualifying fifth, he was running up front less than five laps remaining in the race before getting turned by
Kurt Busch and hit by
Clint Bowyer and
Ryan Newman. Despite the damage, Smith finished seventh place, the first top-ten in his Cup career as well as the first top-ten for Furniture Row Racing in team history. The following week at Phoenix, he qualified fifth again before being caught up in a multi-car wreck during the race. In May, Smith won his first Cup race in the
Showtime Southern 500 at
Darlington, holding off
Carl Edwards after staying out on old tires. Smith became the third person to win their first career Cup win at Darlington. In the
Brickyard 400 at
Indianapolis, Smith saved enough fuel to coast to a third place finish. Smith finished the season with five top-tens, 26th in the overall standings. In 2012, Smith again returned to Furniture Row. At Daytona, Smith finished second behind Matt Kenseth in their
Gatorade Duel to start sixth in the
Daytona 500. The week after at Phoenix, Smith would qualify well again, starting third. In an eventful race at Bristol in August, Smith had an altercation with driver
Danica Patrick. In the closing laps of the race, Smith drifted up the track, turning Patrick head-on into the outside wall. After climbing from her car, Patrick approached Smith's car as he was driving past and wagged her finger at him. On September 24, 2012, Furniture Row Racing announced that they were moving on from Smith and had signed Kurt Busch to drive the No. 78 for the rest of the 2012 season and full-time in 2013. Smith's final race with the team came at Talladega. Phoenix Racing, the team Busch left for Furniture Row, announced that Smith would finish the season out with the team. However, after
Hendrick Motorsports announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had been diagnosed with a concussion after wrecking at Talladega, Smith was named as Earnhardt's replacement for two races. In his two-race stint with Hendrick, Smith qualified in the middle of the pack at Charlotte, climbing all the way to the top-ten before having engine issues. The following week at Kansas, Smith qualified in 39th, but managed to finish in the top-ten, finishing seventh. Smith ran the final races of the season at Phoenix Racing. In November,
JR Motorsports announced Smith as a full-time driver for the 2013 season. Smith made his debut with JRM at the finale race at
Homestead. After qualifying tenth, Smith took the lead with 22 laps left in the race and gained his first career victory in the Nationwide Series.
2013–2015: JR Motorsports 2013 in 2013 In 2013, Smith moved to the No. 7, replacing Danica Patrick who moved to Cup full-time. In the season-opener at Daytona, he led 23 laps in the race and led the field to the white flag. While racing to the finish, Smith spun from the lead while attempting to block
Brad Keselowski, triggering a
big-one which sent
Kyle Larson's car into the catchfence, injuring 28 fans. Smith returned to Cup for the
Daytona 500 the following day, driving the No. 51 for Phoenix Racing. After qualifying 40th, Smith avoided multiple wrecks to finish seventh. In the Nationwide race at Talladega, Smith found himself a part of another controversial finish at the track. While fighting for the win side-by-side with
Kasey Kahne and
Joey Logano, a big wreck caused NASCAR to throw the caution, effectively ending the race. Despite Kahne being ahead in the photo finish at the finish line, NASCAR handed Smith the win instead as he was leading at the time of caution. Smith raced in the Cup race the day after, getting another top-ten for Phoenix Racing after finishing sixth. At Michigan in June, Smith scored his second victory of the season, holding off Kyle Larson after taking the lead from
Parker Kligerman with 13 laps remaining. Smith's 11-race top-ten streak ended at Road America after he finished 32nd in the race. In September, Smith stepped into the No. 48 for
Hendrick Motorsports at Richmond to practice and qualify for
Jimmie Johnson, who missed practice and qualifying for the birth of his second child. Smith finished his first full-time season at JR Motorsports with two wins, eight top-fives, and 19 top-tens, finishing third in points. At the
NASCAR Awards Banquet, Smith was named the Most Popular Driver in the Nationwide Series.
2014 Smith returned to the No. 7 car in 2014, winning the season-opener at Daytona in a photo finish with Brad Keselowski. Smith finished in the top-ten in the first 13 races of the season, again breaking the streak at Road America. At the Daytona race in July, Smith was part of another photo finish, this time losing to Kasey Kahne. Smith finished the season second in points, losing the championship to teammate
Chase Elliott who clinched the championship at Phoenix a week before the season finale at
Homestead. During the 2014 season, Smith solidified his role as a go-to standby driver in Cup. In May, Hendrick Motorsports named Smith as the standby driver at Charlotte for Jeff Gordon, who was experiencing back spasms before the
Coca-Cola 600. Gordon went on to complete all 600 miles of the race. A few months later, Smith replaced
Tony Stewart in the No. 14
Stewart-Haas Racing car for the race at Watkins Glen following Stewart's involvement in the death of Kevin Ward Jr.
2015 In the Xfinity Series season-opener in 2015, Smith was riding in the top-ten with 28 laps to go in the race when he was clipped in the right rear by a spinning
Daniel Suárez. The sudden change in momentum caused Smith's car to rollover once before landing on its wheels. Smith was unharmed in the wreck and was credited with a 35th place finish. Smith ran the first three races of the Cup schedule, replacing a suspended Kurt Busch in his No. 41 car at Stewart-Haas Racing. Smith returned for a race a few weeks later, filling in for Kyle Larson, driving the No. 42
Chip Ganassi Racing car at Martinsville after Larson fainted the day before the race. This would end up being Smith's final Cup start in 2015. In August at Watkins Glen, Smith was running up front for the first half of the race before being spun by Ty Dillon on a restart. Later in the race, Smith would spin again after contact with
Brendan Gaughan, Dillon's teammate. Post-race, Smith walked over to Dillon's car on pit road where the two got into an argument and began grabbing each other, being split up by crew members. The next week at
Mid-Ohio, Smith grabbed his first victory of the season, passing
road-course ringer Alex Tagliani on the final lap to take the win. In October, Smith won again, this time at Dover. A few weeks later, Smith announced that he would not return to JR Motorsports to race full-time in the Cup Series in 2016. On October 28,
Justin Allgaier was named as his replacement.
2016: Tommy Baldwin Racing In 2016, Smith returned full-time in Cup, driving the No. 7 for Tommy Baldwin Racing, replacing
Alex Bowman. He started the season strong with an eighth place finish in the
Daytona 500. He wouldn't score another top-ten until the
Pocono race in August, where he finished third. Smith missed the race at
Chicagoland to attend the birth of his daughter and was replaced by Ty Dillon for the race. On November 17, Tommy Baldwin Racing announced that the team would not be competing full-time after the 2016 season, leaving Smith without a ride.
2017–2019: Part-time in 2018 On February 8, 2017, Smith joined
RBR Enterprises in the Truck Series, running 13 races for the team. In May, Smith returned to Cup to drive the No. 43 car for
Richard Petty Motorsports, filling in for an injured
Aric Almirola. Smith ran the Monster Energy Open, the qualifying event for the
Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, and a race at Dover. Following the race at Dover, Bubba Wallace became the driver of the No. 43 car for the rest of the season. In August, Smith joined
Joe Gibbs Racing's Xfinity team on a one-race deal at Mid-Ohio. During the 2018 season, Kasey Kahne announced he was stepping away from racing for the rest of the season due to health reasons. On September 6, 2018,
Leavine Family Racing named Smith as Kahne's replacement beginning at Indianapolis. Smith finished on track in all 11 races and finished in the top-ten at Talladega. In 2019, Smith returned to JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series for the races at Mid-Ohio and Road America, driving the No. 8 car. == Broadcasting career ==