Ligonier native gets big chance
Smithley earned pole before finishing fifth
Virtual racing suited Smithley
The stars were the selling point Sunday in NASCAR’s virtual racing gambit. With the real-world sport shut down because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, organizers hoped they could get their fans watching again if names such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson were involved in the simulator-based derby known formally as the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Dixie Vodka 150.
Their hopes were realized beyond all reasonable expectations. The 100-lap feature at the pixelated version of HomesteadMiami Speedway in Florida attracted 903,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 and was the top trending topic on Twitter nationally for a time. Fully 93% of fans polled by The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck considered it a good race.
But while the stars may have brought the audience, the event itself turned out to be quite the showcase for lesser-known drivers, including a Ligonier native with dreams of sticking at the highest levels of racing.
Garrett Smithley earned his spot in the event by way of a part-time ride in the NASCAR Cup Series with Rick Ware Racing. On an average Sunday, his underfunded squad spends most races riding around in the back of the field, hoping merely to finish and get a nice cut of the Cup Series’ generous pay out.
Equipment isn’t really an issue on the iRacing platform, though. The sophisticated simulator that maps real-world tracks down to their bumpy backstretches and incorporates advanced aerodynamics puts competitors in virtual cars with nearly identical setups, which levels the playing field significantly and ratchets up the skill factor.
Smithley took full advantage, laying down the fastest time in qualifying to earn the pole, or top starting spot. That allowed him to spend much of the day toward the front. He led for 24 laps and battled for the lead on far more.
He ended up fading toward the end because of strategy. He opted not to pit for fresher tires late in the race, allowing those who did to catch and pass him on a long green-flag run in the waning laps. In the end, Hamlin bested Earnhardt in a thrilling finish that included side-by-side racing for most of the final lap.
Still, Smithley brought his No. 51 Chevrolet back to fifth and would have been in position to steal a win had the leaders wrecked on the last lap. (Yes, he was pulling for that.) Not bad for a guy whose best Cup series finish is 28th. And he won a lot of fans as a result. He told the Post-Gazette that his personal Twitch stream of the event peaked at more than 4,000 viewers.
“All in all, I was happy with the performance,” Smithley said. “I was happy we could bring it home in a top five, and I mean, getting the pole was just insane to me. That exceeded all my expectations . ... And then leading the laps and finishing fifth? It was a really good day.”
Born in Latrobe, he spent the first few years of his life in Ligonier before his father’s career as a pilot took him to Virginia, then Georgia. He returns to the area a few times a year, though NASCAR’s grueling schedules make it tough.
Don’t worry. His regional loyalties remain intact. When he’s back home, he makes a point to stop at Idlewild Park, and he said he’s a Pittsburgh sports fan “across the board.”
He was thrilled to attend his first Penguins game in a Christmastime visit with his father’s family, which remains based in Ligonier, and he’s hopeful to get to his first Steelers game soon, virus permitting.
On the track, the 27-year-old has worked his way up through the NASCAR ranks, starting in the ARCA series in 2013, then moving up to Truck and Xfinity series.
He first got involved with iRacing in 2009 and has used the service on and off through the years to sharpen his skills, so he had more experience with it than some of his competitors. He’s also logged far fewer laps than others, so he said he practiced more than he ever had in the week before the event.
The payoff didn’t just come from increased exposure. He said he’s also received a lot of professional kudos from drivers including Hamlin and Earnhardt, guys he has known for some years but never truly got to compete with in this way.
“It’s cool to see those guys kind of respect you and kind of take you as equals in this situation,” Smithley said. “Obviously the iRacing is no substitute and it’s absolutely not the same as the real stuff, but it’s cool to have a little bit of respect on a different level.”
Now he’s hungry to get back out on the virtual track. NASCAR announced Wednesday that the Pro Invitational Series will run “for as long as necessary” while the Cup series is shut down. The next race is Sunday from computerized Texas Motor Speedway, the site of the scheduled realworld race for this week. It will be broadcast at 1 p.m on FS1.
Smithley is looking forward to providing another entertaining distraction from the pandemic and, hopefully, perform just a bit better.
“I want to get a win now,” he said. “We were so close and led so many laps, so I kind of tasted it there. So congrats to Denny, but I’m coming for him.”