Chandler Smith will attempt to qualify for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 next month. He will pilot the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang. FRM also has three chartered cars with locked in spots -- the No. 4 of Noah Gragson, the No. 34 of Todd Gilliland, and the No. 38 of Zane Smith.
Smith also competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with FRM. He has made two previous attempts at the Daytona 500 in both 2023 and 2025, failing to qualify both times. This will be his third different team as he aims to make the field for NASCAR's biggest race.
In 2023, he drove for Kaulig Racing and finished 18th in Duel #1, missing out on the big show by ten positions. In 2025, he joined Garage 66 and while running up front in Duel #1, he was involved in a race-ending crash.
Smith has three Cup starts, and impressively finished inside the top 20 every time. He placed 17th at Richmond, 15th at Daytona (summer race), and 13th at Talladega during the 2023 season.
The 23-year-old is also a proven winner in the lower two national divisions, collecting three wins as a driver in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and seven NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins. He also has ten wins as an ARCA driver.
The 2026 Daytona 500 is expected to have a deep field of open entries including Justin Allgaier (JR Motorsports), Corey LaJoie (RFK Racing), Corey Heim (23XI Racing), Anthony Alfredo (Beard Motorsports), BJ McLeod (Live Fast Motorsports), JJ Yeley (NY Racing Team), and Casey Mears (Garage 66).
There is also Jimmie Johnson in the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota, but he is locked in via the Open Exemption Provisional, leaving eight drivers to fight for the four open spots on the grid.
