Smith: 'We have a shot to win' as sub for Busch

Busch was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR Friday following the findings of a Delaware family court that said the 2004 premier series champion was likely to have committed “an act of domestic violence” against former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll last September. His appeal will be heard Saturday afternoon.

Early Saturday morning, Smith was having his own seat fitted in the team’s No. 41 Chevrolet in preparation for the day’s final practice session for the Sprint Cup Series.

“Getting the seat stuff ready so we can go make some laps with happy hour is kind of convenient, we can get a few laps in the car at least before Sunday,” Smith said. “Get acclimated, see where the switches are, see where the buttons are. … Beyond that, we will get though practice and then for me I have to focus on the XFINITY Series car and making sure we get off to a good start over there.”

“I think we have a shot to go out and win this race,” Smith said. “I absolutely do. The goal is to prove to people that I need to be doing that on a full-time basis.”

Smith stepped in to drive two Sprint Cup races in the fall of 2012 after Dale Earnhardt, his XFINITY Series team owner, was diagnosed with a concussion.

More recently, Smith replaced SHR co-owner Tony Stewart at Watkins Glen in 2014 one day after the three-time series champion struck and killed a fellow competitor during a non-NASCAR Sprint Car race.

“The last time … we had 10 minutes to get the seat in and really had to go quick; that was a little bit trickier than the other two circumstances,” Smith said.

“They all have their own different circumstances and scenarios. The fortunate thing is I’ve done enough Cup races where I am familiar with the cars; they have changed a little bit over the years … this rules package is a little bit different than what I had. … (But) for a speedway, the fortunate thing is the drafting is similar from the XFINITY cars to the Cup cars, so that’s not a big adjustment.

“I don’t think anybody wants to be in a scenario where you have to sub under circumstances, whatever they may be. With that said, if it happens you want to make the most of that opportunity. … There are a lot of people that have had their hands on that race car (at SHR), have worked hard on that race car and they deserve to still have the opportunity to go out and win that race and that’s what we’re going to try and do for them.”

Smith, one of the better restrictor-plate racers in NASCAR, has six previous starts in the Daytona 500 with three different teams, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Furniture Row Racing and Phoenix Racing, from 2008-13. His best finish, seventh, has been achieved twice — in ’11 and ’13.

In October of 2008, he passed Tony Stewart coming to the finish line at Talladega Superspeedway but NASCAR ruled he dropped below the yellow line when making the move and relegated him to 18th. And two of his four series wins in the XFINITY series have come on restrictor-plate tracks.

Smith has 172 career starts in the Sprint Cup Series, winning the Southern 500 at Darlington, South Carolina in 2011 while with Furniture Row.

For the past two seasons, he had competed full-time in NASCAR’s XFINITY Series for JR Motorsports. He is the defending winner of today’s season-opening Alert Today Florida 300 (FOX Sport 1) at DIS, and finished second to teammate Chase Elliott in last season’s series’ points standings.

With Busch behind the wheel, the team had certain expectations and goals for Sunday’s race. Smith said those haven’t changed just because there will be a different driver in the seat.

“I went to see (crew chief) Tony Gibson last night … talk about where they were at, how the week’s gone so far,” Smith said, “and he made it very clear that the goals and expectations are the same tomorrow as they were two or three days ago. They have a car capable of winning the race so that’s what we’re going to go out and try to do.

“There’s a fortunate side for us and for me in particular — I’ve got nothing to lose in this race. Going to go out and drive as hard as I can, as fast as I can and if it ruffles a few feathers, oh well.”

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