New Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team, Spire Motorsports, looks to have added NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Garrett Smithley to its driver roster, as Smithley is on the entry list as driver of the #77 Spire Chevrolet for Sunday's race at Atlanta Motorsports.
Jamie McMurray drove the Spire Motorsports entry, then numbered 40, in the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 17. That race, though, was assumed to be McMurray's last-career Cup Series race. He posted a 22nd-place finish after being involved in a late-race wreck. Prior to the start of the season, Spire Motorsports announced that Quin Houff would drive the #77 for approximately half the races that make up the 2019 season, beginning with the March 10 race at ISM Raceway.
Smithley has three-career Cup Series starts, all coming in 2018 — two with StarCom Racing and the other with Premium Motorsports. He posted a best finish of 32nd in his most recent Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.
Smithley is a regular in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He is in his fourth season as a driver for JD Motorsports in that series. He has one-career top-five in the series — a fifth-place finish in last year's season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. He also has four top-10 finishes in 100 Xfinity Series races.
The 2019 Cup Series season is Spire Motorsports' first. The team is racing with a charter purchased from the now-defunct Furniture Row Racing. Former FRR President, Joe Garone, is President of Spire Motorsports.
