Smooge Racing announced Thursday morning (Jan. 11) that they will field two Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVOs in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season opener at Daytona on Jan. 26. One car, No. 23, will be shared by NASCAR Cup Series regulars John Hunter Nemechek and Bubba Wallace, along with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Corey Heim. All three drivers will be making their Pilot Challenge debuts.
The second car, No. 68, will be shared by Smooge Racing regulars Kevin Conway and John Geesbreght, along with Corey Lewis. Lewis was just announced as a full-time driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship earlier this week with Proton Competition in a Ford Mustang GT3.
“[The deal] came together as an opportunity to put some of the Toyota [NASCAR] drivers into a different type of racing, [a] completely different type of race car and experience with the GR Supra GT4 EVO,” Conway explained to Frontstretch.
Of the three NASCAR drivers involved, Conway indicates that John Hunter Nemechek is the most excited about the opportunity. He is also the driver with whom Conway is closest to due to his past association with the Nemechek family.
Back during his NASCAR career, Conway brought his ExtenZe sponsorship to NEMCO Motorsports in 2009 and 2011 for a total of 14 races. In that time, Conway’s best finish was a 15th at Kentucky Speedway.
Despite that, Conway’s most competitive outing with the team came in the 2011 Subway Jalapeno 250, squarely in the middle of the tandem drafting era. Conway (in No. 87) and Joe Nemechek spent the entire race in a tight draft and raced themselves into contention for the win before getting into the wall late.
As for John Hunter Nemechek, Conway states that he has “…been wearing us out about getting into one of the GR Supra GT4 EVOs.” As a result, such a move has been “in the works for a long time.”
On paper, the move looks relatively similar to what Ford Performance has done in recent years with their development racers. A number of Ford’s drivers, such as Cole Custer, Ben Rhodes and Hailie Deegan have been placed in GT4 cars in Pilot Challenge events to gain more experience on road courses.
Likely the best example of such a move came just last year. Ford Performance placed Zane Smith and Harrison Burton with PF Racing for the season opener. Smith ended up being the fastest driver on-track all weekend and the duo partnered up to take the overall victory.
Smooge Racing has competed in Pirelli GT4 America SprintX as a full-time operation since 2021. Conway and Geesbreght won the Am class title that year before moving up to the Pro-Am class. Last year, Conway finished seventh in points while Geesbreght was 10th. The duo were split up in the standings after Geesbreght was injured in a crash at Sebring in September.
The crash forced Geesbreght to miss the final race weekend of the season at Indianapolis. Conway stated that Geesbreght is fully 100% and ready to go.
Smooge Racing has only one previous start in Pilot Challenge. That came in Daytona in 2022 with Conway, Geesbreght and Jack Hawksworth driving. They qualified 14th and ended up a lap down in 16th. Back then, Frontstretch sat down with Conway and talked about his move back into racing and his then-recent appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank.
Conway indicates that this effort, unlike 2022, is not planned to be a one-off. He says that the team is hoping to add additional events to their schedule. However, their focus will continue to be on Pirelli GT4 America SprintX, where the team will continue to field multiple cars. Those plans will be fully revealed in a few weeks.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
I didn’t know that Corey heim is racing at Daytona for the Michelin pilot challenge race.