“This has been a good track to us over the years and it’s a great deal to win here,” said Smith, whose name is listed on the Legends of Thunder Valley at the track. “We’ve been blessed here and to go out and win every now and then, it’s just a major accomplishment for us.

“We had a rough weekend and we were just trying to save the engine each round, but we’re glad and just so happy to get this win.”

Smith couldn’t make his 2012 Camaro run down the drag strip at Bristol but he found the answer in the Goodyear tire trailer before the start of eliminations.
           
“We couldn’t get down the track on Saturday at all,” Smith said. “The track got pretty slick. We came back and put these big Goodyears on the car today for the first round and that just brought the car alive.”

Mike Janis won two weeks ago in Englishtown on Goodyear’s D2922 tire.

The ‘big Goodyears’ Smith put on the car were a pair of D1230 drive tires. The D1230 measures 36 inches tall and 17 inches across the tread face. It mounts on a 16-inch rim and the construction includes Goodyear’s D2A tread compound. The D1230’s 114-inch roll out is among the largest in Goodyear’s racing inventory.

After winning his first-round matchup against Chris Juliano on Saturday, Smith, who qualified second, started Sunday with a second round victory against Pete Farber, going 5.994 at 240.38. In the semifinals, Smith faced off against Robert Patrick and his Ford Mustang, powering to a 6.418 at 169.23 to advance to the finals.