User blog:Ajaxcupseries/A Tale of Two Prospects - Devin Smith & Ross Jackson

The Fallon Corner - August 2023

Its hard to believe that just a couple years ago Devin Smith and Ross Jackson were both entering their rookie seasons in the Craftsman Series at the start of the new decade.

21 year old Devin Smith was the next boy wonder if you listened to the experts, including myself, talk about just how talented he was stepping into the flagship Ford Development Program No. 6.

This was a Michigan born kid that was absolutely TEARING up the local late model scene, including his well documented 30 race winning streak before capturing the pole and breaking the track record in his Craftsman debut at Advocare Speedpark back in 2019.

Smith put the ENTIRE ASCA on notice in that moment that the hype surrounding him was most certainly warranted, and that he would most certainly be a force to be reckoned with throughout the 2020’s.

While Smith was busy setting the sport ablaze at this time, Ross Jackson was also just getting started in the ASCA with Ronnie Woods Motorsports.

The difference is, Jackson began his career much more under the radar with the upstart South Point Racing Team, giving him the convenience of developing without all the hoopla and fanfare of a top prospect and keeping expectations at a low until the Washington native proved they should be raised for him.

This proved to be critical in Jackson’s development, as many were impressed by his showing in his rookie Craftsman campaign, putting together more top 5’s and top 10’s than the team has managed to scrape together in the two years since Jackson left along with an 8th place result in the driver’s standings, which was good enough for 2nd in the Rookie of the Year race to Smith.

The end of 2020 saw an ASCA bidding war for Cup team owners to sign Smith, who many considered to be the “next big thing” at the time to their organization. In the end, it was Michael White Racing that won out, signing the hometown kid to a three year contract that would see him receive $7 million dollars per season.

To make room for Smith, the team even opted to dump 38 year old Dan Rodgers, the 2012 Windows 300 winner and two time Ajax 200 winner who had just won four races and finished 4th in the standings with the No. 11 team the season prior. This was seen as a rather controversial move at the time, but with Rodgers in his late 30’s and the potential future star of his team coming available, team owner Michael White called the move a “no brainer.”

Meanwhile, for 2021 Ross Jackson would finally receive his big break in the sport, joining the flagship Ronnie Woods Motorsports outfit in the historic No. 88 that Cup stars Todd Kidd and Cameron Atwood made a name for themselves in.

Once again, this was a move that kept Jackson relatively under the radar considering his predecessor in this ride, Nick Carey, went winless in three seasons behind the wheel and RWM as a whole had not won a Craftsman event since 2018.

This was important because while Devin Smith was going through an abysmal first half of his rookie campaign with all eyes on him, Ross Jackson was just beginning his rise to prominence as an early season title contender and weekly race win threat.

Jackson eventually broke through for his first Craftsman Series victory in the Body Armor 125 at Advocare Speedpark late in the year, and while Devin Smith put together five straight top 10 finishes to close out his rookie season, ultimately he finished eight markers behind Shane Park in the Rookie of the Year race.

And as they so often say, 2022 rolled around and the rest is history.

Heading into this upcoming season, while Jackson’s stock is likely at its peak value in the sport entering the Cup Series as the reigning Craftsman champion while also taking over for an all time legend Jimmy Hood in the No. 88, many people are incredibly bearish on Devin Smith in the final year of his contract with MWR coming off of a 19th place points finish with DNF’s in half of his starts during his sophomore campaign.

So why exactly has Ross Jackson developed into the sport’s next wonder boy, while Devin Smith looks poised to join names such as Adam Petty Jr and Henry Brady as one of the biggest busts in Ajax Cup history?

The short answer - is the way their development was handled in the lower leagues.

While Jackson was given three years in the Craftsman Series (a rarity these days for a driver as talented as him), having to work his way up from a backmarker team to one of the top rides in the series, Smith had high expectations he was expected to meet from day 1. And when he exceeded those expectations, he was swooped up by an organization desperate to find the “next big thing” they’ve swung and missed on so many times in the past, and threw Smith into the ocean with no life preserver to fall back on.

Had Devin Smith been given another season in Craftsman to further hone in on his skills, or not had the expectations heaped on that he would be the “next Jimmy Hood” from day 1, his Cup career probably goes a lot differently than it has so far.

But as it stands, ASCA team owners need to be paying close attention to these two young drivers as a blueprint on how to properly nurture a young talent (Jackson), and how to ruin one in less than five years (Smith).