Matt Smith will miss this weekend’s NHRA racing after being admitted to a local hospital with a gallstone flare-up, and Chip Ellis will take over the two-race-winning Denso Buell in his place. Ellis will also race for Smith in Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge and earn points under the NHRA’s Driver Replacement Policy.
The change lands right when Smith’s absence matters most. This weekend’s event and Saturday’s bonus race are part of the same points picture, and the swap keeps the Matt Smith Racing effort in the show while its rider recovers. Angie Smith, who races the MSR Buells alongside Jianna Evaristo and John Hall, said the team did not realize how serious the problem was at first because Matt has a history of kidney stones.
Smith started feeling bad on Thursday morning, and the pain worsened enough that Angie said she was on the road with him before dawn. She said he woke her at 2 o’clock in the morning, they thought the pain was probably kidney stones, and she ended up driving probably 75% of the way to the event before they stopped at the emergency room. They got there about 12:30 yesterday, and he was admitted last night about 9 o’clock.
The tests pointed somewhere different. Angie said the conclusion was gallstones, not kidney stones, and that the gallstones are producing a lot of pain. She said the team is trying to keep him comfortable for now, with fluids and rest the order of the day. Even so, Smith made the call for her to run all the bikes, a decision that leaves the four-bike Matt Smith Racing fleet moving forward while he stays in the hospital and, from his bed, still helps with tuning alongside Michael Ray.
That is the immediate reality for a team built around him. Smith said earlier this season that his main goal for 2026 is to win an unprecedented seventh Pro Stock Motorcycle world championship, but this weekend the focus is simpler: get him through the flare-up, keep the program intact, and let Ellis handle the riding until Smith can return.
