The split between Drake Troutman and G.R. Smith has been one of the biggest pieces of news in the dirt late model world this past week and car owner G.R. Smith recently discussed the split and expressed his disappointment and hurt.

Troutman announced the split on Wednesday night after informing Smith on Tuesday morning that he would be departing the team.. He informed Dirt Behind the Scenes, “It was more of a mutual decision to do it now rather than later. I can’t thank them enough for what they did for me and the opportunity.”

Troutman then issued a statement on Facebook, “There is no bad blood… I have a lot of respect and very much appreciation for what GR and his whole family has done for my racing program. He gave me and my whole crew an amazing opportunity. We are working on some things right now and getting a game plan together for the remainder of the year and beyond. As for the keyboard warriors on either side of the story, the best thing to do is keep the drama out of it. This racing deal is tough, it’s expensive and it’s a constant grind. Again, I appreciate GR and his family and have a lot of respect for them. As far as me and my crew goes, we are racers… and racers race. We will be back soon.”

Smith discussed the split with FloRacing’s Kyle McFadden and made it abundantly clear it was not his plan to split with Troutman, “Let me make this clear: I wanted to race with him the next 10 or even 15 years until my boy (son Carson) comes up. He was my driver not only now, but for the future. And that’s gotta be stressed upon. Like, people are giving me the bad rap. I did not want this to happen. I was crushed when I realized that wasn’t gonna happen.”

To highlight this, Smith spoke with Mid America Dirt on YouTube back in January and shared how high he was on Troutman and his hope that they would be together long term, “He’s an amazing talent. I think he’s just scratching the surface of what he can do. I think he’s going to take the world by storm. I hope we’re a part of his success for a long time.”

“He’s definitely one of those guys that — as somebody that’s drove a race car — you can tell when a guy can do things that most people can’t. And he’s definitely extremely talented. We’re fortunate and lucky enough and we want to put a great team together. So that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Smith added, “He’s everything that we want in a driver and also as good as a driver as he is, which he’s exceptional, he’s even a better person. We’re lucky to have him. We’re extremely excited for what we’re going to hopefully accomplish going forward. … Our goal is to build a national championship team.”

He went on to talk about how close their relationship was as well, “He calls me and we speak daily, text daily. He’s not only my driver, but in a lot of ways he’s turned into my best friend. There’s very few people that, I’ll call my brother, I’ll spend time with my son, and I’ll call Drake. I’ve never let anybody have the keys to the kingdom I should say, and I trust him with everything.”

Given his high praise for Troutman, it was no surprise that he echoed Troutman’s assessment that there was no bad blood, telling McFadden, “Drake was the guy we thought we’d build our team around. There’s nobody associated with our team that ever wanted to see Drake move on. There were no issues. There were no problems.”

In fact, Smith shared, “He respected me enough to say, ‘Hey, I’ve slept on it, and my heart is taking me another direction,’ which I get.”

“Everyone’s making their bets on the future, and he’s got a long, bright future that you could build a foundation around,” Smith added. “Nobody’s mad. It just came down to where Drake feels like he needed to be. … It was his decision to do this. That has to be understood.”

The other direction Troutman is taking is to become the pilot of a new late model team being formed by Jerry Foster, who also owns the modified that Troutman races. And according to Smith, Foster offered Troutman a very lucrative deal to drive for him that he compared to college football’s NIL recruitment system, “We’ve reached a different world in Dirt Late Model racing. It’s like college sports. It’s kind of like the NIL in college football. That’s how I could describe it. People are always trying to recruit talent because there’s only so many talented people out there that can do this. It makes a very tough game to play when people are actively recruiting people that you have.”

Smith attempted to match the deal that Foster offered, but it was to no avail as Troutman seemingly had already made up his mind, “I tried to convince Drake to stay. I put my best foot forward. It’s no different than recruitment in college sports. There’s no recruitment you can do to change the mind of someone who’s already made their mind up. I love Drake to death, but that’s what it came down to. We had a meeting, we had a heart-to-heart talk of which direction he was going to go.”

“I tried my very, very best to keep him and sell him on where we can be in the next three to five years. … I full-fledged tried to match or put up everything I could to accomplish that because of what I thought we could do together,” Smith said.

He went on to reiterate how committed he was to Troutman and was in it for the long haul with him, “Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I wanted to see this go to its full potential. With the engine builders that we have, with the car builders that we have, the shock companies, Drake’s talent, and everything that we put in it, we were just beginning to scratch the surface of what we were gonna become together. … That’s why it still stings so much.”

In fact, Smith shared that while Jake Timm’s carrying the team’s banner for the World of Outlaws Late Model points as it continues through its northern swing, he has not thought about the future past that, “Right now, I can’t even think about the future. We’re doing what we need to do. As far as the long-term future, I have no plans or long-term commitments. It’s still too soon and too fresh. This was something we weren’t ready for.”

NEXT: Drake Troutman Reveals His Plans After Splitting With G.R. Smith Motorsports