(Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
LEXINGTON, Ohio — Zane Smith led eight laps and battled Parker Kligerman until the final corner, but ultimately fell short and finished second on Saturday in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio. Smith finished in the top three for the fourth consecutive race and nabbed his ninth top five of the season.
“Really fast truck,” Smith told reporters after the race. “It was just an awkward set of corners to do something with [Kligerman].”
Smith qualified 13th for the race on Friday in the wet. A day later, Smith quickly navigated through traffic in opposite conditions to finish Stage 1 in second, only to Kligerman.
Smith battled Kligerman for the lead for most of Stage 2 but waited until the final lap to make an aggressive move. He finally slipped past Kligerman with a few corners remaining to win the stage.
After the restart, Smith surrendered the lead back to Kligerman but he remained close. Several cautions, including a brake failure for Team Trackhouse owner Justin Marks, kept Smith within reach of Kligerman. Finally, on a Lap 60 restart, Smith re-took the lead after Kligerman ran wide with Carson Hocevar in Turn 2.
Two laps later, Corey Heim, who contended all day, stalled and brought out a caution. Smith restarted from the lead with three laps to go but got passed by Kligerman. Still, he stayed tight on Kligerman’s bumper as they took the white flag. Smith had a run entering Turn 1 and Turn 2, but Kligerman persevered through the passing zones and kept the lead. Kligerman drove defensively through the final corners to keep Smith behind him and win.
“Me and Parker raced each other good all day,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to be the guy to just… wreck him.”
(Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish)
Smith bolstered his points lead over Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek to 58 after scoring 54 points on Saturday. Chandler Smith improved throughout the day and finished sixth while Nemechek suffered mechanical issues and finished 28th.
With one race remaining in the regular season, Zane Smith automatically clinches the regular-season championship with two or more points in the finale. It would take only a catastrophic circumstance for Smith to surrender the points lead. If he holds on, Smith will tack on an additional 15 playoff points to his current total of 22.
“It makes a huge difference,” Smith said. “I feel like if you get those extra bonus points it just goes such a long way, but I’ve been in a way, way worse situation before and having to win in my last possible chance, so I’m happy where we’re at as a team. We have a new truck being built for the playoffs and obviously some good tracks coming up for us as well.
“If I don’t get any more wins in between now and [the playoffs], and I do win the regular-season championship, it’s equivalent to three more wins and those points carry you a long way.”
The regular-season finale is set for Saturday, July 23 at 12 p.m. ET from Pocono Raceway. The race will be televised on FOX.
NOTE: Casey Campbell, NASCAR reporter and host of “The Casey Campbell Podcast,” contributed to this report from Mid-Ohio.
