Zane Smith had a respectable outing in his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start of 2024 at Las Vegas. (Photo: Christopher Vargas/The Podium Finish)
LAS VEGAS — 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion Zane Smith returned to the series in what would be his first start of the 2024 Truck Series season.
However, the former champion sported a different look by not being in a Front Row Motorsports truck as he had been for the past two seasons.
Smith entered the race driving the No. 91 Bill McAnally Racing Chevrolet in his first of four races with the team and had sponsorship from Instacoat Premium Products on his truck. Hoping to have a chance at victory lane started with qualifying, which took place earlier in the day, where Smith qualified in the seventh position posting a time of 30.701 seconds and 175.890 mph.
At the start of the first stage, Smith kept himself in the Top 10, but began falling back a little bit as the truck started tightening up in the center of the turns. At Lap 24, he also reported the truck “was chattering the right front.” Keeping the truck clean, Smith continued to press on and ultimately fell back to the 12th spot at the end of the first stage. During the caution period, the California native said he was “plowing in the center off exit.”
The No. 91 team came down the pit road to take four tires, and fuel and made an air pressure adjustment. During the pit stop, Smith was boxed in by other trucks exiting their box which caused him to get held up briefly.
Restarting 13th for the second stage, he would have a much better result by finishing eighth while still battling tight conditions. Making another pit stop during the stage break in hopes of finding better handling, Smith had trouble seeing his pit sign and the pit box was quite slippery. The team added an extra sticky substance to be put down to help enter and exit the pit box.
As the final stage began with just 68 laps to go, the former Truck Series champion knew he had his work cut out for him, but had to keep going in hopes of getting a Top 10 finish. The final stage proved quite the battle for the team as Smith fell as far back as 16th in the running order.
With no caution flags flying in the final 60 laps, he would have to wait for a pit stop to make the right adjustments. Eventually, after making his final pit stop with 30 laps to go, Smith came crawling back to finish in the eighth position as the race came to an end.
By finishing eighth, it would be his 58th career top 10 finish in the Truck Series. Zane’s next truck race is scheduled to be on Saturday, Mar. 16 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
