Zane Smith cashed in on a Game 7 moment at Martinsville. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
While Zane Smith faces a somewhat unknown future, he’ll come across a potentially incredible scenario ahead of Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway.
Along with John Hunter Nemechek, Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes, the determined 22-year-old Huntington Beach, California native squares off in a Championship 4 fight for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title. Despite his young age, Smith has experience battling in a one race, winner takes all squabble.
After placing runner up in last year’s Truck championship chase, Smith acknowledges the importance of winning the Truck title especially with his future in NASCAR.
Smith put on a masterful, gutsy performance at Martinsville. (Photo: Michael Guariglia | The Podium Finish)
“If you’re able to add a championship to your resume, that goes a long way,” Smith said in Thursday’s Championship 4 availability session. “So, that’s how I look at it. Phoenix is a great track for me. But at the end of the day, Martinsville is what got me here.”
Consider how Smith ranked eighth heading into the Round of 8’s final race at Martinsville last Saturday (Oct. 30). Smith did not have the luxury to race his way in by points. Instead, he was in a must win situation.
Placing sixth and eighth in the first two stages in the United Rentals 200, the typically calculative racer took matters into his own hands in the final laps. With an all or nothing approach, Smith’s tenacious driving paid off coupled with Stewart Friesen and Todd Gilliland tangling on the frontstretch.
While Smith remains focused on the task at hand, he’s hopeful that he’s made a strong case to continue racing for GMS Racing in 2022.
“Luckily, they’ve kind of seen all the adversity thrown us this year,” Smith shared. “And so being able to still fight on and never slow down, I think it’s proven a lot to them. And so it’s really hard to get to the final four. And to be able to do that two times in a row I think is pretty, pretty special.”
Naturally, pundits may observe Smith’s puzzling season stats with two top fives and 13 top 10 results. However, he acknowledged how his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado team have been in the mix all year long.
Certainly, Smith showcased plentiful speed in his No. 21 Chevy Silverado. (Photo: Michael Guariglia | The Podium Finish)
“Our speed has been there all year, at least on the No. 21 team,” he shared. “It’s just, if you go back and watch, we just always have something happened to us and it takes us out of it. I’ve lost track of how my races of where I’ve been leading or the top three there, and we just have to go to the back. And these races are so short, you can’t compete with that. I can only pass 36 trucks so many times.”
Undoubtedly, Smith understands how he’s still a relative fresh face in one of the most grittiest levels of NASCAR. Although he’s still a young gun in terms of his age, he can tap into valuable experiences for this Friday night’s Truck Series season finale.
“I feel like I’m really new to this still,” Smith said. “This is my second year of really full time racing. And so I feel like I’ve just improved dramatically since last year. And so, I mean, it’s gonna be wild. It came down to that final restart last year. So you can’t really predict anything. I feel like you honestly get in trouble when you kind of predict things so I’m just gonna roll with the punches. I feel like I’m gonna go about it.”
One of Smith’s strongest assets besides his uncanny racing abilities is the man atop his pit box. Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion meshes well with the young but cool natured driver.
“I feel like our preparation for the past two years now with Josh Wise and my crew chief Bono Manion and and my whole team in general, we’ve done a good job on preparation,” he pointed out. “It’s just, like I said, the dumb little mistakes that’s gotten in the way of our major success, I guess, this year. So I feel like we’re just gonna, I don’t know, race hard, race smart and hopefully stay out of trouble.”
Above all else, if Smith emerges victorious on Friday night, he hopes it’s the first of many successes with Manion as his team leader.
Nothing is sweeter than a win in the clutch. (Photo: Michael Guariglia | The Podium Finish)
“I feel like, luckily, me and Bono from the get go have always been kind of on the same page where we’re actually pretty similar in a lot of ways,” Smith said. “So, I feel like we’re a good team. And not only just us to our whole team in general, I feel like we all know what we need to do. And our emotion level is mostly always on the same page. So that’s a really important. I hope to get to work with Bono for many years ago.”
Editor’s Notes
Luis Torres contributed to this feature with reactions from Zane Smith during Thursday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ Championship 4 Media Day availability.
