July 28, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

With an eye on the future, Zane Smith has to focus on the present

Imagine if you could look into the future and see what lies ahead.

Zane Smith had a front-seat view of where his career path was heading when he jumped behind the wheel of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford for the NASCAR Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 5.

While Smith served as a last-minute sub for Chris Buescher who was sidelined with Covid-19 at the time, the 23-year-old Camping World Truck Series driver experienced a crash course in the extremes between the two series—and it elevated his game.

“I feel like just that one Cup race I ran I feel like I learned so much,” said Smith, who came from 32nd to finish 17th. “It’s pretty crazy just the difference from the Cup level to anything. I feel like everyone is good, and everyone is so much closer.  

“I’m happy I got to make that Cup start. I’m happy with how it went, but hopefully, there are more in the future. Currently, I’m obviously focused on this Truck Series title, so it’s just one thing at a time.”

Smith and his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team won the regular season Truck Series title last week at Pocono Raceway. He currently holds a 15-point advantage over Chandler Smith entering the Playoffs as the truck tour returns to Lucas Oil Raceway for the first time since Timothy Peters was victorious at the .686-mile oval in 2011. Of the drivers entered in Friday night’s race, only Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter have competed in a truck at the track. 

Smith has a pair of top 10s in ARCA competition at LOR—with a career-best sixth in 2018.

“I think it’ll be similar, but a lot of the time when we think that the truck is just so much different than what you expect, so I don’t know,” Smith said. “We’re just going to kind of go into it like another short track and we should be pretty good. I feel like Martinsville this year we were pretty solid.

“I’m excited for it. I feel like watching those races back you see all these guys that have been in the sport for a long time. Indy brings such a cool fan base, so to be going back there I’m a fan of the short tracks, so I’m excited about it and ready to get the playoffs started.”

Although anything can happen in the post-season, Smith shows no signs of trepidation. And he shouldn’t. Under the Front Row Motorsports banner, he’s enjoying his best truck season to date with three wins, nine top-five and 13 top-10 results. At the core of the team’s success was Smith’s instant ease of communication with crew chief Chris Lawson. Together, they won the season opener at Daytona in February and have been on a roll ever since.

In his first two full seasons on the tour, Smith advanced to the championship round and finished second in the standings. This year, he hopes to finish one spot better.

“I put a lot of stock in winning the (regular season) championship,” Smith said. “To start out the year I had the regular season championship circled, just because I feel like that is what kind of shows how one half of your year went, so I am happy we got that, but in between there I feel like race wins are what people notice a ton and then to what you said I feel like just getting to Phoenix is a championship in its own.  

“When that day comes, it’s whoever is best that day, so if you could lock yourself in earlier than later, you get to put more attention on Phoenix and that goes a long way.”