Zane Smith begins FRM tenure with overtime NextEra Energy 250 win

Zane Smith‘s new life at Front Row Motorsports is off to a good start, even if it resulted in a repeat of familiar events within a short span. In his first race for the team, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series‘ season-opening NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway, he was the leader coming to the white flag when a massive wreck forced overtime. On the final lap, another crash resulted in the race ending under caution while he was in front, securing his fourth career win.

Ty Majeski, getting another shot at a full-time Truck season for ThorSport Racing, won the pole while Smith started twentieth. Majeski would dominate the opening stage before being passed by reigning regular season champion John Hunter Nemechek, who took the stage win ahead of Chandler Smith, Stewart Friesen, Corey Heim, Grant Enfinger, Smith, Majeski, Tanner Gray, Bret Holmes, and Tyler Ankrum. The top four were Toyota drivers.

Like Stage #1, Nemechek was relatively quiet in a caution-free segment as Majeski and Derek Kraus led the majority of Stage #2’s laps before winning anyway. However, Kraus got loose on lap 38 and Nemechek cleared him for the lead and stage victory. Defending champion Ben Rhodes followed, with Smith, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton, Austin Wayne Self, Ankrum, Kraus, Austin Hill, and Majeski in tow.

Despite the cleanliness of the first two segments, Stage #3 was a far more chaotic affair with five cautions. The first came on lap 65 when Jack Wood slid into the backstretch inside wall, which was followed by Heim’s contact with Dean Thompson on lap 81. The ensuing restart was short-lived as Tate Fogleman‘s tyre went down in turn four, triggering a wreck that collected Jason White and Kris Wright.

At the front, Nemechek traded the lead with a multitude of drivers like Ankrum and Colby Howard. Eckes took the top spot on lap 96 and was side-by-side with Smith as they prepared to begin the final lap when carnage broke loose: Eckes was clipped by Nemechek and sent into the middle of the pack, resulting in a crash that involved fifteen other drivers. Although Smith had barely edged out Eckes to cross the start/finish line, NASCAR was able to squeeze the caution flag in before the leader could begin the final lap.

After a red flag for cleanup, Smith continued to lead as overtime began. Once again, he was on top when another crash came, this time after the white flag as White and Wright wrecked together again to end the race under caution.

The win is the second for FRM in the Trucks and the team’s second at Daytona after Michael McDowell won the 2021 Daytona 500; incidentally, Smith and McDowell’s wins both came with a Love’s Travel Stops livery. Smith is the sixth driver to win the Truck season opener in his first race with a new team, joining Mike Wallace (Ultra Motorsports) at Homestead in 1999, Robert Pressley (Bobby Hamilton Racing) in his series début in 2002, Michael Waltrip (Billy Ballew Motorsports) in 2011, John King (Red Horse Racing) in 2012, Johnny Sauter (GMS Racing) in 2016, and Hill (Hattori Racing Enterprises) in 2019.

“I grew up coming here racing my go-kart race after Christmas on the road course. I was like, ‘Damn, it would be pretty cool to win here in NASCAR.’ At that time, I was like ten years old,” commented Smith in his press conference. “I never thought it would happen, especially with my past two years here, just always having a shot right at the very end and then not working out. There’s just so many variables to win here (which) is why it’s so hard to win here.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	20	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	106	Running
2	27	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	106	Running
3	14	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	106	Running
4	24	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	106	Running
5	31	75	Parker Kligerman	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
6	9	02	Jesse Little	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
7	1	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	106	Running
8	28	20	Danny Bohn	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
9	22	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
10	23	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	106	Running
11	15	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
12	8	17	Riley Herbst*	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	106	Running
13	16	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	106	Running
14	35	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	106	Running
15	13	7	Austin Hill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
16	5	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	106	Running
17	26	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	106	Running
18	34	43	Thad Moffitt	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	106	Running
19	12	44	Kris Wright	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
20	33	33	Jason White	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	105	Accident
21	3	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	105	Running
22	32	30	Tate Fogleman	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	105	Running
23	25	28	Bryan Dauzat	FDNY Racing	Chevrolet	105	Running
24	2	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	104	Running
25	10	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	103	Accident
26	30	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	101	Accident
27	29	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	100	Accident
28	4	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	99	Accident
29	7	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	99	Accident
30	18	91	Colby Howard	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	99	Accident
31	19	9	Blaine Perkins	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	99	Accident
32	6	51	Corey Heim	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	91	Accident
33	11	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	63	Accident
34	36	47	Johnny Sauter	G2G Racing	Toyota	60	Electrical
35	21	32	Bret Holmes	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	44	Clutch
36	17	40	Dean Thompson	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	36	Brakes
DNQ		84	Clay Greenfield	Cook Racing Technologies	Toyota
DNQ		3	Jordan Anderson	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Ford
DNQ		61	Chase Purdy	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota
DNQ		46	Matt Jaskol	G2G Racing	Toyota
WD		97	Jason Kitzmiller	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet