Falling Weak in Rookie of the Year Contention, Former Truck Series Champ Finally Turns the Tide on His Debut Season

NASCAR’s Ally 400 was nothing short of spectacular. With booming thunderstorms, and a stunning sunset over the Tennessee sky, Sunday’s Cup race at Nashville delivered a lot of uncertainty. Just like the unexpected weather, the winner too was unexpected. But what’s cut the cake is a rookie who went from his top-20 position before the first overtime restart to runner-up in the end— Zane Smith.

As they say, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” This was Smith’s first top-five finish at the Cup level, in fact his best career finish and he did fight for it. You’d think he is jumping with joy, right? But the 25-year hot-headed driver seems to be pissed at the result instead!

Zane Smith frustrated by his second-place finish at NASCAR’s Nashville race

At one point during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race, which stretched through a record five overtimes, it felt like anyone could snatch the win—and that’s what happened. Joey Logano won the race in an unexpected fashion and as for Zane Smith, he was just 0.068s behind Logano at the finish line. Bet no one, not even Smith, thought this would be the outcome!

But it all changed when the 300-lap race ballooned to a 331-lap race and within those extra 31 laps, Smith saw a chance and went for it. After the five overtime restarts, the cars were wrecking and going out of fuel left, right, and center and Smith took the opportunity. When Joey Logano moved high to block Reddick, Smith closed in. At this point, nobody expected Logano to stretch the race without running out of fuel since he pitted earlier at lap 220, while Smith pitted at lap 244. But he did and broke his winless streak. And this just had Smith pissed—because the “what if” question definitely popped into his head.

Smith expressed his emotions post-race and said, “I mean, obviously so happy with the result. But when you hear for like 10 laps that ‘he [Logano] is supposed to run out, he is supposed to run out’, and then you see him shaking the car across the line and you just finished second, that hurts. But just appreciate everyone at Spire Motorsports.”

Logano indeed did stretch his fuel beyond the window. After the race, he said that he wasn’t sure about the fuel situation and if he could make it past the checkered flag.

Yes, it’s true that throughout the race the multiple crashes, the cautions, and the overtime did help him, but no other driver could stretch it as far as he did. However, everything aligned perfectly for him and Smith to finish at the position they did. And while it was a great day for Smith, the road ahead might be rocky, as some rumors are circulating in the NASCARverse that are not in Zane Smith’s favor!

Trackhouse Racing is likely to choose the Kiwi driver instead of Zane Smith!

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Zane Smith might have tough competition from someone across the border—Shane van Gisbergen! According to Bob Pockrass, Trackhouse Racing will probably choose SVG over Zane Smith. He said in his FOX column, “It still must decide whether it feels Shane van Gisbergen would be better off with another season in Xfinity. That would leave Zane Smith in that car, but the more likely scenario is van Gisbergen in a Cup car and Smith either looking for a ride while under contract or loaned to another team like he is this year with Spire.”

These doubts may have cropped up because of a lackluster NASCAR season for Zane Smith this year. Although his second-place finish at Nashville is great, overall it’s been quite a turbulent debut for this young driver. For the most part, he has remained out of the top 25, and apart from Nashville, his best finish was a 13th place at the season opener in Daytona. 

Meanwhile, Gisbergen has shown tremendous promise and is one of the most talked about drivers at this point. In fact, people started putting him against Chase Elliott, saying he could give Elliott tough competition as the most popular driver in NASCAR. He also has plenty of experience driving for Supercars in Australia and is a champion there. In the Xfinity races, SVG has managed two wins in 10 races—which is extremely impressive. So definitely the competition for Smith will be tough.

It remains to be seen what the future holds for Zane Smith now that he’s shown promise on the track. Do you think this was a lucky break, or will he continue to perform well in future races?