What’s Happening?

Spire Motorsports has one seat to fill for 2025 after abruptly dropping its’ longest-tenured driver, Corey LaJoie. There is at least one in-house option to watch out for: Zane Smith, who is with the team on loan from Trackhouse. Would it make sense for Spire to keep Smith for the 2025 season?

• Zane Smith filled in the new No. 71 car for the 2024 season. Spire purchased the charter from Live Fast Motorsports and formed an alliance with Trackhouse. As a condition of that alliance, Trackhouse loaned Smith, a Trackhouse development driver, to Spire.
• Smith has struggled mightily for most of 2024. He’s been mired at the bottom floor of Cup Series points throughout the season, being the lowest-ranked full-time driver in the standings for much of the season.
• Many assumed Smith would be gone after 2024 when Spire signed Michael McDowell to drive the No. 71 car for 2025. However, now that LaJoie is gone and Trackhouse is running out of room, Spire may have the option to bring Smith back for at least one season.

Why This Could Make Sense For Both

Spire announced LaJoie’s departure fairly late in the Silly Season game. While the 2024 season still has 14 races and about four months of racing remaining, Cup Series Silly Season is already in full swing. Drivers and team owners have put pen to paper on multiple contracts, and other seats currently have multiple drivers in the running.

Could it be too little too late for Spire to get some of the more coveted free agents? Drivers like Christian Eckes, Sam Mayer, and Riley Herbst are all candidates for some of these open seats. If these drivers already have something lined up, thus shutting Spire out, it might make sense to run it back with Smith for one more season.

Smith is in a tough situation with Trackhouse. As Jordan Bianchi of The Athletc reported in May, NASCAR may limit Cup Series teams to three cars from 2025 onwards, meaning Trackhouse may be forced to expand only to three cars instead of four.

With SVG’s emergence in the Xfinity Series, Trackhouse has a tough decision to make. Should they bring Zane Smith fully into the fold or SVG? Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez are expected to return in 2025, so it’s between SVG and Smith. If SVG moves up, Smith would be on the outs

To stay in the Cup Series, it may make sense for Smith to return to Spire. However, there are some hurdles both parties have to overcome.

Why This May Not Happen

How has this pairing worked out so far in 2024? They have recorded a grand total of one top-10 and seven top-20 finishes. In fairness, five of those top-20s have come in the last eight races, so Smith has improved in recent races.

However, Smith and Spire are still in a temporary arrangement. Smith is still under contract at Trackhouse, meaning he is not a full-fledged Spire driver. Why would Spire want to keep investing in a driver that is just going to leave?

From Smith’s perspective, why would he want to spend another year out on loan at another team? At some point, he wants stability, which may come at Trackhouse. It also may come from somewhere else, such as Front Row Motorsports, which has an open seat and might be interested in him.

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