Menu
Imagine being less than a month from your 24th birthday, and having not only a NASCAR National Touring Series Championship, but three straight Championship 4 appearances. Zane Smith has done that, and is one of the rising stars of the NASCAR Truck Series. Driving the 38 truck for Front Row Motorsports, it seems like only a matter of time before Smith finds a way to Cup Series stardom one day.
Smith is from Huntington Beach, California, and was born on June 9th, 1999. According to his website, he started racing BMX bikes at the age of three. Mike, his father, owns his own professional off-road racing team as well according to Zane’s website.
Zane came onto the scene with the CARS Pro Late Model Tour in 2015 running full-time. In the 10 race season, Smith finished third in the points with one win. That was good enough to catch the eye of Arca Menards Series car owner Billy Venturini.
Smith would run two races in 2016 before signing with Venturini for 18 races for the 2017 season as Smith was not yet eligible to race at Daytona and Talladega due to his age. During this time, Smith was also added to the NASCAR Next Program.
Unfortunately, Smith would not finish the 2017 Arca season with Venturini, but he would sign for the final three races with MDM Motorsports. In those three races, Smith would finish in the top-three each race and earn his first two career poles, and would run full-time in the series in 2018 for MDM.
Smith would later say to Dustin Albino at Frontstretch.com that he had to sell the full Arca season, as it was not in the original plans.
“I only have a year of ARCA, which wasn’t even supposed to be a year — we just ran well and kept selling races.” Smith said to Frontstretch.
That year, Smith burst onto the scene winning four races and finishing second in the standings. He also became a source of controversy after intentionally wrecking Michael Self at Salem Speedway that season. Smith would be penalized 100 driver and owner points along with being fined $5,000 for the incident.
In spite of the on-track scuffle, Smith did find some Xfinity Series seat time in 2019 from one of NASCAR’s stars.
In 2019, Smith would run 10 races for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. He would record seven top 10 finishes, which was enough to catch the eye of the GMS Racing Truck Series team. He had already run one Truck Series race at Gateway in 2018, finishing fifth.
Smith would run full-time in 2020 and 2021 for GMS. He would take the series by storm, winning three races and finishing second in the standings.
He would also later let the public know that Chip Ganassi Racing was going to sign him for the 2022 season. That was before Trackhouse came in an bought out Ganassi, and Smth was left without a Cup ride for 2022.
“I was signed by them—and that’s where that is,” Smith said [to Lee Spencer at] RacingBoys, “I was just kind of a backup plan, you could say, the replacement. But I don’t think anybody in NASCAR saw them selling their race team. I had a lot to look forward to this year—and now you kind of see where I’m at.”
With that, Smith had to make another move, to Front Row Motorsports in 2022 to run in the Truck Series. Smith would have his best season yet, winning the season opener at Daytona, plus winning thee additional races including the 2022 Truck Series Championship. He also made his Cup Series debut filling in for Chris Buescher at Gateway, and finishing 17th.
Now Smith is in his second full-time season with Front Row in the Truck Series, and he is running a part-time Cup Series schedule. His path to the top is not as simple as others, but he is well on his way. His talent is shining through, and he is on his way to the top.
