Zane Smith Builds Early Season Momentum
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Zane Smith moved to Front Row Motorsports for his second NASCAR Cup Series season and has enjoyed a solid start to the season.
Smith is tied for 21st in the standings with Austin Cindric after eight races. He’s coming off a 12th-place finish last weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
“I feel pretty good about how things have been going. I wish our races could be a little bit smoother,” Smith said. “I feel we’ll maybe start the first stage and be really strong and then it’s like an unlucky caution will fall and we get put back and then have to battle our way forward. It would be a lot less work if we could just stay up there, but all in all we’re bringing good speed, making positive adjustments and having fun doing it, so I’m excited for this weekend to hopefully continue it.”
Smith ran his first Cup Series season with Spire Motorsports before joining the three-car Front Row team during the offseason.
“I mean the experience that I got last year with a full year of Cup I feel like you learn so much. That’s definitely the main positive takeaway,” he said. “Last year, I was in a very unique and weird situation where I was kind of a part of two teams, so it’s been nice to have more of a normal deal I guess you could say for this year. It’s been fun.
“It’s been a really great group to work with and I feel like we’re getting better every weekend. We’re bringing positive speed and making positive adjustments, so we just need a few things to go our way and I feel like we’ll kick into that next bracket and hopefully compete for a win.”
Smith is only three points out of the top 20 in the standings heading to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway this weekend.
“I think how we’re running is a positive. I think there there have been a handful of races where we deserved to be in that top 10, but just a few things maybe didn’t go our way,” he said. “I believe we should be finishing there and it would be great to make the playoffs, so obviously I want to stay in that top 20. I really want to get a race win and say I’ve won on Sunday, so that’s the main goal this year.”
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