A late-race caution sent the race into a two-lap overtime with Ben Rhodes in the lead but he had taken just two new tires on his previous pit stops while his nearest competitors had taken four.
On the restart, Smith took the field three-wide and cleared for the lead with one lap to go then held off Rhodes by 0.236 seconds to earn his fourth win of the season and his first series championship.
Smith, 23, had finished second in the series standings the past two seasons and moved to Front Row Motorsports in the offseason.
“Oh, my God, third time’s a charm. I want this (expletive) more than anyone in the world. I don’t care what anyone says. Thank you to all you race fans, my whole team. Oh, my God, I was crying that whole lap,” Smith said.
“I’ve wanted this championship for so long. I’ve wanted this moment all my life. Thank you, everyone. That’s all I’ve got.”
Asked about his approach to the final restart, Smith said, “I wasn’t going to let it go down like that. I was either wrecked or I was winning this thing. There was no other option.
“Just last year and the year before we showed so much speed and should have won a lot more races than we did, but (team owner) Bob Jenkins is the only reason why I’m here right now, and without him, none of this would be possible.”
Rhodes said he thought had had a chance for the win and his second consecutive championship were it not for the late caution.
“I don’t know, two tires versus four, that was the name of the game. We didn’t have the pace all night that we needed to be up there and repeat so it was a great heads-up call by my crew chief,” Rhodes said.
“Ultimately, we just didn’t need that last caution. I think we could have held them off for the final few laps. I was giving (Zane Smith) all the dirty air he could handle. I think we were going to be fine until that caution got us.”
Fellow championship contender Chandler Smith finished third, John Hunter Nemechek was fourth and Stewart Friesen completed the top-five.
Ty Majeski, the final title contender, was in contention for the win most of the race but wrecked with three laps to go in regulation and finished 20th.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap trucks all pit with Nemechek first off pit road. Matt DiBenedetto was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.
When the race resumed on Lap 99, Nemechek was followed by Chandler…
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