By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
AVONDALE, Ariz. – No longer the bridesmaid of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is Zane Smith, who won in a thrilling overtime finish in Friday’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway.
“Oh, my God, third time’s a charm. I want this shit more than anyone in the world. I don’t care what anyone says,” an elated Smith after capturing the title. “Thank you to all you race fans, my whole team. Oh, my God, I was crying that whole lap.
“I’ve wanted this championship for so long. I’ve wanted this moment all my life.”
Over the past two seasons, Smith ended up finishing second in the Championship 4 race. As much as he came close to winning the title, Smith’s future remained unknown as he didn’t have a ride set up.
Through various phone calls and conversations, a deal was made to drive for Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 Ford team. He replaced the departed Todd Gilliland, who went on to the team’s Cup Series program.
That very team turned out to be an organization that Smith didn’t reach out. Instead, FRM reached out to him as Smith sent over 120 voicemails during the off-season. As the saying goes, the rest is history.
The Californian wasted no time to set a mark for FRM by winning the season opener at Daytona. Since then, he won three more races, including the one that mattered most Friday night. To get to the position Smith ended up required tremendous decision making.
With four laps left in regulation, Smith faced pressure from Ty Majeski for the third spot. Things went awry for Majeski, who got sideways and made slight contact with the Turn 2 wall.
The caution forced the 150-lap race to go into overtime which led to Smith choosing not restarting alongside race leader Ben Rhodes, but start a row behind.
The madness boiled down to those final two laps with Smith utilizing every inch of the Dogleg and got by both Rhodes and Chandler Smith. Zane would take full command of the lead in Turn 2, but wasn’t able to fully clear both competitors coming to the white flag.
It’s one thing to lead one lap in overtime, but to fend of the competition for the money lap is a whole different story. Chandler would lose second to Rhodes as the latter was a mad man, looking to win back-to-back championships. Rhodes fought hard but came up short as Smith brings FRM its first NASCAR title.
“I wasn’t going to let it go down like that,” Smith on the championship-winning restart….
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