Smith was leading the race when NASCAR threw a caution on Lap 69 for rain. The race was finally red-flagged after 79 of 100 laps and Smith declared the winner.
Smith grabbed the lead on a restart on Lap 65 when he went low on then-leader Corey LaJoie, who fell into the middle lane and dropped back in the field.
Tanner Gray moved into second at that point and the two were battling for the lead when the final caution came out.
Christian Eckes finished third, Colby Howard fourth and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top five.
Rounding out the top-10 were Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum, Corey Heim, Matt Crafton and Chase Elliott.
Travis Pastrana finished 13th in a career-best result for him.
“It’s huge. The past couple times I’ve actually been to Daytona I’ve gotten to visit Victory Lane. To do that for a third time is awesome.” Smith said. “I tried to play that race as smart as possible. When it was getting really aggressive, I’d get out of it.
“I knew these patches of rain were a thing but I didn’t think it would stick around for this long. I just wanted to be there after Stage 2 was over. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Smith isn’t done at Daytona yet. He will compete in Sunday’s Daytona 500, driving a third car for Front Row Motorsports.
“I’ll be out there Sunday,” he said. “It’s exactly how we started last year, so it’s looking good.”
Stage 3
Following the caution between Stages 2 and 3, most of the lead-lap trucks elected to pit with Crafton first off pit road.
On the restart on Lap 48, LaJoie led the way followed by Zane Smith, Heim, Matt DiBenedetto and Crafton.
Eckes, who restarted eighth, moved back into the lead on Lap 49. LaJoie got a shove into the top spot on Lap 50.
With 45 laps remaining, LaJoie continued to run out front, successfully blocking the advances of Zane Smith and Ankrum.
Rajah Caruth got loose in Turn 3 on Lap 58 while running three-wide to trigger a multi-truck wreck and bring out a caution. DiBenedetto, Friesen, Grant Enfinger and Daniel Dye were all involved.
Most of the lead-lap trucks elected to pit but LaJoie stayed out and in the lead. The race returned to green on Lap 65.
LaJoie fell into the middle lane and immediately dropped back on the restart, which sent Zane Smith into the lead.
NASCAR was forced to display a caution again on Lap 69 as it began raining once again. NASCAR ended up halting the race after completing 73 laps.
After about an hour, NASCAR was primed to restart the race and it…
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