By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — On the fifth try, rain finally got the better of Daytona International Speedway—and that was perfectly all right with reigning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Zane Smith.
NASCAR called Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 after 79 of a scheduled 100 laps, making Smith the winner when the fifth rain shower of the evening thwarted track-drying efforts.
In front of the largest crowd for a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Daytona since 2011, Smith won the season opener for the second straight year, having taken the lead for the final time on Lap 65.
The race would feature only four more green-flag laps after that, as rain continued to interrupt the proceedings.
“I tried to play that race as smart as possible,” said Smith, who will race in the DAYTONA 500 for the first time on Sunday. “When it was getting really aggressive, I was getting out of it. I knew these patches of rain were a thing in our Ford meeting earlier in the day. 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 can happen. A huge, huge shoutout to all the race fans. I apologize so much that we couldn’t go back racing for you all. Hopefully, we’ll give you guys a good show tomorrow (in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race), and I’ll be out there Sunday—so super excited about that.”
Despite suffering minor damage in two multicar wrecks, Tanner Gray was second when the race was stopped. Christian Eckes earned a third-place finish, with Colby Howard and Grant Enfinger completing the top five.
“Obviously, with the way our night was going, second is a good night for us,” said Gray, whose finish was a career-best in 72 starts. “Not as smooth of a race as we’d like—I got caught up in about every wreck there was.
“All in all, came out with a good finish. That’s all we can ask for.”
Racing for the newly-minted TRICON Garage team, Gray said his Toyota had suffered damage to the front splitter during the two earlier incidents.
On Lap 58 of a scheduled 100, the No. 24 GMS Racing Chevrolet of Rajah Caruth broke loose and applied the coup de grace to the Silverados of Matt DiBenedetto and Daniel Dye, whose trucks had escaped serious harm in earlier incidents.
Smith surged into the lead after a restart on Lap 65 and held the top spot when rain slowed the race for the fourth…
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