Top Dog: Zane Smith
You’d be hard pressed to find someone familiar with Spire Motorsports who didn’t agree that 2024 has been one of its wildest seasons yet.
Still relatively young, the 2018-founded team has emerged in several storylines throughout the year among its trio of drivers: veteran Corey LaJoie and rookies Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith.
The NASCAR Cup Series’ annual visit to Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 19) was no different.
While it has been Hocevar either capturing the hearts of fans or drawing the ire of his competitors with his aggressive style, Smith emerged as the team’s top finisher in the FireKeepers Casino 400 after finishing seventh.
With rain halting the race on Sunday after stage one was completed, the remainder of the event was pushed to Monday (Aug. 19). Smith was given time to reset after finishing the first stage in 32nd.
By the time stage two ended, Smith had driven back into the top 20, entering the final stage in 19th. A pair of wild accidents (including one involving one of Smith’s teammates) shuffled the field up, yet Smith held strong inside the top 15.
A late caution with six laps to go saw the Huntington Beach, Calif. native sitting just outside the top 10 in 12th. Two attempts at overtime opened the door for Smith to seize the moment and capture the top-10 result.
Smith’s well-documented slump to start the season has given way to an uptick in speed lately from the No. 71, sparked by a runner-up finish at Nashville Superspeedway. In four of the last six races, Smith has finished 17th or better and has grabbed at least 20 points, something he only accomplished twice in the first 18 races.
With questions still surrounding Smith’s fate for the 2025 season and beyond, this is a chance for him to build off the momentum and open some team owners’ eyes in the process.
How Does It Compare?
Up against the past five races in the rolling hills of Michigan, Smith’s finish bested them all. He topped the past two results from hometown driver Erik Jones, who had finishes of 10th and eighth in the past two events at MIS. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the underdog effort with a 12th-place showing in 2021, and a 2020 doubleheader produced top dogs of Bubba Wallace (ninth) and Ryan Preece (16th).
Notable Underdog Runs
While a few underdogs had runs to dive into, let’s go to the other extreme for Spire. And by extreme, this was X Games-like material. Unfortunately,…
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