Zane Smith wins NextEra Energy 250 season opener Truck race at Daytona

Zane Smith, who was on his first stint racing for Front Row Motorsports, was in contention to win the race until a 19-truck crash occurred with one lap remaining, forcing the race into overtime.

Zane Smith’s new beginning at Front Row Motorsports is off to a strong start after winning NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ season-opening NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

Smith started second on the overtime restart and quickly took the lead thanks to a strong push from Parker Kligerman. Another accident occurred, but Smith had already claimed the white flag and was declared the winner under caution.

“This is something else,” Smith said.

“This place is its own, I’ll tell you that. Man, literally my heart hurt during that late red flag.”

“I thought we had (the win). Man, hats off to this whole group. They really put the work in and it’s so damn cool to see it when it pays off.”

“Man, this is going to be a really fun year. I’m going to try to make it a record year for myself. How cool is this?”

Smith’s win is his fourth in the Truck Series and his first at Daytona. He’s now guaranteed a spot in the 2022 playoffs. In each of the last two seasons, he has finished second in the series standings.

Ben Rhodes came in second, followed by Christian Eckes in third place, Tanner Gray in fourth, as Kligerman finished fifth.  Carson Hocevar, Jesse Little, Ty Majeski, Danny Bohn, and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top ten.

Despite the first two segments’ being flawless, Stage #3 was a significantly more raucous event after five cautions. The first caution was on lap 65 when Jack Wood collided with the inside wall of the backstretch, then on lap 81, Heim collided with Dean Thompson. Tate Fogleman’s tyre fell flat in turn four, causing an accident that included Jason White and Kris Wright.

Nemechek traded the lead with a number of drivers, including Ankrum and Colby Howard, at the front. Eckes took the lead on lap 96 and was preparing to start the last lap side-by-side with Smith when chaos ensued as Eckes was clipped by Nemechek and thrown into the centre of the pack, resulting in a crash involving fifteen other drivers. Despite the fact that Smith had just beaten Eckes to the start/finish line, NASCAR was able to throw out the caution flag before the leader could begin the last lap.

As overtime began, Smith continued to lead despite a red flag to clear the track. He was on front once more when another crash occurred, this time after the white flag, when White and Wright collided again, forcing the race to be stopped under caution.

The victory is FRM’s second in the Trucks and the team’s second at Daytona, following Michael McDowell’s victory in the 2021 Daytona 500; both Smith and McDowell’s victories were in the Love’s Travel Stops livery. Smith is the sixth driver to win his first race with a new team in the Truck season opening.

NextEra Energy 250 NASCAR Truck Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	20	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	106	Running
2	27	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	106	Running
3	14	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	106	Running
4	24	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	106	Running
5	31	75	Parker Kligerman	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
6	9	02	Jesse Little	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
7	1	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	106	Running
8	28	20	Danny Bohn	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
9	22	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
10	23	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	106	Running
11	15	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
12	8	17	Riley Herbst*	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	106	Running
13	16	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	106	Running
14	35	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	106	Running
15	13	7	Austin Hill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
16	5	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	106	Running
17	26	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	106	Running
18	34	43	Thad Moffitt	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	106	Running
19	12	44	Kris Wright	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Running
20	33	33	Jason White	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	105	Accident
21	3	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	105	Running
22	32	30	Tate Fogleman	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	105	Running
23	25	28	Bryan Dauzat	FDNY Racing	Chevrolet	105	Running
24	2	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	104	Running
25	10	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	103	Accident
26	30	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	101	Accident
27	29	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	100	Accident
28	4	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	99	Accident
29	7	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	99	Accident
30	18	91	Colby Howard	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	99	Accident
31	19	9	Blaine Perkins	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	99	Accident
32	6	51	Corey Heim	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	91	Accident
33	11	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	63	Accident
34	36	47	Johnny Sauter	G2G Racing	Toyota	60	Electrical
35	21	32	Bret Holmes	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	44	Clutch
36	17	40	Dean Thompson	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	36	Brakes
DNQ		84	Clay Greenfield	Cook Racing Technologies	Toyota
DNQ		3	Jordan Anderson	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Ford
DNQ		61	Chase Purdy	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota
DNQ		46	Matt Jaskol	G2G Racing	Toyota
WD		97	Jason Kitzmiller	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet