2022 Truck Series Champion Zane Smith Is Growing With Front Row Motorsports

When Brad Keseloski, co-owner of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, picked up the phone to offer Zane Smith a one-race deal to fill in for an ill Chris Buescher, the young racer was in shock.

“Brad Keselowski is probably one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” Smith, 23, said. “The advice he gave me went a long way. He said, ‘Hey, you have nothing to prove. You already proved it with me calling you.’”

Smith was laser focused on competing for the Camping World Truck Series championship for Front Row Motorsports, a Ford-backed team that has worked with RFK Racing when it was better known as Roush Fenway Racing in the past. In his debut Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, he finished 17th.

The solid run for Smith was the confidence boost he didn’t know he needed as he chased his first Nascar championship.

“Those 400 miles, I learned so much in bettering myself,” Smith said. “If you think you’re good on pit road, you’re not. If you think you’re good on restarts, no you’re not.

“When you feed yourself to the wolves like that, which I’ve done throughout my career since I was a little kid, you learn right away. I was thrown into the deep end. I’m super fortunate to have been raised that way, and I’m getting to experience that at an older age.”

As Smith’s No. 38 team continued to excel in the Truck Series, Front Row Motorsports announced he’d return for 2023, along with a partial Cup Series schedule. A comfortable Smith, who finished runner-up in the Truck Series standings the last two years, was ready to prove why he is worthy of a contract extension.

Smith won the regular season championship by virtue of three wins in the opening eight races of the season. He cruised through the playoffs to qualify for the Championship 4. Come the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, the No. 38 team, which hadn’t won a race since mid-May at Kansas Speedway, treated it as a must-win contest.

When the checkered flag waved after 150 miles, Smith edged out ThorSport Racing’s Ben Rhodes — the 2021 champion — by less than a quarter of a second to take home the crown.

Smith explained, “It means so much that I can’t even describe it. People don’t understand how hard it is to get to the Championship 4. It’s really hard to capitalize on that day.

“People are like, ‘You just have to be better than the other three.’ But typically, those other three are second, third and fourth. It comes down to winning a race. You have to go into the race with a mindset of this is a must-win. That’s what we did and we fully executed. That’s what makes me most proud.”

The championship triumph does indeed elevate the small team, which fields two Cup cars.

“I think the wins and now the championship will just further cement Front Row as a competitive organization capable of winning races for sure, now winning a championship in one of Nascar’s higher series,” general manager Jerry Freeze said after Smith’s championship. “It just helps validate our company. It’s not just a race-winning organization now, but one that’s capable of winning championships.”

As Smith prepares for his second season with Front Row Motorsports and his fourth in the Truck Series, his schedule will be much busier. He is mentally and physically preparing to compete in both divisions next year, as he will run at least a handful of races in a third Cup car for FRM.

“I’m pretty stoked for that,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun, especially because I’m doing it with my truck team: my crew chief, my engineer, my car chief, everybody who’s on my truck will be on my Cup car as well. We’re going to be learning together.”

Smith, of course, is looking forward to his future in Nascar. He believes he’s found a home at Front Row Motorsports, and would ideally like his next contract to be one that puts him in the sport’s premier division full time. He’s signed with the team until 2026.

“Back in the day, yes, the layout was Truck, Xfinity and Cup,” Smith said. “People don’t realize now that the Cup car is so far apart from anything. Team owners will tell you this – it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to go to Xfinity unless you’re already in it. You’re almost racing time.”

Smith has plenty of time, though, as he will spend the offseason preparing for the challenges ahead entering the 2023 season.