Zane Smith Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A 19-car incident as the field approached the white flag signaling one lap to go instead sent Friday night’s NextEra Energy 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season-opener into overtime where 22-year old Californian Zane Smith won under caution over defending series champion Ben Rhodes. A nearly 16-minute red flag was needed to clean up all the debris from the frontstretch melee, which happened only a few feet before the start/finish line and littered much of the track’s tri-oval. HadRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer For the first time since Brendan Gaughan in 2004, a former West Series champion will compete in the NASCAR Cup Series full-time. That man being two-time West champion Todd Gilliland, who’ll make the leap from the Camping World Truck Series to the sport’s top level in 2022. The third-generation racer will continue his tenure at Front Row Motorsports. Only this time, he’ll be accompanied by a teammate in Michael McDowell. As part of the Gilliland family tradition, Todd will pilot the No. 38 Ford Mustang. MuchRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – As the laps were winding down in Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway, Ben Rhodes could see the championship slipping away and he wasn’t going to settle for second place. Setting his sights on championship rival Zane Smith, Rhodes was a man on a mission, chewing up the ground between himself and Smith to catch up to the rear bumper of Smith’s No. 21 Chevrolet. After a bump in Turn 3 with nine laps to go, Rhodes sent Smith up theRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor AVONDALE, Ariz. – The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will be the first title fight of the weekend to be settled, as the four remaining drivers in the Playoffs will duke it out Friday night at Phoenix Raceway for the right to hoist the championship trophy when the checkered flag falls. Eight drivers started the Playoffs with a berth in the championship race in mind, but half of them fell by the wayside, leaving Matt Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Ben Rhodes, and Zane Smith as theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. – On a track strewn with spinning trucks and broken hearts, Zane Smith catapulted into the Championship 4 with a thrilling overtime victory in Saturday’s United Rentals 200 at Martinsville Speedway. In a no-holds-barred race that featured 14 cautions for 89 laps, Smith won under yellow after he, Stewart Friesen and Todd Gilliland raced three-wide—yes, three-wide at Martinsville—off Turn 4 on the first lap of overtime. Contact from Friesen’s Toyota sent Gilliland’s Ford spinning across the start/finish line to start the finalRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service In a stunning upset on Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, rookie Chandler Smith stole a victory from reigning NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Sheldon Creed, clinched a spot in the Round of 8 of the Playoffs and eliminated Todd Gilliland from the postseason. The entire tenor of the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics changed in the final five laps. On a restart on Lap 196 of 200, Smith powered his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the inside of Creed’sRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Sheldon Creed completed the Darlington double on Sunday, extending his monopoly on the Round of 10 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs. Creed’s victory in the In It to Win It 200 at Darlington Raceway was his second straight in the series and his second straight at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped track, giving him a season sweep at the Lady in Black. It was the third straight win in a Playoff race for the reigning series champion, who secured hisRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Race leader Austin Hill was declared the winner of Saturday’s United Rentals 176 at the famed Watkins Glen International road course after lightning in the immediate area forced the field to stop on pit road 11 laps from the scheduled race finish. Hill had taken a 1.023-second lead over John Hunter Nemechek before the trucks headed to pit road where they waited under red flag conditions for nearly an hour before the race was officially called. The race marked the NASCAR Camping World TruckRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service John Hunter Nemechek passed team owner Kyle Busch on a restart with six laps left and pulled away to win Saturday’s CRC Brakleen 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Pocono Raceway. Nemechek crossed the finish line at the 2.5-mile triangular track 1.337 seconds ahead of Busch, who had led 20 straight laps after pitting three laps before the conclusion of Stage 2. The victory was Nemechek’s series-best fifth of the season and his third in head-to-head competition against his Kyle Busch MotorsportsRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Ryan Preece took the lead from Grant Enfinger with seven laps remaining in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway to earn his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory Friday night in his first race in the series. Preece, the 30-year old Connecticut native who competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, is only the fifth driver in history to win in his truck series debut. “That was a lot of fun,” Preece said, adding, “Really I didn’t know what to expect. IRead More