By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
High altitude preparations are the least of Zane Smith’s concerns heading into the inaugural Viva Mexico 250 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit (Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime).
For the Front Row Motorsports driver, Smith is moreso looking forward to playing a role in erasing some of the NASCAR industry’s overreaction of racing in Mexico City and just put on a great performance.
Part of the reason behind the enthusiasm stems to being no slouch on road courses with his karting background, his Truck Series victories at Circuit of the Americas (2022 and 2023) and a top-five finish at Watkins Glen International last year.
To him, it’s just another race weekend where overpreparation isn’t necessary.
“It’s just gonna be attacking the race weekend,” said Smith during Wednesday’s media availability. “I fortunately have a good amount of road course experience and showing up to new racetracks was something that I just grew up doing, so I’m excited for it.
“I love the Cup car on a road course, and I know how electric the fanbase is gonna be down in Mexico City, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
The personal side of Smith also sheds the excitement of racing in Mexico. It’s been the country the 26-year-old has spent plenty of time (primarily Cabo San Lucas) over the years with friends such as fellow Cup driver Riley Herbst, and even his FRM teammates Noah Gragson and Todd Gilliland.
Furthermore, Smith’s family have a background in off-road racing with Zane’s father owning a team for the Herbst family that ran races in Mexico, including Baja.
All of those factors resulted in Smith feeling vocal on some of the discrepancies people have about racing outside the United States or running at bigger cities in general.
“There’s a lot of overreaction from a majority of the industry, and it’s frustrating to hear and deal with. I have spent a good amount of time down in Mexico,” said Smith. “I know I have vacationed in a different spot with a group of friends in Cabo for the past few years, but there’s a lot of people that are overreacting.
“It somewhat reminds me of Chicago. It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is gonna be a train wreck.’ And then we go to Chicago and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like the most fun weekend ever.’
“You just have to know what to expect a little bit in Mexico City and Mexico, in general. There are good and bad areas, just like there is everywhere. You definitely do have to watch what you eat and drink,” Smith continued.
“From my standpoint, I know what I’ll be eating and drinking because I’ve been on the good and bad side of that, but it’s just common sense and being smart. I feel like the saying better safe than sorry is definitely true this weekend.”
The anticipation of competing at a circuit NASCAR last competed nationally in 2008 and one of the 24 stops Formula One make each year is apparent from Smith. But there’s also the performance side.
In last Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Smith brought the No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse a season-best seventh-place finish which marked Smith’s first top-10 since Phoenix in March.
With the race coming down to fuel strategy, Smith explained those types of races can be at times confusing. Especially when track position has to be sacrificed by adding more fuel just for the strategy to pan out.
There were moments throughout the race where mistakes and ill-timed cautions happened that cost Smith several spots, but it inadvertently helped the No. 38 team in the long run. This included a two-tire strategy that paid off well despite the final 49 laps ending under green flag conditions.
“I was proud that we were able to hold off a lot of those guys on four tires to ultimately score a good finish,” said Smith. “Anytime you finish in the top 10 on Sunday is a good day and we raced inside the top 10 a majority of the day. I had good speed, and it was another positive weekend. There are just a few things we need to clean up.”
Smith’s top-10 at Michigan moved him up three places in the regular season standings and now sits 22nd in points with 11 races left before the playoffs.
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