By Crystal Clay and Adam Carabine
Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150 won the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway, earning him the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship.
“I have literally stood in this parking lot 3 years in a row, not knowing what I’m going to do next year" said Smith.
This was the third consecutive trip to the Championship 4 for the Huntington Beach native in his third full-time season in the truck series.
After his win, Smith said “It’s been so cool to celebrate with family and friends, just, on the West Coast in general”.
In his 2020 and 2021 Championship runs, he snagged back-to-back 2nd place finishes.
On Thursday's media day Zane told reporters that he had the support of 7x Champion Jimmie Johnson, after last year's finish.
“I text back and forth with Jimmie Johnson, and obviously he’s been in that situation a lot of times, but last year after losing it in probably the most brutal way, he texted saying ‘the sun will come up, don’t worry,’ and he was right.”
The 23 year old is living proof of the old adage “Third time’s the charm”.
Zane Smith swept all three stages of the race and led 77 laps, but the win was far from a cakewalk.
Hailie Deegan brought out a caution with 15 laps to go, which led to some late-race pit strategy.
As all four Championship contenders came down pit road, Zane Smith was the only one to take four tires. Ben Rhodes and Ty Majeski both restarted ahead of him, but were only on two fresh tires.
Just a few laps later, Majeski made light contact with Zane Smith’s rear bumper and spun with 2 to go, bringing out another caution - and an overtime finish.
While all of the leaders stayed out, Zane Smith’s fresh tires took him all the way to Victory Lane.
Crew chief Chris Lawson, on taking four tires said “I felt strongly about it, I didn’t second guess it even after we came out behind Rhodes. It was definitely the right call. Rhodes definitely held on better than I expected.”
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