Smith claims third place in first Charlotte NASCAR race
A lack of experience was no problem for no. 21 Zane Smith who finished third Tuesday night in his first NASCAR national series start at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Smith’s first NASCAR national series start at Charlotte came in Tuesday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, driving a GMS Racing Chevrolet.
Prior to the race, Smith had never turned a lap in a NASCAR vehicle at Charlotte due to a condensed schedule that eliminated any practice and qualifying sessions. Smith’s only experience at the 1.5-mile track was racing in the ARCA Menard’s Series General Tire 150 in 2018, where he finished fifth in a start that came before ARCA became a part of NASCAR.
Despite this lack of experience, Smith rallied from starting 30th on the 40-truck grid to finish third in stage 1, before leading four laps and finishing seventh in stage 2.
Smith kept his nose clean throughout the rest of the race and re-took the lead with 37 laps to go when no. 51 Kyle Busch pitted. Smith was out in front for 10 more laps, but lost the lead to no. 13 Johnny Sauter with 27 laps to go.
Smith fell back to fourth but it didn’t last for long. In a three-wide, veteran-like pass on the backstretch apron on Busch and Sauter with 23 laps to go, the 20-year-old rookie moved back up to second.
Although Busch passed Smith back, Smith finished third and was only beat by two Cup veterans, Busch and race winner Chase Elliott, in his first NASCAR national series race at Charlotte, which caught the attention of NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Mark Martin and two-time Truck Series champion Todd Bodine.
You have my attention @zanesmith77 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
— Mark Martin (@markmartin) May 27, 2020
How about Zane Smith. Driving one heck of a race
— Todd Bodine (@Team_Onion) May 27, 2020
Following Tuesday night’s Truck race at Charlotte, Smith is tied for second in points with Johnny Sauter. Smith and Sauter are 17 points behind current points leader no. 16 Austin Hill and 33 points ahead of 11th place no. 88 Matt Crafton.
Smith leads the rookie points standings by 25 over no. 18 Christian Eckes as the series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for race four of the season, June 6’s Vet Tix/Camping World 200 (TV: FS1; 1 p.m. EST).
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com