DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Zane Smith won Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway in overtime, taking the checkered and caution flags together.
Smith, making his debut in Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 Ford, claimed his fourth Truck Series win.
The field had just taken the white flag when a wreck involving Kris Wright and Jason White brought out the caution, ending the race.
Smith beat Ben Rhodes, Christian Eckes, Tanner Gray and Parker Kligerman for the win.
The overtime period was setup by a crash that involved almost 20 trucks as the field came to the white flag at the scheduled 100-lap distance.
Eckes was scored as the leader when the caution lights flashed on just before the field crossed the start/finish line.
Of the few trucks that avoided the red flag inducing carnage, Eckes was scored ahead of Smith, Rhodes, Kligerman and Gray.
“(This is) something else,” Smith told said. “Literally my heart hurt during the red flag. I thought we had it. Just hats off to this whole group. They’ve really put the work in. It’s so damn cool when it pays off. Man, this is going to be a really fun year. I’m going to try to make it a record year for myself.”
The wreck began when Tyler Ankrum was turned by John Hunter Nemechek.
“It felt like I got a really good push from the 4 (Nemechek) and I don’t know if it was the 99 (Rhodes) or 98 (Eckes) in front of me but I was going to take him three-wide to the top,” Ankrum said. “I just got really loose. It’s so hard. We were all pushing so hard. It was coming to one (lap) to go. It sucks.”
Ty Majeski, who started from the pole, led the first 18 laps. They were the first laps he’s led in 21 Truck Series starts.
Nemechek took the lead from him two laps to go and won the stage. Majeski finished the stage in seventh.
The stage ended under caution after the caution flag waved for Tate Fogleman getting out of shape due to a cut tire. He kept his truck out the wall and continued.
Johnny Sauter, who got into the race on a past champion’s provisional, went a lap down with about four laps to go in the first stage. Thad Moffitt, the grandson of Richard Petty and driving a throwback scheme to Petty’s 1992 STP scheme, was lapped with two to go in the stage. He eventually got back on the lead lap at a stage break and finished 18th.
During the stage break pit stops, Corey Heim’s Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota suffered major damage to the right front of his No. 51 Toyota from contact with Dean Thompson. Heim would later suffer two cut tires and finish 32nd.
Nemechek led the final three laps and won stage two in a photo finish with Rhodes.Â
During the stage break, Majeski suffered a mechanical issue that resulted in multiple trips down pit road. He restarted 30th and finished the race in sixth.
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