CONCORD, N.C. — Momentum is on Zane Smith’s side as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway, site of his best career finish in the series.
The driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang finished 10th and led a fair number of laps during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his fourth top-10 finish of the season.
One week prior his team won the Pit Stop Challenge during the NASCAR All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway.
“I felt good about everything. One of the restarts went really well and then the other one went really well at first and then just kind of lost my momentum,” Smith said about the final third of the race. “There were guys on both sides, one on the bottom and someone ripping the fence and I was kind of trapped in the middle. It doesn’t take much to lose your momentum and it just kills you, but I was happy to hold on for a top 10 and those days certainly feel great for our team.”
Now Smith heads to Nashville where he finished second last year — his best finish in the Cup Series.
“Nashville has always been super good to me, so I’m excited for this weekend, especially coming off some momentum,” Smith said during a Ford media conference call. “Looking back to even my truck starts, I probably had four or five truck starts there and I think besides one they’re all second place finishes, which sucks, but it’s been a great race track for me.
“This is kind of funny. I was talking about this the other day. I finished second there like three years in a row in the Truck Series, and then I’m in my rookie year in Cup and I’m like, ‘OK, the second place streak is definitely probably coming to an end this year,’ and somehow I finished second again.
“It’s just funny. I definitely want to be one spot better, but last year, my first year with the 38 Cup car and that whole group. we had another great showing.”
Smith acknowledged that momentum is on his side.
“Momentum is certainly a very real thing in our sport. There is the momentum off the track, like the mental side, and then there is momentum on the track,” he explained. “From a team standpoint, I feel like it is as high as ever. To your point, we just won the Pit Crew Challenge. My pit crew showed out again at the 600 and I’m just thankful for that group because a lot of passing is made on pit road and we’re fortunate to have them.
“It’s just a really fun and a good group of guys. We’re thankful to have them as part of the 38 team, and then just a good run at the 600. That goes a long way of showing the depth of how good our car was and the moves I was able to make.”
