{"id":42033,"date":"2023-03-25T23:30:50","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T04:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=42033"},"modified":"2023-03-26T11:08:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T16:08:30","slug":"zane-smith-wins-back-to-back-truck-series-races-at-circuit-of-the-americas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/25\/zane-smith-wins-back-to-back-truck-series-races-at-circuit-of-the-americas\/","title":{"rendered":"Zane Smith wins back-to-back Truck Series races at Circuit of The Americas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Zane Smith, driver of the #38 Speedco\/Peak Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas on March 25, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas – Zane Smith became the first repeat NASCAR winner at the famed Circuit of The Americas road course, the reigning series champion holding off veteran Kyle Busch to claim his second straight victory in Saturday\u2019s XPEL 225 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race.<\/p>\n

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Zane Smith, driver of the #38 Speedco\/Peak Ford, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas on March 25, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The 23-year-old Californian\u2019s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford led the final 15 laps \u2013 a race best 16 of the 42 laps in all – and crossed the finish line an impressive 5.451-seconds ahead of the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch. The win makes Smith\u2019s Front Row Motorsports team a perfect 3-for-3 in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at COTA. Todd Gilliland won the 2021 inaugural here.<\/p>\n

Ford driver Ty Majeski, Toyota\u2019s Tyler Ankrum and last year\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series COTA winner, Ross Chastain, in a Chevrolet rounded out the top-five.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the second victory of the year for Smith, who won the season-opener at Daytona too \u2013 the same first two victories he earned in his 2022 championship season as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Zane Smith, driver of the #38 Speedco\/Peak Ford, drives during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas on March 25, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cShout out to Chris Lawson for an amazing strategy,” said Smith, whose Ford F-150 had a small fire under it extinguished after his burnout.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo cool for [sponsors] Speedco, Peak and all our partners. It was fast when it mattered. I just enjoy coming to all the road courses, especially here. So cool. Just a true testament to this team.”<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we got to that eight-to-go point and I was told Kyle [Busch] was in second, my heart rate went up a little bit, just because he\u2019s so good at managing his stuff when it mattered,” Smith continued. \u201cSo, I just tried not to make any mistakes.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Zane Smith, driver of the #38 Speedco\/Peak Ford, drives during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas on March 25, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The polesitter Chastain and Busch exchanged the lead for much of the early race \u2013 combining to lead 22 laps between them. Smith was able to take the lead after pitting just before the final caution and getting track position. Chastain\u2019s truck actually fell back to 28th for the final restart and Busch\u2019s was 17th yet they both rallied to top-five finishes.<\/p>\n

But both of the NASCAR Cup Series full-timers wasted no time navigating upward through the field. On just the single restart lap, Busch had moved up 10 spots and ran seventh \u2013 picking off positions with ease. He moved into second place with six laps to go, but by that point Smith had already opened up more than a five-second advantage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Daniel Dye, driver of the #43 Dell Children’s Medical Center Chevrolet, Tanner Gray, driver of the #15 Mobil 1 Toyota, and Corey Heim, driver of the #11 JBL Toyota, race during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series XPEL 225 at Circuit of The Americas on March 25, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPlayed the long game and unfortunately the long game didn\u2019t work, they got lucky and beat us,” Busch said of gambling with a pit strategy that took the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet into the pits two laps \u2013 and a caution flag – after Smith made his final stop.<\/p>\n

Corey Heim, rookie Nick Sanchez, Tanner Gray, Kaz Grala and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top-10. NASCAR has eliminated stage breaks at road courses in 2023 but both Christian Eckes \u2013 who ultimately finished 30th after mechanical problems \u2013 won Stage 1 (his third stage win of the year) and Busch won Stage 2.<\/p>\n

The win Saturday was Smith\u2019s ninth in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and puts him in the driver standings lead by two-points on ThorSport Racing\u2019s Majeski heading into the next race, the SpeedyCash.com<\/a> 250 next Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

NCTS Race Winner Zane Smith (No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford) – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/SmithNCTS032523.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race – XPEL 225<\/b><\/p>\n

Circuit of The Americas<\/b><\/p>\n

Austin, Texas<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, March 25, 2023<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (7)  Zane Smith, Ford, 42.<\/p>\n

                2. (2)  Kyle Busch(i), Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                3. (3)  Ty Majeski, Ford, 42.<\/p>\n

                4. (12)  Tyler Ankrum, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                5. (1)  Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                6. (11)  Corey Heim, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                7. (4)  Nick Sanchez #, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                8. (9)  Tanner Gray, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                9. (10)  Kaz Grala(i), Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                10. (13)  Ben Rhodes, Ford, 42.<\/p>\n

                11. (19)  Taylor Gray, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                12. (8)  Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                13. (20)  Rajah Caruth #, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                14. (15)  Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                15. (24)  Kaden Honeycutt, Ford, 42.<\/p>\n

                16. (16)  Hailie Deegan, Ford, 42.<\/p>\n

                17. (18)  Lawless Alan, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                18. (36)  Daniel Dye #, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                19. (32)  Jake Garcia #, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                20. (25)  Colin Garrett, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                21. (35)  Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                22. (14)  Logan Bearden, Ford, 42.<\/p>\n

                23. (31)  Bret Holmes #, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                24. (27)  Colby Howard, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                25. (29)  Timmy Hill, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                26. (30)  Mason Filippi, Ford, 42.<\/p>\n

                27. (21)  Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 42.<\/p>\n

                28. (33)  Dale Quarterley, Toyota, 42.<\/p>\n

                29. (28)  Matt DiBenedetto, Chevrolet, 41.<\/p>\n

                30. (5)  Christian Eckes, Chevrolet, Suspension, 31.<\/p>\n

                31. (17)  Parker Kligerman(i), Chevrolet, Electrical, 26.<\/p>\n

                32. (26)  Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, Electrical, 12.<\/p>\n

                33. (34)  Matt Crafton, Ford, Accident, 11.<\/p>\n

                34. (6)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Axle, 8.<\/p>\n

                35. (22)  Dean Thompson, Toyota, Accident, 4.<\/p>\n

                36. (23)  Ed Jones, Chevrolet, Suspension, 0.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  77 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 51 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory:  5.451 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  3 for 5 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  9 among 5 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   R. Chastain(i) 1-2;K. Busch(i) 3;R. Chastain(i) 4-8;Z. Smith 9;C. Eckes 10-12;T. Majeski 13;K. Busch(i) 14-19;R. Chastain(i) 20-22;K. Busch(i) 23-27;Z. Smith 28-42.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Zane Smith 2 times for 16 laps; Kyle Busch(i) 3 times for 12 laps; Ross Chastain(i) 3 times for 10 laps; Christian Eckes 1 time for 3 laps; Ty Majeski 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 19,98,11,1,51,41,16,38,99,25<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 51,38,45,52,75,13,41,04,99,2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service AUSTIN, Texas – Zane Smith became the first repeat NASCAR winner at the famed Circuit of The Americas road course, the reigning series champion holding off veteran Kyle Busch to claim his second straight victory in Saturday\u2019s XPEL 225 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. The 23-year-old Californian\u2019s No. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":42044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[38,11],"tags":[39,16,882,783],"class_list":["post-42033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circuit-of-the-americas","category-nascar","tag-circuit-of-the-americas","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-craftsmen-truck-series","tag-zane-smith"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/GettyImages-1476275914-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1829&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-aVX","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42033"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42063,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42033\/revisions\/42063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}