Zane Smith Torches Field for Third Win of 2022

Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

From the second lap of practice, Zane Smith showed that he had the car to beat.

After leading practice by over .2 seconds, he more than backed up in the race. The Front Row Motorsports driver led 108/134 laps to win the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway, becoming the first driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to reach three wins.

“I took a lot of criticism last year,” Zane Smith said. “I just want to win races.”

While the Kyle Busch Motorsports duo of John Hunter Nemechek and Corey Heim patrolled the front row, it took just four laps for the Front Row Motorsports standout to make his move, taking the lead on the fourth lap. The Huntington Beach, CA, native started to pull away until getting too tight, allowing Heim to get by on lap 21 and steal the stage.

Smith again had to make a move around Nemechek and Heim on the restart after the stage, coasting to an easy stage win himself.

His biggest competition of the night was Heim, who led 18 laps and was looking to rebound from a crash while leading in the ARCA race. Instead, the No. 51's engine started having issues in the third stage, as he also cut a pair of tires and faded to 33.

While the No. 38 looked to be driving away within the final 20 laps, a spin by Dean Thompson threw everyone a curveball. None of the leaders elected to pit and he took advantage of a poor restart by Nemechek to hold off Ty Majeski by 1.6 seconds for his sixth career win. Grant Enfinger, Chandler Smith and Christian Eckes rounded out the top-five.

The runner-up finish was a career-best for Majeski, who announced a new partnership with Road Ranger earlier in the day.

“It means a lot,” Majeski said. “I go with the mindset of ‘take what the truck gives you’... I learned the hard way and I think it’s paying dividends.”

After losing a lap after the first stage, Chandler Smith was able to rally to his fourth top-five of the season. Even with that speed, he wasn’t sure if he had anything for the No. 38.

“It’s so hard to say,” Chandler Smith said. “I think it’s fair to say we were a top-three truck for sure. I just had to use my stuff way too much to get back to where we needed to be.”

With three wins already, Smith said he isn’t spending too much time worrying about when or if he’ll be in the Cup series.

“Obviously all of us want to go race on Sunday, but I’m about to be 23 years old,” Zane Smith said. “I have time to get there and I just want it to be the right opportunity when I get there.”