By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Zane Smith has had quite the learning curve to start 2019.
After the Californian finished second in his first full ARCA Menards Racing Series season in 2018, he now is running a part-time Xfinity Series schedule with JR Motorsports.
In other words, the best equipment in the second-highest stock car series in the world. One of the true powerhouse teams of the series.
Following a crash on debut at Las Vegas, the 19-year-old bounced back a few weeks later at Bristol, finishing 11th at the half-mile track.
Now, Smith enters Richmond Raceway for the first time, preparing for another challenge in his third career start.
“The first time I saw the place was yesterday,” Smtih told Kickin’ The Tires. “It’s a place where time management is a thing. I only have like four 1.5-mile [starts] but I have a lot of short track experience. This fits my wheelhouse.”
Running various short tracks in both ARCA and CARS Late Models, Smith is indeed well-versed on the short track scene. However, Xfinity’s level of competition has Smith playing catch-up.
“A lot of these guys I’m racing with had two or three years in Trucks,” he said. “They’ve been to a lot of these places many times. This is my first trip to 95 percent of them.”
With only one start in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series, he also ran just two starts in the K&N Series (East and West combined), giving him only a little taste of NASCAR’s ladder system.
As part of the NASCAR Next program, Smith knows the importance of seat time — not just in one race, but multiple races in succession.
“The flow — when you’re out of it for a really long time, it’s like, ‘What do I do after this again?'” he said. “There is a lot that goes on in a weekend. Today, it’s everything in one day. It’s good I ran Bristol last weekend.
“These [cars] are a little heavier and they drive worse. It’s just getting used to it.”
With two potential top-10 runs to start, Smith near the target with his initial expetactions in the No. 8 Chevrolet.
“I’m hoping to run better than what we have,” he said. “It helps this weekend being in the car right after — it’s the first week I’ve really been able to do that. We’ve been around eighth pretty much the past two races. Toward the end, I want to be toward the front with the good guys. Maybe put myself in contention.
“This is the smoothest things have gone so far.”
Right on Smith’s back this season has been team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., who recently aided Smith last week at Bristol.
“He sat on top of my box and helped me with a few things over the radio,” he said. “I’m probably going to text him about some tire management things here.
“It’s super cool leaning on him along with Justin [Allgaier] and my teammates. They’ve been here many times before.”
Teammate Allgaier has been an easier at-track assistant, as the veteran driver is running full-time in the team’s No. 7.
“He’s an awesome teammate, a super cool dude regardless if he was a teammate or not, I’d want to hang out with him,” he said. “It’s a bunch of good guys behind me.”
(Below is a video capture of our conversation with Zane Smith)
