Zane Smith (racing driver)

Zane M. Smith (born June 9, 1999) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 21 Chevrolet Silverado for GMS Racing, as well as part-time in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series West, driving the No. 17W Chevrolet for Steve McGowan Motorsports. He is also a current member of NASCAR Next and Drivers Edge Development.

Smith previously drove full-time in ARCA for Venturini Motorsports and MDM Motorsports, finishing second in the championship with MDM in 2018, and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports in 2019.

Early career
First racing BMX, Smith moved to go-kart racing in 2004 and won championships in five consecutive years before moving up to legends car racing. He raced super late models in 2015, recording victories in the World Series of Asphalt, Pro All Stars Series and the CARS Tour, as well as garnering a runner-up finish in the Snowball Derby.

ARCA
On the heels of his successes racing late models, Smith tested an ARCA Racing Series car with Mason Mitchell Motorsports at Daytona International Speedway in January 2016. A wake skating injury limited Smith's racing slate in early 2016, but he later returned for two ARCA races with Venturini Motorsports. In late summer 2016, Smith left his SLM team in hopes of finding more ARCA experience in 2017.

In late 2016, Smith signed with Venturini to drive all but two races of the 2017 ARCA Racing Series schedule in the organization's No. 55 entry. Noah Gragson was slated to fill the other two races, which Smith couldn't race due to age restrictions. Smith, going for Rookie of the Year honors, joined the same crew that led Dalton Sargeant to the award the previous year. He also drove a partial schedule in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, debuting in the series for Calabrese Motorsports at the beginning of 2017. He also replaced Ryan Partridge for the season opener of the K&N West season after Partridge could not obtain a license in time. Smith was named to the 2017 NASCAR Next class in April 2017. The team and driver agreed to part ways in the middle of August, after eight top-tens in eleven races. Smith later signed on with MDM Motorsports for three races towards the end of the season. The races yielded two poles and as many runner-up finishes.

On November 6, 2017, Smith re-signed with MDM for the 2018 season to run full-time in their No. 41 Toyota. He scored his first win in the second race of the season, outlasting teammate Sheldon Creed and bested his three previous runner-up finishes. Two races later, Smith beat Joe Graf Jr. at Talladega Superspeedway in ARCA's closest-ever finish, where the sanctioning body had to use photos to determine who won the race because timing systems scored the margin of victory at .00 seconds. In the next race, Smith went three-wide with Chandler Smith (no relation) and lapped car Mike Basham to take the lead after the midway point of the race and later passed MDM teammate Chase Purdy for the win with less than ten laps to go. Smith secured the victory with the help of 2017 ARCA champion Austin Theriault, who was atop the spotters' box for the win at Toledo Speedway. Also in May 2018, it was announced that Smith for a second straight year returned to the NASCAR Next program. At a race at Salem Speedway late in the season, Smith and Michael Self got together multiple times, eventually causing Smith's radiator to quit working in the middle of the race. Smith returned to the track with a premeditated intention of payback, slowing down until Self passed and burying him in the outside wall. Smith later bragged about the incident in a MAVTV interview. ARCA fined him $5,000 and 100 points, a punishment many in the industry considered too lenient. Xfinity Series driver Scott Heckert worried about drivers' health if purposeful blunt-force collisions are allowed. At the end of the season, Smith was second in point standings, despite the penalty. He later said that he wasn't set on a full-time schedule at the beginning of the year, but ran well enough to sell sponsorship for the remainder of the schedule.

NASCAR
In June 2018, Smith announced his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut with DGR-Crosley at Gateway Motorsports Park. The deal came together the week of the race, as Smith had to rush to get all of his licenses prepared in time.

On December 18, 2018, it was announced that Smith would drive the No. 9 JR Motorsports entry in the Xfinity Series for eight races in 2019, most coming at short tracks. The deal came after an agreement for a full Truck Series season with GMS Racing didn't materialize. On January 25, 2019, it was revealed that Smith would switch over to the No. 8 entry as Noah Gragson would take over the No. 9 entry.

In November 2019, Smith joined GMS Racing for the full 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series season. On August 7, he won his first career Truck Series race at Michigan International Speedway when he passed leader Christian Eckes on the final lap in overtime. He scored his second win two weeks later at Dover International Speedway after holding off Matt Crafton and Brett Moffitt on the final restart. Smith reached the final round as the only non-playoff race winner of the four remaining championship drivers, where he finished runner-up in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway and the standings to GMS teammate Sheldon Creed. In addition to NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors, he was voted the Truck Series' Most Popular Driver.

Other racing
On August 8, 2020, Smith made his Stadium Super Trucks debut at Road America, a day after he won the NASCAR Truck Series race at Michigan; Creed, a two-time SST champion, also competed. Smith finished fifth and sixth in the day's two races.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

ARCA Menards Series
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

Stadium Super Trucks
(key) ( Bold – Pole position. Italics – Fastest qualifier. * – Most laps led. )

$$ Season still in progress $1$ Ineligible for series points