HAMPTON, Ga. — Zane Smith had a legitimate opportunity to win the Daytona 500.
However, the shenanigans that are the final lap of a superspeedway race, saw him fall to sixth at the checkered flag. Still, the driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang carries momentum into this weekend’s race at EchoPark Speedway.
“There’s definitely a level of confidence, but momentum I feel is the better word for that and it’s really important to just get off to a good start, especially with this new point format,” Smith explained during a media conference on Wednesday. “I think I scored 41 points, which is a great day for us, and how our season starts is it’s definitely a superspeedway and somewhat a superspeedway, but what I’m getting at is a lot can go wrong in those two races how you start out, and I think we’ve got a road course next, so just a strong start is so important to get those valuable points and hopefully carry that into these more normal rac etracks coming up, like Phoenix and Vegas, where hopefully we have some of that positive momentum still going where you get to go out later in qualifying.
“That goes a long way and just carry that throughout the year. There’s a long way to go, but definitely I feel like there’s a confidence booster there throughout the whole team and the depth of the team, of the speed that we brought, and just how our race played out. I feel like there’s a lot of confidence there, but more so a momentum shift in a good way to start the year.”
In his second season driving the No. 38, Smith feels his team has improved significantly.
“I feel like the easy thing that stands out to me is the chemistry that we got to have throughout the year. I spoke about this a lot throughout our couple media days that this is my second year with this team and that’s a really valuable thing to have in our industry and our sport,” Smith said. “I haven’t really had that since the Truck Series. You look at these guys on Sunday that have a lot of success each and every week, when you look at their whole team, a lot of it is the same guys. I feel like that chemistry of working alongside of each other, I feel like speed naturally comes.
“Everything throughout the race weekend flows a little bit smoother and I feel like it’s a product of some of that. It’s the second year working with my spotter. I feel like we’ve communicated great. It’s a combination of things, but I feel like the easy answer is a year of experience together and we’re off to a strong start.”
Smith said that while Atlanta is another superspeedway race, it’s a different style of racing than at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
“It’s tough to get us all in line in a perfect world, and then talking about Atlanta it’s just a whole other animal. The runs are gonna be 10 times as big and you’re gonna do something with it,” Smith explained. “You can play teamwork some in the stages, but it gets pretty tricky and sometimes you don’t want to do too much or else you can get you and all of your teammates and all of your other Fords in a bad situation of just trying to make it a perfect world for everybody.
“I feel like there’s definitely some good teamwork to discuss for the stages and hopefully scoring some stage points amongst us, but at the end of the race at Atlanta is always crazy with the amount of runs that you get and it’s just constant sliders,” Smith said. “You’ve got to do something with your run or else you get passed, so I don’t know how you control that for a whole race without getting wrecked or getting yourself in a bad spot. I might get proven wrong, but until then I’m gonna do something with my run.”