Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is coming off a third-place finish on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. He spoke about how that finish helped his team and what they hope to accomplish the final seven weeks of the NASCAR Cup Series season earlier today as part of a Ford media call.

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DID THE BRISTOL RESULT DO FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM? “I think it was a great result for myself and our whole team, and I think it will allow us to really just build some good momentum to not only end this year and hopefully score that first win we’ve been looking for, but something to just build off of and some excitement for the offseason. I feel like we’ve had some great runs this year, but last month was just really mean to us, getting wrecked I think like three weeks in a row, so I don’t believe we’re where we need to be in the points. I think I’m 27th or something like that, but runs like we had on Saturday night are what I feel we deserve and it was great to finally have one of those.”

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR? “I think there are some great tracks coming up for us. Some that come to mind, Loudon. I feel pretty much my whole entire team has in some way, some form, a modified background, so I’m excited for this weekend. Kansas, Vegas, Martinsville, Talladega is in there, Phoenix we had a great run in the top 10 earlier in the year, so I definitely feel we can go get our first win of the year. We just need to execute on one of these weekends.”

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU LOOK AT WHEN YOU GO TO NEW HAMPSHIRE? “My list is gonna be small, like I said, because this will only be my second time ever there, but it’s a really bumpy place. I feel like it’s underrated with how bumpy it really is, so your ability to get through the bumps and keep a well-handling car is super important. And then even last year I spent half of the race in the rain, so I think I was second-quick or something like that in practice and my car drove pretty good at that time, and then in the race I just had something completely different. I hope to qualify well. I think qualifying can be incredibly important as it is every weekend, but it’s tough to pass – a little bit different tire there, so we’re kind of trying to take some notes from what we’ve had at Iowa and Gateway maybe, where we’ve had this tire, so I’m excited to see what it brings.”

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GO BACK AND PREPARE WHEN HALF OF THE RACE WAS IN THE RAIN A YEAR AGO? “I just think the experience that I got there and the time I had in the dry will be important to remember and look back on, but I’m with a different team now, so I can’t really look through those notes on what was good for me and what wasn’t, but I know the 38 group ran pretty well there last year, so hopefully it translates.”

AI HAS BECOME A HOT TOPIC IN THE NEWS. DO YOU USE IT AT ALL ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, AND IS IT USED AT FRONT ROW? “It’s so funny you asked that because I just downloaded ChatGPT and I have been addicted with the photo editing. We have a joke that my teammate, Noah, is short and so I made him shrink to like two-feet tall in this picture of Todd and I and him. Honestly, in a joking way I guess I’ve used it, but I’m sure that it’s used upstairs throughout the engineers in some way or form. I know that my crew chief has joked about it, that he’s used it on some things. I’m not exactly sure what, but it is insane on how fast and how it knows everything.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RESTART AND THE LAUNCH THAT YOU GOT? “Passing is made on restarts, pit road. I feel like those are your main opportunities because everyone runs the same pace in that middle portion of the run it seems, unless you’re at a really wore out place. Even at time at that, we’re still somehow running the same lap times, but I felt all night what I was doing on restarts and my tire cleaning was working out pretty well for me. Everyone that I lined up behind, whether I was in third or fourth, I felt like I was rolling to their bumper more so than the guys that I had seen and, fortunately, that last one was a pretty good one. I tried getting in there and pretty much all of the restarts before that, especially once everyone started having their tire issues, once they were cleaning the track they blow the marbles into the PJ1 and so that bottom lane hits it. When you’re the leader, you’re the first to clean it up and so I just got super tight right then and you’re pretty much loose and out of the racetrack it seems for the next lap or two, and we were on older tires. I think just a product of that and two guys going for their first Cup win.”

DID YOU RE-WATCH IT AND THINK IT WAS A PRETTY GOOD LAUNCH? “I actually just recognized it like the middle portion of the race, once we kept restarting in those first couple rows, I knew my restarts had been pretty strong, so I didn’t want to change anything up from a tire-cleaning process and what I was doing with my launch, so it was working out for me and sometimes when you have those things you don’t really want to change it up.”

KANSAS IS AFTER NEW HAMPSHIRE, BUT YOU HAVE HAD GOOD SUCCESS AT KANSAS. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT PLACE? “Even when I was in truck or anything, I have always been so excited for Kansas. Kansas, Homestead, Darlington, those are probably my favorite racetracks. I feel like with the package and things that have worked for us this year, that style of mile-and-a-half, where it’s kind of wore out, you can run the fence, you can move around some, those have been great places for us. Thinking back on Kansas, that was probably one of the best cars I’ve had this year. We had to start in the back from blowing a tire in practice and had some diffuser wear, so I had to start in the back and drove inside the top 10 in the first stage. Man, I really liked my car there, so hopefully we can improve on that a little bit and get another shot at it.”

HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE ARE YOU BRINGING INTO THESE NEXT FEW RACES, KNOWING YOU’RE ON THE VERGE OF CONSISTENTLY BEING IN THE TOP 10? “I feel the confidence is there and I just feel like the excitement has been boosted now that we’re closing in on the end of the year, so we’re all eager to hopefully get a win before the year is over, and then just runs like we’ve been having – like qualifying in the top 10 at Gateway, rebounding in Darlington after just a bad stretch of races of just mishaps. When those happened, I think I was wrecked inside the top 10 every single time. Indy could have been another top five day. Dover, I think I lined up eighth and I was the first one on four tires. That’s what’s frustrating is I feel this stretch of good races should have lasted a little bit longer and started a little bit sooner, but it brings a level of excitement that we get to go try again at these places that we learned a little bit from the beginning of the year. One I forgot to mention was Martinsville. I had a great car at Martinsville and my old team, myself, we love that place and I feel like that’s another great opportunity to go win at, but I feel what we’re doing against these playoff guys – with them bringing the best of the best stuff that they’ve got – and to qualify up there and ultimately race up there all race long says a lot about my group and everyone at FRM. Hopefully, we can keep that going for seven more.”

THE ROVAL IS COMING UP IN A FEW WEEKS. HOW MUCH DIFFERENT IS THE ROVAL TO A WATKINS GLEN OR SONOMA? “In my opinion, it’s a lot different and, to be honest, the Roval has just not been a good place for me. I struggle there in a sense. Hopefully, this year goes a little better, but it’s chaos and there’s a lot going on for those playoff guys because it’s a cut off for them. It would be great to have a good run at home for us, but in the past it hasn’t been great to me, but, yes, I did grow up on road courses and I really enjoy them. I need to say the same hopefully here soon about the Roval.”

YOU SEEM TO HAVE RUN WELL AT THESE TIRE MANAGEMENT RACES. IS THAT THE LATE MODEL BACKGROUND COMING THROUGH? “Yeah, it’s funny you bring that up. This past weekend that brought back so many memories of super late model days, where you just couldn’t always bolt on a set of tires. We were at the end of the day going through them fast, but it was all just about saving and managing and managing your track position and then it came down to your crew chief telling you when he wanted to pit, or when you were getting close to your number and he would kind of turn the ball over to me and say, ‘Hey, this is on you now on how long you think you can last here on this set,’ so we tried to subtract that. That first run I didn’t feel any of those cords coming and all of a sudden it happened, and then after that I just went into that mode of trying to manage and save and I felt my team did a great job of painting a picture for me too about how this race is gonna play out and if you save here where it’s gonna benefit you. It worked out for us, but I really enjoyed it. That was probably one of the most fun Bristol races I’ve ever had, regardless of if we had a really good finish or not. It was still a fun night. With that said, it was a lot of fun, especially to see those guys that would come and go, especially when you were good on a long run, where my car was pretty good. That’s always a lot of fun when those guys fall off a little bit more.”

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE WHEN YOU’RE MAKING THE DECISIONS ON THE TRACK LIKE THAT? “I’m trying to put myself in his shoes and trying to understand what the end goal is here because you see guys peeling off in front of you and then there are guys that are like two laps down buzzing by you and it’s hard. You only see so many feet in front of you at Bristol and a lot of things are happening fast, so you’re just trying to wrap your head around on what’s happening there, but one example was Joey and I, I was the leader at that time and he was second and I got told like, ‘Hey, we need five more,’ and I think I ran at least 10 and I’m like, ‘How long do you want me to go? I think I can get at least maybe eight more good ones,’ and he let me run three and then called me down. There are a lot of things that I don’t see, but I try to do my best at really understanding the bigger picture.”

WHAT KIND OF BACKGROUND DO YOUR CREW GUYS WITH LATE MODEL EXPERIENCE HAVE? “A lot of them are from up there near New Hampshire, just modified racing and really, I guess, open-wheel style of racing. I’m sure a lot of the guys on my team will be having hero card requests throughout the weekend – more than myself, especially now that Ryan Flores is on our team. Ryan Bergenty came from that background, my spotter, Ryan Blanchard came from that background. I think his cousin races modifieds. Just a lot of our guys have been involved in it.”

THIS IS A BIG RACE FOR THOSE GUYS. IS THERE ALMOST A CULTURE SHOCK YOU EXPERIENCE WHEN YOU GO RACING IN LOUDON? “I feel this about a lot of different places we go. It’s not just Loudon, but I will say those are real NASCAR fans, or just real racing fans. There are some places you go where it’s a really big track, but it’s a different style of fan, I feel like. These fans that we get to go see in New Hampshire they watch racing every weekend, not just when NASCAR comes into town two weeks a year. It’s cool to have races like that and I think it’s an awesome trophy. Everyone wants to hold that lobster.”

HOW DO YOU STAY MOTIVATED MENTALLY GOING BACK TO THE TRACK UNDERSTANDING YOU’VE HAD THE SPEED, BUT THE RESULTS HAVEN’T ALWAYS BEEN THERE? “I feel like that’s your role. I feel like we’re almost like that quarterback role to where you’ve got to keep your whole group and whole team excited and motivated. It’s a long year and what makes that easy is because at least when we did get wrecked we were running inside the top 10 and battling for a great finish. If we were running 35th and we get right hooked, everyone is just gonna be mad and over it. Fortunately, that was the situation for us, but my whole team is easy to work with in that way to where we’re all hungry. We all are paying attention to what actually happened and what’s out of our control and what is in our control, and all of those were out of my control. Everyone just put their heads down and went back to work. When you have a good finish rebounding from that it always feels that much better.”

HOW DOES IT HELP THE TEAM WHEN YOU GET THROUGH THOSE TOUGH MOMENTS? “I’m just a big believer in hard times build tougher people. I think through racing and doing this for a living, not only as a driver, but in any role in racing you’re going to experience so many ups and downs, but regardless, even at the high I feel just keeping a level head goes a long way and you just let your lows get too low. With that, I feel like that’s how we’ve been able to rebound.”

YOU WERE RUNNING UP FRONT, ALONG WITH SOME OTHERS. IT WASN’T JUST ONE DRIVER OR ONE TEAM DOMINATING THE BRISTOL RACE. “Yeah, for sure. That’s the positive to all of this. I think definitely when we have a tire like that to where it catches people by surprise and it’s whoever manages the chaos the most, those are great races for us and those are opportunities for us to go get a race win or get a good finish like we did. I think I left there with forty-something points, which is awesome for us. We’re a smaller team and we’re going up against guys that have a ton of resources. I’m not saying that FRM won’t be there one day, but it takes time to get there, but runs like that, like we had, definitely speeds up the process.”

DOES IT HELP HAVING TWO OF YOUR BEST FRIENDS IN THE SPORT AS TEAMMATES WHEN YOU GO THROUGH STRUGGLES? “Yeah, sure. I feel good run or bad run, in all of our cases I feel like we’re always hanging out on Monday and that’s what you get when you have two of your best friends as your teammates. Ultimately, I think it just takes your mind off of it. Everyone has their different thing that they may do to get their mind off of it and, to be honest, when Noah and Todd and I, even other guys we race with, we’re rarely talking about racing. That’s cool to have teammates like that. It’s been a lot of fun working with them this year and hopefully we can continue that.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE GOTTEN BETTER THIS YEAR? “I think just trying to be better at the little things and looking at the bigger picture. There were a lot of times, even when we were struggling, where you run really good at a point in the race and then I would often catch myself at the end of the race with not a good result and someone I was racing with all race long is in the top five, top 10, and I kind of spent some time studying how they got there and what it takes to do that, and ultimately it’s I think being smarter, understanding all of the different roles to make a better weekend, and I think a lot of that starts on Saturdays of just practicing and qualifying better. Qualifying good goes such a far way. I feel we’ve done a great job of that with our practice and a few qualifying adjustments which is in such a short period of time, and then I feel our adjustments from Saturday to Sunday even have been great as well. When you have that, you just start ahead when the race starts and you don’t get caught a lap down. You’re just ahead more and then there’s always gonna be things that you just naturally get better at. You’re gonna get better at being more aggressive in the right ways on restarts – towards the end of the race when is the right time when is not the right time – and just experience of going to these places. I feel every year I go back to a racetrack I’m better in some way and that’s maybe getting onto pit road, knowing how the track changes. There are so many different things, so just trying to understand all of that and apply it.”

HOW DO YOU REMAIN PATIENT WHILE WANTING GOOD RESULTS SO BADLY? “You get warned about that. The conversations get brought up of like maybe you going to race on Sunday and you could go through a stretch there without winning something and it takes a toll on you. ‘Can I still do this? Do I still stay as locked in as I did?’ You question why it’s not happening, but fortunately we have a lot of data and analytics of looking at where we can improve and maybe circling more than one reason of why we’re not, and I think we’re thankful for that because that can just naturally take a toll on a driver. It was a good reminder on Saturday that I feel I still can win. Once that caution fell I was incredibly locked in and just ready for the restart. Those are things on Monday night’s you lay in bed and it’s like, ‘Man, can I still do it?’ So, runs like that just boost the confidence in a way of like, ‘OK, I still can, we just need a few more things to go our way.’”

IS THE PROCESS THE SAME WHETHER YOU START ON THE FRONT ROW OR ROW SIX? “To be honest, there’s a lot more you’re thinking about. A lot of the wins that we take as a smaller team or your first couple years in Cup are like top 10 days in the Cup Series. Those are a great day and that needs to be celebrated and there needs to be some excitement behind that, but, man, when you’re trying to get your first win in the Cup Series of something you just wanted to be in for your whole life and then the opportunity is right in front of you and it’s gonna be settled in a couple minutes, there’s a lot of things running through your head. Pretty much everything I’ve known in my career I need to funnel it down to right now and see how I can possibly execute this race win.’ I knew it was gonna be an uphill battle. Carson and I were both on older tires. Up front we had guys right behind us on fresh tires. Our bed was already made, but that doesn’t mean we ain’t gonna go down with a fighting chance. I felt that I executed mainly the things I felt I could control, I just think being in that position, the more times you are the calmer you naturally are and your mind goes to the right place more often times than not.”

IS IT NERVES BECAUSE IT’S THIS BIG CUP OPPORTUNITY OR IS IT YOU’RE TRYING TO PROCESS THINGS SO QUICKLY THAT THE MORE YOU DO IT, IT WILL BE SLOWER BECAUSE YOU’LL BE MORE COMFORTABLE IN IT? “I don’t know if you would call it nerves. You naturally are in that scenario. You want to compare it to football. If a kid has played football his whole entire life and dreams of going to the Super Bowl and then he has the chance to throw the winning pass in the Super Bowl, those things are gonna run through your head like, ‘I’ve worked for this all my life and the opportunity is right here. Who knows if I’ll have this opportunity again.’ I don’t know about everyone else, but those things run through my head at some point in time and so yeah, at that point you’re just processing it. I don’t think about it and stay thinking about it, it just naturally pops up in my head of, ‘Alright, the opportunity is right here, right now. What can I do to execute this?’”

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