NASCAR just concluded its Iowa weekend. Expectedly, the race was thrilling, as William Byron displayed a masterclass at fuel saving. But while Byron’s finally overcome his past few disappointing runs, Zane Smith’s frustration continued at Iowa. The Front Row Motorsports driver just can’t seem to catch a break.

In fact, his recent incident with Carson Hocevar, followed by another disappointing finish, made him a topic of controversy among NASCAR fans.

Zane Smith’s Streak of Bad Luck Continues at Iowa

Well, both of the last two Cup series races ended in overtime, and the driver ending up on the losing end was Smith. When Ryan Preece wrecked him out, the No. 38 driver was running 14th in Dover with one to go. Then, the same story unfolded at the Brickyard 400. With one to go, Smith was running 13th before Christopher Bell crashed him into the outside wall.

You’ve got to feel it for Smith. It’s his first season for FRM. Other than his last couple of finishes, he was having one of his best Cup seasons so far, with three top-10s and eight top-5s. A number that could have been 10 had Dover and Indy worked out for him.

Read More: ‘2 Weeks in a Row’ – Zane Smith Vents Frustration With Painful Post After Another Brutal Indy ‘Hook’

But putting those disappointments aside, he focused on Iowa. However, even here, he got wrecked. Here’s how things unfolded: Smith was running 23rd when, on lap 229, Hocevar got loose and ruined things for him. Smith eventually ended up 36th as he could not recover from that.

However, on lap 238, when Hocevar was lapping Smith, they got really close. To some NASCAR fans, it looked like the FRM driver was deliberately trying to wreck Hocevar. But in the end, there was no contact between the two, and Hocevar moved ahead. This had fans kick off a jibe-fest, taunting Smith for not even being successful at wrecking someone in a race.

One fan on this wrote, “Swing and a miss!” Another fan echoing the same emotion wrote about how embarrassing it was.

That’s hella embarrassing ngl

— Akshay Talks (@AKE80886561) August 3, 2025

Well, if Smith was really looking for retribution there, it must have stung to watch Hocevar climb up to P8 when the race ended. But still, probably not more than the non-stop sarcastic comments.

One fan urged NASCAR to penalise Smith for his actions. He wrote, “should be parked for malicious intent.” Well, since there was no contact, NASCAR wouldn’t look into it. This had another fan take a dig at him: “Couldn’t even earn himself a one race suspension.”

In the end, Smith’s bummed out and frustrated that things aren’t going his way. We don’t often see the California native lash out, but at Iowa, he did. After the wreck, he screamed on his spotter over his radio, saying, “Gotta quit telling me how to f***ing drive these things, dude. Every time I poke into the middle, we get f***ing wrecked.”

Well, the No. 38 driver can only hope to get some retribution in the next outing: Watkins Glen.