After finishing up his rookie NASCAR Cup season in P30, the driver of Spire Motorsports’s #71 Chevy, Zane Smith found himself without a seat for the following year. Michael McDowell was tapped to helm the #71, sealing a multi-year agreement in May 2024 to replace Smith.
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Amidst this transition, Smith confessed, “It’s been an absolutely miserable three-four months, I’m just figuring out what’s next,” talking about his struggle with an uncertain future. Fortunately, Front Row Motorsports threw him a lifeline.
As McDowell takes the wheel of the #71 Chevy, Smith is set to steer McDowell’s #34 Ford for the upcoming season under the Front Row Motorsports banner, according to a recent team announcement.
He will join forces with Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson at FRM. Despite being embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, FRM managed to forge ahead with this decision, buoyed by a significant legal triumph.
A North Carolina judge recently ruled in favor of granting a preliminary injunction to both FRM and 23XI Racing, allowing them to operate with charters as their antitrust lawsuit continues into 2025.
In discussing this development, Jerry Freeze, General Manager, noted, “We only had two Cup cars and two charters, and we liked the two guys we had at the time — Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland — and we just didn’t have a place for Zane.”
He elaborated further, “We really tried to talk him into trucks another year, but he was ready to move on. He had done all he could do in the Truck Series, winning the championship and a lot of races. And he had opportunities to move on, and he chose to move on last year into a new program with Trackhouse [in partnership with Spire Motorsports].”
🖊️ @Team_FRM has signed @ZaneSmith to pilot the No. 38 Ford in a multi-year deal.
GM Jerry Freeze spoke on the relationship coming full circle with their 2022 @NASCAR_Trucks champion and bringing him back into the fold.
More ➡️ https://t.co/WGRTG5gVtL pic.twitter.com/3IgUis4XJZ
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) January 2, 2025
However, the landscape at Spire Motorsports and FRM shifted, presenting an opportunity for FRM to secure a third charter. With the new potential and following their initial legal triumph, the team was well-placed to make strategic moves for the 2025 season. With Smith available, “He was easily the guy that we wanted all along to drive that new [car] for us next year,” Freeze stated.
Smith reacts to the news of taking the wheel of a Cup car for his former Truck Series championship team
Smith delivered a stellar performance at Nashville Superspeedway, clinching a P2 finish — the same track where SVG’s addition to the team was unveiled.
Following this, Smith secured two more top-ten finishes and appeared five times in the top 20, including a commendable fifth place at Watkins Glen. However, he found himself navigating a challenging period for three to four months following the announcement of his replacement.
Selected by the same team with which he claimed the NASCAR Truck Championship in 2022 after four victorious races, Smith is set to rejoin FRM in 2025 after a year’s break. Reflecting on his previous stint with the team, Smith expressed,
“I’ve always felt at home with Front Row Motorsports. They believed in me when I signed with them to race in the Truck Series initially in 2022 and we shared so much success together, winning six races and a championship in two seasons.”
He acknowledged the difficult choices that had to be made, given the limited availability of two Cup cars at Front Row Motorsports last season when he was prepared to advance full-time.
“Now, going into next year, Front Row has really taken their Cup program to another level and I cannot think of a better lineup of teammates… It is a great time to come back and continue to build my career with an organization where I know I can win,” he remarked on being selected to drive the third Cup car for Front Row Motorsports.
