Zane Smith might not become a Cup Series champion anytime soon, but he certainly has the chance to win NASCAR’s first-ever In-Season Tournament and the $1 million prize that comes with it. The Front Row Motorsports driver beat Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher in the first two rounds and is now matched up against Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs.
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Ahead of their battle at Sonoma Raceway, Smith admitted to the press that he can’t help but fancy winning the tournament. He said, “We’ll just try to execute a better weekend than they do and see if we advance, and then I think we’re onto four and then I think I’ll be paired up with either Preece or Reddick at Dover, which are both gonna be pretty strong and we’ll see if we get past that one.”
He believes the pressure will kick in if he clears the fourth round at Dover, and only two drivers are left in the competition. “I don’t care how much money you’ve got, a million bucks is still a million bucks,” he added. “So, that’s cool to be able to compete with that and even make it into this round of eight. Hopefully, we keep it going and stay alive.”
Smith will be the underdog in every challenge from here on, including this weekend. In the Next Gen era, Gibbs leads Smith 41–22 in head-to-head finishes. In 2025, Gibbs has an 11-8 record in his favor against Smith. On road course races since 2022, they have a 6-4 record, again on Gibbs’ side.
So, by every metric, Gibbs has a better chance of advancing, and Smith recognizes this. He acknowledged, “It’s another challenge this week with Ty Gibbs and the 54 team. You know Ty is gonna be fast down in Sonoma. He has a great car and he’s shown a lot of speed on road courses.” Notably, Gibbs has been one of the few drivers this season who has challenged Shane van Gisbergen on road courses.
Apart from his skill, Smith will require a bit of luck at Sonoma as well. He is currently 24th in the points table with three top-10 finishes. The 26-year-old’s best finishes of seventh came at Michigan and Atlanta. He is going to need more such results if he wants to add a million dollars to his pocket.
