Zane Smith Wins NASCAR Truck Series Race at Daytona

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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – RIS – In a race that had few incidents, it all broke loose in the final laps of the NASCAR Camping World truck series race at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night.  Zane Smith had been near the front all night, mostly running with John Hunter Nemechek, a duo who seemd to find each other all night.  Smith was battling for the lead in the No. 38 Ford coming to the white flag when a massive crash was triggered when Tyler Ankrum was spun by John Hunter Nemechek as Smith was fighting Christian Eckes for the lead.

The caution triggered an overtime restart after a lengthy red flag to clean up the tri-oval of the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Smith took the lead on the restart despite pressure from 2021 Camping World Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes and his Thorsport Racing teammate, Eckes. Another caution came out with the white flag flying.  In overtime, once the white flag is flown, the next flag ends the race and Smith was declared the winner.

Smith thought he had won earlier, when the crash that took out Nemechek didn’t include the white flag being flown, so the race was restarted.  It was a fitting end to Smith’s first race with Ford Performance. Parker Klingerman gave him a big push on the last lap that sealed his win.

“Something else, man,” Smith said.. “My heart hurt during that red flag. I thought we had it. Hats off to this whole group. They really put the work in.”

Nemechek, who was caught up in the big crash with two laps to go, earned victories in both stages in the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. Ty Majeski led the first 19 laps of the race, his first career laps led in the Camping World Truck Series, before Nemechek took the lead away in Stage 1.

Rhodes finished second, followed by Eckes, Tanner Gray and Parker Kligerman in the top five. Carson Hocevar, Jesse Little, Majeski, Danny Bohn and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top 10.

Nemechek won the first two stages. Nemechek passed pole-switter Tyler Majeski with one lap remaining and held on to take the Stage 1 victory.

Majeski led the first 18 laps until Nemechek made his way around to take the lead for the first time. Chandler Smith ended up second, Friesen third, Heim fourth and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top-five. 

In the second stage, Nemechek grabbed the lead with two laps remaining and held on to complete a sweep of the first two stage victories. Rhodes was second, Chandler Smith third, Matt Crafton fourth and Ankrum completed the top-five.

Next race for the truck series is on March 4th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Unofficial Results for the 23rd Annual Camping World Truck Series NextEra Energy 250 - Friday, February 18, 2022, Daytona International Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Truck, Laps , St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 20, Zane Smith, No. 38 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 106, 5, , 2, 3, 5, 46, Running
2) 27, Ben Rhodes, No. 99 EXT Extreme Hair Therapy Toyota, 106, , 2, 1, 6, , 44, Running
3) 14, Christian Eckes, No. 98 AHI Facility Services/Curb Records Toyota, 106, , 4, 1, 9, , 41, Running
4) 24, Tanner Gray, No. 15 Black's Tire Ford, 106, 8, , , , , 36, Running
5) 31, Parker Kligerman, No. 75 Food Country USA Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 9, Jesse Little, No. 02 Shriner's Children's Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 31, Running
7) 1, Ty Majeski, No. 66 Cincinnati Toyota, 106, 7, 10, 2, 21, , 35, Running
8) 28, Danny Bohn, No. 20 North American Motor Car Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 22, Carson Hocevar, No. 42 Premier Security Solutions Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 23, Matt Dibenedetto, No. 25 Rackley Roofing/WAR Shocks Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 15, Spencer Boyd, No. 12 Rimtyme Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 8, Riley Herbst(i), No. 17 Mechanix Wear Ford, 106, , , , , , 0, Running
13) 16, Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 AIRBOX/AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet, 106, , 6, , , , 29, Running
14) 35, Timmy Hill, No. 56 Coble Enterprises Toyota, 106, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 13, Austin Hill(i), No. 7 United Rentals Chevrolet, 106, , 9, 1, 1, , 0, Running
16) 5, Stewart Friesen, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota, 106, 3, , 1, 2, , 29, Running
17) 26, Hailie Deegan, No. 1 Monster Energy Ford, 106, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 34, Thad Moffitt, No. 43 STP Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 12, Kris Wright, No. 44 F.N.B. Corporation Chevrolet, 106, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 33, Jason White, No. 33 Powder Ventures Excavations Toyota, 105, , , , , , 17, Accident
21) 3, Chandler Smith, No. 18 Safelite AutoGlass Toyota, 105, 2, 3, , , , 33, Running
22) 32, Tate Fogleman, No. 30 Rangeline Group Toyota, 105, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 25, Bryan Dauzat, No. 28 FDNY/OB Builders Chevrolet, 105, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 2, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 4 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, 104, 1, 1, 5, 50, 2, 33, Running
25) 10, Lawless Alan #, No. 45 AUTOParkIt.com Chevrolet, 103, , , , , , 12, Accident
26) 30, Derek Kraus, No. 19 Shockwave Chevrolet, 101, , 8, 1, 1, , 14, Accident
27) 29, Matt Crafton, No. 88 Mold Armor/Menards Toyota, 100, , 5, , , , 16, Accident
28) 4, Tyler Ankrum, No. 16 LiUNA! Toyota, 99, 10, 7, 2, 4, , 14, Accident
29) 7, Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet, 99, 6, , , , , 13, Accident
30) 18, Colby Howard, No. 91 Gates Hydraulics Chevrolet, 99, , , 3, 9, , 7, Accident
31) 19, Blaine Perkins #, No. 9 Raceline Chevrolet, 99, , , , , , 6, Accident
32) 6, Corey Heim #, No. 51 JBL Toyota, 91, 4, , , , , 12, Accident
33) 11, Jack Wood #, No. 24 Make An Impact Foundation Chevrolet, 63, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 36, Johnny Sauter, No. 47 LiftKits4Less.com Toyota, 60, , , , , , 3, Electrical
35) 21, Bret Holmes, No. 32 Southern States Bank Chevrolet, 44, 9, , , , , 4, Clutch
36) 17, Dean Thompson #, No. 40 Worldwide Express Chevrolet, 36, , , , , , 1, Brakes
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time: 2 Hrs, 3 Mins, 7 Secs.
Race Length: 106 Laps, 265. Miles
Average Speed: 129.146 MPH
Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 4, 18, 52, 51, 38, 23, 66, 15, 32, 16
Stage 2 Top 10: 4, 99, 18, 98, 88, 22, 16, 19, 7, 66

Comments: Zane Smith has won the NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona International Speedway, his fourth career victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: Nos. 56 (engine change), No. 30, 22 (Unapproved Adjustments), No. 75 (Missing Driver Intros). 

Failed to Qualify: (6) 84 Clay Greenfield, 3 Jordan Anderson, 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb, 61 Chase Purdy, 46 Matt Jaskol, 97 Jason Kitzmiller.

Cautions: 7 for 27 laps;
Laps: 22-26 (Stage 1 Conclusion [43]);
42-46 (Stage 2 Conclusion [45]);
65-67 (#24 Incident Backstretch [7]);
81-84 (#51 Incident Turn 2 [44]);
86-89 (#44, 33, 30, 20 Incident Turn 4 [28]);
100-104 (#45, 43, 16, 91, 88, 23, 4, 1, 19, 9, 02, 52, 18, 22, 75, 17, 66 Incident Frontstretch [Red 15:35] [7]);
106-106 (#44, 33 Incident Frontstretch [None]).

Lead Changes: 18 among 10 drivers;
T. Majeski 1-18;
J. Nemechek 19-29;
S. Friesen 30-31;
T. Majeski 32-34;
D. Kraus 35;
T. Ankrum 36-37;
J. Nemechek 38-43;
A. Hill(i) 44;
C. Howard 45-51;
J. Nemechek 52-64;
Z. Smith 65;
J. Nemechek 66-67;
C. Howard 68;
T. Ankrum 69-70;
C. Howard 71;
J. Nemechek 72-89;
B. Rhodes 90-95;
C. Eckes 96-104;
Z. Smith 105-106.

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2022, Issue 2, Posted 10:48 PM, 02.18.2022