Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Daytona 500 Practice | Friday, February 14, 2025
Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports, had the fastest single lap speed for Ford in today’s only NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Daytona International Speedway. He met with members of the media to discuss that and how his team has recovered from Thursday’s Duel accident.
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW IS YOUR CAR AFTER THE DAMAGE FROM LAST NIGHT? ANY ISSUES WITH THE CAR? “In qualifying and I guess our little practice we had to start the weekend I immediately had speed. Unfortunately, last night we blew a right-front. I must have run something over. I know we were the first cars on track with the storms that came through, so that was a major bummer because I guess the two or three laps I had before that I was pretty happy with my car and then it just came out of nowhere, and then unfortunately had too much damage to continue. That was probably a blessing in disguise with just how crazy it got, but when we were first diagnosing the car it sounded like a backup just with the amount of things that were bent. Then we were having conversations about where our backup would have been our Atlanta primary and how crazy Sunday is gonna get and you don’t want to dig yourself too big of a hole to start the year, so we kind of dug in deeper looking at our car and realized it was definitely fixable. We went out with probably a group of, I guess all of Penske, the FRM teammates and had some Chevys tag along and it drove fine. No issues at all. I was a little worried. I was hoping to kind of do a single car run, one or two laps by myself in case something was gonna fall off, but I was put right in the middle of 12 or so, hence probably the lap time we put down, but everything was good. I’m happy about that and excited for Sunday.”
HOW BENEFICIAL IS IT TO GET THAT SAME CAR INTO THAT SITUATION IMMEDIATELY TO SEE WHAT OR DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT TO YOU RIGHT OFF THE BAT? “We’ve joked around since we’ve been here. I think I’ve had like a grand total of six to eight laps, so it was good to get out there and see what it’s actually gonna feel like in a pack kind of being pushed and just in a group of cars. I also have a new spotter this year, so just learning each other’s language, and then the little things of just practicing your lights on pit road, trying to execute a braking marker for a green flag stop, whatever you can do in the amount of time in practice that we get. It was great to have our Speedy Cash Ford back to where it was and ready to go.”
IS THERE CONCERN FOR YOU AT ALL ABOUT MAYBE SOME UNKNOWNS AS FAR AS WHAT YOU NEED IN A BIGGER DRAFT COME SUNDAY? “No, I’m ready to go. I wish we were racing tonight, but I feel good about it. Like I said, I kind of got a little taste of it to knock the rust off from the offseason to start the Duel, but the FRM cars on superspeedways are fast and Ryan brings a great Ford, so I’m excited to see what we can do.”
IT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE ONE MANUFACTURER IS DOMINATING THIS WEEK. IS THERE ONE YOU FEEL YOU HAVE TO BEAT THIS YEAR? “It’s gonna be crazy, obviously, so it’s anybody’s race, but from a manufacturer side I’m excited to be back working with Fords. They have a lot of success on the superspeedways and I think it just shows from how well they work together, and I think their bumpers line up pretty well. They can give a good push, take a good push and that’s what’s important.”
DO YOU WANT TO PRACTICE TOMORROW? “I hope so. I’m bored to death. I would love to get a few more laps. I think I’m now at a total of 20 laps or so that I’ve had here, so it’s been a long Speedweeks. I would assume so, maybe just a single car run or something, but I’m good with whatever.”
