Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Ford Racing Media Zoom Call
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is coming off a 10th-place finish in last week’s Coca-Cola 600. That marked his fourth top 10 finish of the year, which is only one off his personal best for a single season. He spoke about what lies ahead in Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway earlier today.
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – COMING OFF A 10TH PLACE FINISH ON SUNDAY, HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO DEAL WITH THE WEATHER AND THE WAY THAT RACE ENDED? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM TO COME AWAY WITH A SOLID RESULT? “It certainly did a lot for our team, but going into the weekend the weather did not look good, and I did not think we were even gonna have a shot to get the 600 in on Sunday. Fortunately, the sun poked out and that brought some unknowns. I kind of touched on it after practice because Charlotte is super temperature sensitive and we practiced on a pretty cool day, where no sun was out and I liked my car. I knew that if somehow the sun was gonna come out it was gonna change some things. Sure enough, it poked out and it got super muggy and hot. That just made the track super greasy, and I honestly felt like that played into our favor for how our car was, and then once we got to around lap 300 or so, I started hearing about how there are these tiny little pockets of rain coming and to try to get what I could. But there wasn’t a whole lot of concern, it sounded like to me, where it was just maybe gonna rain for a couple minutes and then we were gonna go back at it. That’s what it seemed like once it did start raining a little bit on our windshield. It wasn’t even raining in turns three and four, it was just some in one and two. And then that’s where it became annoying. It was off and on and then we rolled off of pit road and I’m like, ‘It’s probably raining harder than it has been,’ and normally I feel like if you’re midpack you’re like, ‘Screw it, we’ll go. The leader’s got to hit it first,’ but we were inside the top five and just wanted to be smart there, and then all of a sudden it really started raining. So, we took the green and I think we went two laps maybe and the bottom fell out, so with that our day was full of ups and downs and just little things not really going our way, but our car was really good. We made some good moves to make our way back through the field and race up inside the top 10. I felt like once I got the lucky dog and once we kind of got back on track after my right-front was cording, I felt like we drove up inside the top 15 twice or something, and I knew if I could start there, we could definitely get up inside the top 10 and certainly the top five I felt and race around those guys. I felt good about everything. One of the restarts went really well and then the other one went really well at first and then just kind of lost my momentum. There were guys on both sides, one on the bottom and someone ripping the fence and I was kind of trapped in the middle. It doesn’t take much to lose your momentum and it just kills you, but I was happy to hold on for a top 10 and those days certainly feel great for our team.”
FORD DOES WELL AT NASHVILLE AND SO DO YOU. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT TO? “For some reason, Nashville has always been super good to me, so I’m excited for this weekend, especially coming off some momentum. Looking back to even my truck starts, I probably had four or five truck starts there and I think besides one they’re all second place finishes, which sucks, but it’s been a great racetrack for me. This is kind of funny. I was talking about this the other day. I finished second there like three years in a row in the Truck Series, and then I’m in my rookie year in Cup and I’m like, ‘OK, the second place streak is definitely probably coming to an end this year,’ and somehow I finished second again. It’s just funny. I definitely want to be one spot better, but last year, my first year with the 38 Cup car and that whole group. we had another great showing. I felt like we raced up inside the top 12 and I think we were racing around seventh or eighth a lot of the day at one point, and something happened on pit road during a green flag stop and that set us back to maybe 15th or 16th, and was able to get back to 12th or 13th at the end. That was a good day for us, but I just remember my car drove pretty good there and I just enjoy concrete racetracks. Nashville is a really fun town and I’ve had some good runs there, so it makes me excited to go back.”
IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL WEEKEND AT CHARLOTTE AND THEN EVERYONE WAS OFF ON MONDAY. WHAT WAS THE FEELING LIKE YESTERDAY AND THE PROCESS OF GETTING BACK TO WORK? “To be honest, I don’t think it will ever feel normal. It is so weird still. I feel like when you’re Cup racing, there’s never any time off. Even though Mondays are a time off for most of the drivers, you’re still thinking about the upcoming weekend and, for us, we have meetings on Tuesday to talk about the weekend and so there are many thoughts running through my head of what happened throughout the race. So, my brain is always thinking about racing. To touch on the Kyle stuff, it was just incredibly sad. I have no other word for it. It doesn’t feel real still, but it was really cool what our sport did, where we were able to rally behind the Busch family with all the drivers there on pit road. That was incredibly sad, but it was cool to show that we all have their back and there was a way to show that we appreciate everything that Kyle did to impact our sport massively, but it doesn’t feel real. I caught myself thinking once we had our moment of silence at the halfway break, which is honestly an amazing thing as well. We go from the loudest place on earth to dead silence for a time there. It’s just really special, and then once we rolled back out I just thought to myself, ‘Man, Kyle is not out here,’ and it’s just so weird to me. It really just goes back to thinking about how fragile life is and how really every day is a gift, so it was a sad weekend for sure, but there was also a lot of special in it where we were able to rally behind them and show our support.”
WHAT DID YOU DO FOR MEMORIAL DAY AWAY FROM THE TRACK? “For me, typically my Mondays are somewhat off, like I was saying. I had some family in town and just spent it with some family and friends over at my house hanging out by the pool. I was happy. We slept in because it was a late night. I got back around two in the morning. I opened up the blinds and the sun was out when I was expecting it to be raining, so we spent the day in the pool and just hung out.”
YOU HAVE A LOT OF MOMENTUM AFTER THE PIT CREW CHALLENGE WIN AND SUNDAY’S FINISH. HOW DO YOU KEEP THIS MOMENTUM GOING INTO NASHVILLE? “Momentum is certainly a very real thing in our sport. There is the momentum off the track, like the mental side, and then there is momentum on the track. From a team standpoint, I feel like it is as high as ever. To your point, we just won the Pit Crew Challenge. My pit crew showed out again at the 600 and I’m just thankful for that group because a lot of passing is made on pit road and we’re fortunate to have them. It’s just a really fun and a good group of guys. We’re thankful to have them as part of the 38 team, and then just a good run at the 600. That goes a long way of showing the depth of how good our car was and the moves I was able to make. That’s a hard race to have that, too. When we were really good early in the race and the sun was out and I was leading, I was excited, but at the same time I’m like, ‘How is this thing gonna drive at night?’ If anything, it drove a little bit better, so it just says a lot about our team of staying caught up with the racetrack and just bringing a good car. The attention to detail is everything in our sport from the car build standpoint, and every week, no matter if we get wrecked weeks in a row, have a great run, the car prep is still there and that goes a long way, so having runs like that means a ton to them. From my side, fortunately I’ve always been confident within myself, but being able to drive through the field multiple times and be able to make moves like I’ve done in the past, where now my car will allow it, it feels good to know you can still do that. Hopefully, we can have some more of that this weekend in Nashville.”
WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND THE PAINTING IN THE BACKGROUND? “That was a gift from a past sponsor, but also a close friend. It was a wedding gift and it’s done by an artist in Atlanta, I believe, and he combined some special moments in my career. I think one is from my championship and the other from one of my first Cup starts with my wife. It’s a super cool painting. We were trying to figure out where it should go and I’m like, ‘Man, I know the perfect place for that,’ so it lives in my office now.”
MICHIGAN IS COMING UP AND THAT IS STATISTICALLY YOUR BEST TRACK. WHY? “I don’t know. It typically lands right on my birthday, so I feel like that would be a really cool one to win. The mile-and-a-halves, any of them, are good for us and our team and I guess my style of racing, but I just feel like Michigan provides some good racing. The cool story would probably be like I got my first NASCAR win there in the Truck Series, so I always enjoy going to Michigan. I’m gonna go down there a little bit early this year and spend some time down there, but we were fast there last year, and I feel confident for what we just learned at Charlotte that we can be a little bit better. It doesn’t take much if you get in the lead and take control. Who knows how it plays out, but I feel confident that’s a place we could do that.”
SAN DIEGO IS AFTER THAT, SO HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO GET TO THE NAVAL BASE? “I’m super excited. I think it was maybe two weeks ago that I ran my first laps on the sim there. It’s a crazy road course, or whatever you want to call it. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. It’s really fast, sketchy, but I feel like not as narrow. Chicago was sketchy because of how narrow it was. I don’t feel like it’s nearly as narrow as what Chicago was, but there are some extremely fast sections where it’s bumpy, really bumpy and our cars are a handful over bumps. And then, man, I don’t know if they’re actually gonna have it or not, but some of the views are gonna be insane. We are literally racing alongside aircraft carriers and the ocean. It’s gonna be just an insane weekend, but I’m excited to get back home and be a part of that weekend.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE AS A DRIVER THE SUPPORT OR LOVE WITHIN THE GARAGE FROM EVERYONE WHEN DEALING WITH SOMETHING LIKE KYLE? “Our sport is super interesting. We are all living it together, but from the driver’s standpoint we talk because we’re with each other every weekend and we’re with each other around our families. Going back to where our sport is super unique is we’re not teammates. We’re competing for the same thing, the same trophy, the same money, the same job and so it’s just really interesting in that sense, but when something happens, you do realize that our sport is really close and we can rally. The fan support of what I’ve seen – Brexton has a long way in his career and lot of racing left, but our whole sport is gonna have his back. I don’t think there is one driver out there that’s not gonna have his back if he ever needs anything, and that goes the same whether it’s our wives or whoever for Samantha and, of course, Lennix. It was incredibly sad, but it was super special, like I said, with how we rallied behind that. It’s just a tough weekend to say the least. Honestly, I can’t believe Samantha and everyone showed up on race day. That takes some serious guts. That was super sad, but, at the same time, Brexton seeing all of us with his merch on and all of us supporting his dad, I know that hit him and I know he has to realize that we all have his back. If he ever needs anything, he can reach out.”
IS THERE ONE THING YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT KYLE? “I for sure have to go with my story from when I was truck racing with Kyle once we came back from COVID. It was an eerie scene seeing this, but the move I made to get the lead in the 600 and lead those laps, I did the exact same move on Kyle in 2020, so six years later I did it in a Cup car, but it was identical. I reposted it, but that was crazy and I honestly didn’t even think about it, but I remember once I did that, Kyle spoke very highly of me and that allowed my phone to start getting some interest from team owners, whether it was in the Truck Series or O’Reilly Series or the Cup Series. That was special. Kyle could have been mad or annoyed with me with moves like that, but he respected that I was trying to make a name for myself. Ultimately, I didn’t care who he was, but, at the same time, there’s a picture of me when I’m like 10 years old waiting in line for a picture with Kyle Busch, so I very well knew who I was racing against. I had a tremendous amount of respect for Kyle. There was simply no one better than him. He was just good at everything. That’s what made Kyle Kyle. There are 100 little things that fans don’t see but we see throughout the data and Kyle was always at the top. That’s just what made him special.”
WHAT IS THE ENVIRONMENT LIKE IN NASHVILLE ON RACE WEEKEND? “There’s a difference between when I go there for fun and then go there for work, for sure. Nashville is a really fun town. It would be cool going back to the fairgrounds. I got my first bigger stock car win there. I got my first ARCA win there and got a guitar, and that was really cool, so I’m excited to get back there and see some familiar faces, and then making some trips down on Broadway with some different appearances I’m doing. Outside of that, Nashville is a ton of fun. I celebrated my championship banquet there in 2022 and that’s just a really fun city to do that. It always holds a special place in my heart, but there’s certainly a difference between going out in Nashville for fun and going to Nashville for work because I probably wouldn’t be able to show up for work if I did the fun side.”
MORE HORSEPOWER THIS WEEKEND COMPARED TO LAST YEAR. WHAT KIND OF AN IMPACT MIGHT THAT HAVE, ALONG WITH BRAKING? “It’s a great point. Nashville falls in the category of one of those awkward lengths of how much brake we use, so you see those issues and it’s something I’m sure we’ve looked into, but I feel like the concrete racetracks give a different feel on that. It doesn’t feel a whole lot different, if any different, just because it goes back to the fact we’ve kind of gotten used to it from the immediate engine power, but you really feel the difference later in the run. You’re like, ‘Man, I have really overheated my rears,’ or just the fall off is a lot more. With the concrete, that’s a little bit different, so I don’t know. With this package, from my past two times we’ve run it, the dirty air moments are way bigger to me, and so that’s something we battle at Nashville. I feel like that’s where a lot of my attention is. Going out late in qualifying, hopefully I get a good qualifying run, which I’ve seen both sides of it at Nashville. I’ve seen guys go out kind of early and put up a good lap and then, as always, it seems like the track gets a little bit better, but I’m just trying to start up front, keep good air, and we know our car will drive a lot better in that case.”
CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE DIRTY AIR ISSUE IN MORE DETAIL? “You would think that when we take off this underbody that puts a huge hole in the air for the car behind it would make it a less dramatic feel, but since we have less overall downforce, I feel like when you are in the midpack you have lesser downforce and the cars are just insanely hard to drive. At the same time, you just can’t really go anywhere. You land in a corner and you can’t turn. The front tires are just sliding and then if you’re on the free side of things, you’re also losing rear downforce and you land in the corner and you’re just in a slide, so that’s the easiest way to explain it. Each car you pass it drives a little bit better. We saw it at Dover. The 11 was lights out and he caught the back of the pack where he was way faster then and he is stuck. He cannot pass, so when you’re in a group where they are two or three-wide in front of you, you have nowhere and it’s really difficult to pass. So, hopefully, Nashville widens out and we get some opportunity to do that, but that will be the name of the game, fighting for clean air this weekend.”
WITH THIS NEW TIRE AND TRYING TO MAKE IT WEAR MORE, IS IT HARDER TO TRY AND EXTEND A RUN AS OPPOSED TO MAYBE CUTTING A STAGE IN HALF TO PIT? IS THE GAME CHANGING? “Absolutely. I think you’re always gonna see guys taking two tires. I feel like that’s a big strategy play. A lot of the time it’s not so much wear, it’s heat in your tires that’s making it drive bad, so if you can manipulate some of that and try to keep heat out of your tires. This is a night race, which is kind of rare for us, so I think that helps some things, but it’s gonna be a fight for track position, but, at the same time, I think it’s the same tire we just had this past weekend and I had two big cording issues. I think my tire came apart with like seven laps to go and I was like 15 seconds ahead of the leader and he passed me with like two to go because I was just limping around to not come to pit road, and so who knows what it will do at Nashville. I wouldn’t be shocked if it comes apart and you’re forced to pit, but you’re gonna see guys that risk some of that for sure.”
