Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Mexico City Media Availability
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is coming off a seventh-place finish in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. Smith spoke about that performance and what lies ahead this weekend as the sanctioning body conducts its first international points race for the series in Mexico City.
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW HAVE YOU PREPARED FOR THE HIGHER ALTITUDE THIS WEEKEND IN MEXICO CITY? “My honest answer is I haven’t done anything to prepare for that. I have spent time down in Mexico. I’ve been down there and I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal. I could be completely proven wrong, but just prepared as normal as I would for the other 37 weekends. I feel like I kind of get myself, I don’t want to say spun out, but sometimes when it’s a new race weekend like this I feel like a lot of people try to not overprepare, but do things differently and it just has never worked for me. So, I’m approaching it as if it’s any other race weekend. It’s an awesome road course and we’re just outside of the country. There are still points that are gonna be given and it’s still gonna be road racing and it’s still a Cup race, so a big effort going at it. It’s been a little different from a film standpoint of not really knowing what to watch. An F1 car, watching that doesn’t really do it for me (laughing), but I’ve watched old highlights where Denny or someone won the race, and then obviously I’ve done numerous laps on our Ford sim, so that’s probably been the most helpful thing. It’s just gonna be attacking the race weekend. I fortunately have a good amount of road course experience and showing up to new racetracks was something that I just grew up doing, so I’m excited for it. I love the Cup car on a road course and I know how electric the fanbase is gonna be down in Mexico City, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO ADJUST THE SETUP OF THE CAR WITH THE CONDITIONS? “I guess going back to what we had from a setup standpoint at COTA just wasn’t good for us. COTA has been a great racetrack for me in the past and it was a big struggle for us that whole weekend. We missed it a little bit, so honestly, in a way, that’s better than it being just completely good throughout the weekend and then the race didn’t go well. That kind of leaves a lot of question marks on the weekend. We just weren’t very good all weekend, so we left COTA knowing that we needed to build on a new package of what I like and from a setup standpoint, I really like how my car has been driving. I think the road course is awesome. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. Obviously, the altitude is gonna be a little bit different from an engine feel. I’ve heard and I definitely can see that being the case. I don’t want to say brake issues, but what brake package you have is gonna be very interesting and trying to diagnose that as quickly as possible in practice, and we have a decent amount of practice this weekend. I know adjustments are gonna be really important. Hopefully, we can unload close to the feel that I like and I can spend every minute I can out on the track. I think that’s gonna be more valuable than small adjustments.”
HOW DOES IT IMPACT THE WEEKEND WHERE THIS RACE IS A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR EVERYONE? “I think an occasional weekend like this is really cool. I didn’t get to do the first Chicago race, but I remember all of the talk around it like, ‘What do we watch and how do we prepare for this?’ It kind of reminds me of that. I don’t want to knock Chicago in any way because it’s a ton of fun on that road course, but you’re racing on a street. This is a proper road course. F1 goes here, so if you’re gonna do it this way, I feel this is the best way you could possibly do it. I remember when we were going to all these different road courses in Truck and Xfinity, and then I remember when we first went to COTA I was so excited because I knew that was a proper road course and it felt that way just in practice. I’m excited for that. It seems a little bit of everything. It kind of reminds me of Watkins Glen in a way, which has been a great track for me with it being a fast and longer straightaway road course where you really have to execute your braking zones, and then it’s a little hint of COTA with the stadium section. I’m just trying to diagnose what I’ve had from all of these different road courses and apply my strong suits and weak suits and hopefully apply them to the weekend. I don’t think any of us are going to know how we truly are until we unload down there.”
HOW HAVE YOU SEEN YOURSELF GROW AS A DRIVER FROM WHERE YOU WERE A YEAR AGO AT THIS TIME? “I’ve definitely grown as a driver. You grow every year, but, to be honest, I don’t feel like I’ve changed anything up like, ‘Oh, man. This is why I’m getting good results.’ My cars have a lot of speed, a lot of fast Fords week in and week out. If we are a little off, I feel like my team and I are doing an incredible job of getting to where we need to be come Sunday. That’s super important and then at the beginning of the year, I don’t want to say we lacked any, but keeping up with the racetrack is a bigger challenge when you start going Cup racing, so I feel that was maybe a challenge last year. You just see these brutal rookie seasons for guys in Cup. I don’t remember anyone that just had a rookie season where someone dominated and won all these races, so you pretty much try to survive through that first year and learn as much as you can and take all the smack talking you can get it seems like week in and week out. There are just so many things. It just feels like a bad luck year your rookie year. I don’t really know why. It’s still fun because you’re Cup racing and you’re getting experience racing on Sunday and racing every weekend. I think that’s really cool, but your second year around you know what to expect. By then you’ve experienced a lot of highs and lows and you’re still gonna experience highs and lows in your second year, but I feel like you know how to react to them a little bit better. You just know what a race weekend brings. Sunday can totally be overwhelming at times, but I think trying to keep a level head and knowing what’s important and what’s not is probably the biggest thing.”
HOW HAS NASCAR PREPARED YOU FOR THIS? WE’VE HEARD STAY IN THE BUBBLE, DON’T GO ANYWHERE. WE’VE HEARD THAT DANIEL SUAREZ HAS GOT A GREAT PLACE FOR EVERYBODY TO GO EAT. ARE YOU MAINLY PREPARED BY THE TEAM OR NASCAR? WILL IT BE ANY DIFFERENT? “My honest answer is there’s a lot of overreaction from a majority of the industry, and it’s frustrating to hear and deal with. I have spent a good amount of time down in Mexico. I know I have vacationed in a different spot with a group of friends in Cabo for the past few years, but there’s a lot of people that are overreacting. It somewhat reminds me of Chicago. It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is gonna be a train wreck.’ And then we go to Chicago and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like the most fun weekend ever.’ You just have to know what to expect a little bit in Mexico City and Mexico in general. There are good and bad areas, just like there is everywhere. You definitely do have to watch what you eat and drink. From my standpoint, I know what I’ll be eating and drinking because I’ve been on the good and bad side of that, but it’s just common sense and being smart. I feel like the saying better safe than sorry is definitely true this weekend. The altitude stuff, that’s gonna be different to us but I want to say we’re all in pretty good shape at least on Sunday. We race a lot and you don’t really see a lot of guys that flop out of the seat on Sunday – maybe like a really, really hot weekend. The last time I checked the weather it looks chillier and cold and rainy-ish, so it’s not so much the heat standpoint. I don’t know. I’ve been down there and I don’t really notice a huge difference, but we’ll see. I may completely be gassed after this race and we’ll see, but, all in all, I’m gonna go have fun and I can’t wait to go do some road course racing down in Mexico.”
DIDN’T YOU GET MARRIED OR HONEYMOON IN MEXICO A COUPLE YEARS AGO? “A little back story here. My dad has run the off road race team, which races in Baja and Mexico pretty much a majority of their races or at least their big races, and that’s for the Herbst family. That’s why Riley and I are best friends and have been pretty much all of our lives, so right after my championship in 2022 (Truck Series), we vacationed with Riley and some friends in Cabo San Lucas and it’s honestly my favorite place on earth. It’s a ton of fun spending time down there with Riley and just having fun. Me, Noah (Gragson), Riley, and even Todd (Gilliland) on one of the trips for the past three or four years we’ve gone down there and hung out and had an unbelievable time. It’s awesome. It’s different for everyone and, to be honest, the most frustrating and annoying part is probably our itinerary because we have it so easy every weekend. We have pretty much chartered planes, where we go to an FBO down in Statesville (North Carolina) where it’s literally only race teams so there is no security or anything every weekend. Well, when you’re flying out of the country there’s gonna be some security and there’s gonna be a little bit more to it than flying to Pocono. That’s probably the most frustrating thing of I wish I had my own flight because this would be a whole lot easier, but I know once we’re there it’s gonna be cool and a cool experience for everyone, and it’s great to have this style of fan base, just a new generation of fans and some new faces. Like I said, I know how great the fans are down in Mexico and I’m so excited to see them and so excited for the sport to see their passion around motorsports. I’m ready for it.”
HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR SEASON SO FAR WITH FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS? “It’s been pretty fun. I’m probably having the most fun I’ve ever had throughout my racing career and the last time I think I said that was in 2022 with FRM. It’s been great. Being able to get that pole was really cool. I feel like we’ve thrown away a lot of top 10s and possible top fives, and I feel like we’re getting ourselves closer and closer to putting ourselves in contention for a race win on Sunday. That’s crazy to say, especially with how last year went, but we’re just pecking away at it and trying to execute things the best to our ability. It’s been awesome being back at FRM and being teammates with two really close friends and, of course, just being back in the Ford family has been really special. I have some incredible memories with both the Ford family and FRM not many years ago, and we have some incredible memories on the truck side. We’re fighting hard and working hard to create some more memories on Sunday.”
THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT FUEL STRATEGY IN LAST SUNDAY’S RACE. HOW NERVERACKING IS IT AS A DRIVER WITH THAT BEING A FACTOR JUST ABOUT EVERY WEEK? “Even the races where fuel mileage isn’t talked about it’s always playing a role behind the scenes. From the moment we fire our cars up Sunday morning, we’re shutting them off trying to save fuel so our pit stops are shorter. You have to take less fuel than the next guy and we’ve seen a lot of wins happen from some guys doing that better than the next guy. At Michigan, as often times, it does come down to fuel strategy and it is confusing at times from the driver’s seat, where you don’t really know. It’s like, ‘What is this ultimate goal we’re doing right now’ because you’ll get track position and then it’s like ‘We’ve got to go take more fuel right now so we don’t have to a little later.’ And it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to you at the moment and then typically whenever it does work out for you you’re like, ‘OK, I’m glad that worked out.’ But there are guys on Sunday where their strategy didn’t work out. For us, we made a few mistakes and the caution fell that really hurt us early in the race. I was in good track position at the time. I think I was just outside the top 10 like 11th or 12th and that caution came out. Before that, pretty much every single guy behind me had just pitted and they were in a better tire and fuel position. I knew that put everyone in the window once that big wreck in one and two happened, and we were gonna go from 12th or 13th to 30th because I was at the end of that group that now had to come and get fuel ultimately. So, those things are frustrating. It didn’t work out that way. I think I came out around 20th because some guys behind me did come down as well to work on their car and get in a better fuel position, but the mistakes we made on Sunday put us in a position of taking two tires multiple times and it worked out. I was proud that we were able to hold off a lot of those guys on four tires to ultimately score a good finish. Anytime you finish in the top 10 on Sunday is a good day and we raced inside the top 10 a majority of the day. I had good speed and it was another positive weekend. There are just a few things we need to clean up.”
WE HAVE CHICAGO AND SONOMA AND WATKINS GLEN COMING UP AS ROAD COURSE RACES. WHAT MAKES YOU ENJOY THAT STYLE OF RACING? “I grew up road course karting. I grew up in California doing that, all around the east coast and all around the country really. It’s crazy watching Indy Car. Pretty much every single guy that I grew up racing with and competing for wins with when we were eight years old is pretty much the whole Indy Car field now. There are a couple guys that ended up in F1 now and then I don’t know if there’s anyone in NASCAR that I grew up karting with, but it’s cool to see us end up in all of these different forms of motorsports, and it’s kind of cool to carry that torch racing on Sunday. We all still connect through social media and I ultimately always pull for those guys in the Indy 500, or if they have a good run in F1. It’s just kind of cool to see you compete against those guys at such a young age. I don’t remember a whole lot of it, but all the pictures remind you of it and it’s cool.”
YOU ARE IN A BATTLE AROUND THE CUT LINE FOR THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT IS THE DYNAMIC LIKE BETWEEN STRATEGIZING FOR WINS THIS SUMMER AND POINTS? “Unfortunately, we’re like right in that weird position of like, ‘Hey, let’s try to ultimately get a win, but we can’t give away stage points.’ Stage points, it’s insane of what it carries you to, but I feel so confident from a strategy standpoint with what Ryan Bergenty, my crew chief does and how he approaches the race. Even when I think the day is going ugly, I know he has something up his sleeve, so I love that. I feel that’s just a big thing that can carry you in this sport right now with how close everyone is. If you have a little off day, you’ve got to do something different. If it works out or not, who cares? At least you tried and I feel like more times than not it pays off, and so it’s been a ton of fun working with him. We have some great tracks coming up. I obviously feel confident on the superspeedways with the speed our FRM Fords bring and then I’m looking forward to Pocono and all these road courses coming up. I’m excited to get going. I think we have 11 races until that cut off, so there are a ton of things that are gonna happen on a lot of Sundays. I’m just trying to stay focused and collect as many points as we can and see where we end up.”
