Zane Smith Tames Miles the Monster at Dover International Speedway

After 200 laps around the mile long track, it was ultimately Zane Smith that slayed Miles the Monster in the KDI Office Technology 200. Smith became familiar with the track from running both Dover races in the Xfinity Series in 2019, both of which he finished top-ten. Additionally, the race marks his second win of the season, tying him for the most wins in the series this year with Sheldon Creed and Grant Enfinger. Notably, Smith has also mustered up 7 top-tens in the last twelve races. 

“I love this place. I think we all know I suck on restarts, but I picked a good time to have a good one,” Smith said of his win.

Not only did Smith capture the Monster trophy, but he also nabbed $50,000, as the race marked the second installment of the inaugural Triple Truck Challenge. Sheldon Creed claimed the first $50,000 cash prize last week with his win at the Daytona Road Course.

Though it was Smith that led the final lap at Dover, Brett Moffitt ushered the field to the green flag from the pole position. Moffitt, who currently sits second in points, earned the pole via statistical data. The formula weighs and averages three categories: owner points position, fastest lap time from the previous race, and finish from the prior race.

Moffitt ran the show until a caution appeared on lap 7 for Tate Fogleman. The competition caution followed shortly after on lap 21 to ensure teams a chance to make adjustments that would’ve been made in practice sessions. As the stage came to a close on lap 45, Austin Hill accumulated the stage one win, marking his second stage win of the year.

Lap 87 brought out the fourth caution of the race; Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, Ben Rhodes, and Sheldon Creed all had some degree of damage. Zane Smith collected the stage two victory under caution, adding ten points to his total overall points. 

Outside of cautions, Parker Kligerman’s day ended for an engine issue, and Norm Benning had brake issues that also ended his run in the final stage of the race. Bryant Barnhill and Clay Greenfield’s trucks also ended up behind the wall prior to the race’s end.

With only 8 laps to go, another caution came out for Stewart Friesen; this led to one last restart determining the winner.

As Smith crossed the finish line, Matt Crafton trailed him by 0.989 seconds, marking his first runner-up finish of the season. Moffitt, Todd Gilliland, and Rhodes rounded up the remainder of the top-five. 

While the Cup and Xfinity Series will race at the high banks of Daytona International Speedway, the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series will be back in action next week at World Wide Technology Raceway. Coverage of the race begins at 12 PM ET on Sunday, August 30. Catch all the excitement in Illinois on FS1.

Kaylee Hiner