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Zane Smith won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship behind the wheel of his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports F-150.
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The championship is the first for Front Row Motorsports in any NASCAR series.
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Smith has now finished 2nd, 2nd and 1st in the last three seasons.
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Smith is the 3rd driver to win the NCWTS title with Ford, joining Greg Biffle (2000) and Matt Crafton (2019).
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Smith swept the weekend as he won the pole and all three stages in the race.
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Smith led a race-high five times for 77 laps in winning for the fourth time in 2022.
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Ford ends the season with six wins and its third series title.
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Michael Roberts Construction Ford F-150 – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – “I wasn’t gonna let it go down like that. I knew when I came out 11th, I’ve been in way uglier times before and I was either wrecked or I was coming home with the championship trophy and we got the big one.”
WHAT ABOUT THE MOVE ON THE BACKSTRETCH FOR THE FINAL RESTART. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? “I’m gonna win this. There was no other option. I was either backing it in the fence wrecking, or I was leaving tonight with a championship trophy. There were no other options and when I saw the 18 get underneath me I was worried that I got him too loose underneath me. Fortunately, he stayed off of me. I have a lot of respect for all three of them. It’s pretty impressive for some of the racing we’ve seen lately for us three to go at it that hard and that clean.”
YOU HAVE BEEN RUNNER-UP THE LAST TWO YEARS. IS THIS EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE? “I didn’t think it was gonna be that dramatic, but the third time is the charm.”
WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS YEAR AND THIS TEAM TO ALLOW YOU TO GET IT DONE? “Last year and the year before we showed so much speed and should have won a lot more races than we did, but Bob Jenkins is the only reason why I’m here right now. Without him, none of this would be possible. When I came here all I cared about were the guys that were on this team. I had seen their work ethic and I knew the effort they put in and I know they want it as bad as I do. I didn’t care what the trucks or anything looked like all I knew is the work ethic was there and we could make a championship out of this team.”
MARK RUSHBROOK, Global Director, Ford Performance
WHAT A FINISH. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AFTER SEEING THAT? “What an incredible race tonight, an incredible season. I just have to give a big thank you to Front Row Motorsports, Bob Jenkins, Jerry Freeze and what they’ve done putting together this truck team. It’s just a great group of people. They gave Zane a great truck tonight, a fast truck and Zane took advantage of it. He drove that thing so well, especially on the final two restarts and went and got the win. He’s such a talent and I’m so happy he’s driving a Ford.”
Ford Performance PR
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