Zane Smith burns it down in second straight COTA win

Circuit of the Americas has become a playground for Front Row Motorsports, who remains the only team to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race there since the inaugural event in 2021. Despite the best efforts of Cup Series drivers Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain, Zane Smith won the road race for the second year in a row.

Chastain and Busch had qualified on the front row while Smith was further back in seventh. While a rather clean race due to a lack of stage cautions (a new caveat for road courses in 2023) and just two yellow flags, the second was a prime opportunity for Smith to seize the lead for himself after watching the Cup drivers trade it among themselves.

The second caution came for Parker Kligerman‘s truck suffering an electrical failure on lap 28, coincidentally when Stage #2 would have ended had stage breaks remained. Smith took the lead for the ensuing restart whereas Busch and Chastain were shuffled to the back. Thanks to their experience, with Busch having won the Xfinity Series race at COTA in 2021 while Chastain claimed the Cup event last year, the two eventually rejoined the top five. By that point, however, Smith was already cruising to victory and beat Busch by 5.4 seconds.

After winning, Smith did a burnout against the COTA pit wall, during which his truck caught fire before it was put out. It is his second victory of 2023 after the season opener at Daytona.

“It was definitely nerve-racking there, but I knew once [Kyle] was in that traffic, I needed to somewhat charge there but have enough at the end of the run,” Smith explained. “While he was trying to get through traffic, I was just trying to put down lap times and get a gap going. Fortunately, we worked up to about six-and-a-half seconds. I knew I was going to have to make a big mistake for him to get into striking distance. He is so strong under braking, and COTA is just all massive braking zones. That was my biggest worry, but I always enjoy racing him and it was fun this weekend racing with Ross. I’ve learned so much racing those guys, so hopefully in the near future, I can race with them every weekend.”

Ed Jones, an IndyCar and IMSA veteran, had his NASCAR début end before it began when his truck’s suspension broke just moments after the race kicked off. Suspension trouble also struck Christian Eckes, who won the opening stage. Another NASCAR newcomer Dale Quarterley placed twenty-eighth.

Alex Bowman, Samuel LeComte, and Mason Massey missed the show. Bowman, another Cup regular who ran up front in the 2022 Truck race, suffered a flat tyre during his qualifying lap that knocked him out. His downfall seemed to foreshadow things to come in the race itself as tyre wear came into play more frequently than in previous editions.

“I feel like every year it gets bumpier and bumpier, and these bumps are knocking us sideways left and right,” Smith recalled. “That’s the biggest thing. A lot of this track has new pavement and old pavement. It’s so easy to lock up fronts and try to find that drive-off. Fortunately, we found it when it mattered, and I’m just so happy to be here.”

Todd Gilliland is the only other driver to win the Truck race at COTA, doing so in 2021 for FRM. Incidentally, he and Smith are sharing FRM’s #38 Cup car for 2023.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	7	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	42	Running
2	2	51	Kyle Busch*	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	42	Running
3	3	98	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Ford	42	Running
4	12	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	42	Running
5	1	41	Ross Chastain*	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	42	Running
6	11	11	Corey Heim	TRICON Garage	Toyota	42	Running
7	4	2	Nick Sanchez	Rev Racing	Chevrolet	42	Running
8	9	15	Tanner Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	42	Running
9	10	1	Kaz Grala*	TRICON Garage	Toyota	42	Running
10	13	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Ford	42	Running
11	19	17	Taylor Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	42	Running
12	8	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	42	Running
13	20	24	Rajah Caruth	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	42	Running
14	15	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	42	Running
15	24	04	Kaden Honeycutt	Roper Racing	Ford	42	Running
16	16	13	Hailie Deegan	ThorSport Racing	Ford	42	Running
17	18	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	42	Running
18	36	43	Daniel Dye	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	42	Running
19	32	35	Jake Garcia	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	42	Running
20	25	30	Colin Garrett	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	42	Running
21	35	02	Kris Wright	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	42	Running
22	14	22	Logan Bearden	AM Racing	Ford	42	Running
23	31	32	Bret Holmes #	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	42	Running
24	27	9	Colby Howard	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	42	Running
25	29	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	42	Running
26	30	34	Mason Filippi	Reaume Brothers Racing	Ford	42	Running
27	21	4	Chase Purdy	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	42	Running
28	33	46	Dale Quarterley	G2G Racing	Toyota	42	Running
29	28	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	41	Running
30	5	19	Christian Eckes	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	31	Suspension
31	17	75	Parker Kligerman*	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	26	Electrical
32	26	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	12	Electrical
33	34	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Ford	11	Accident
34	6	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	8	Axle
35	22	5	Dean Thompson	TRICON Garage	Toyota	4	Accident
36	23	20	Ed Jones	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	0	Suspension
DNQ		8	Samuel LeComte	NEMCO Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		7	Alex Bowman*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		33	Mason Massey	Reaume Brothers Racing	Ford

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points