Zane Smith finally gets over the hump, wins last NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title

Zane Smith came heartbreakingly close to winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title in 2020 and 2021 as he finished runner-up both years. After a dominant display and a frantic overtime in Friday night’s finale at Phoenix Raceway, he can finally call himself a Truck Series champion.

Smith had been stout throughout the 2022 season, winning thrice and having led the points standings every week since Nashville in June. His momentum carried into Phoenix when he won the pole and the first two stages, but fellow Championship Four contenders Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, and defending champion Ben Rhodes plus Stewart Friesen tried their best to spoil the party.

A series of cautions in the final twenty laps led to Friesen and Rhodes being the top runners. Ironically, it was a wreck involving Zane Smith that helped him out in the end when he and Majeski made contact with five laps to go, causing the latter to spin and eliminate him from contention. In the ensuing overtime, the two Smiths briefly jockeyed for position before Zane cleared Chandler down the backstretch. Rhodes got by Chandler but was unable to find an opening in the final corner.

“I wasn’t gonna let it go down like that,” said Smith. “I knew when I came out eleventh, 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.

“(I was 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 (Chandler Smith) 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.”

Smith is the fifth driver to win a Truck championship in his first year with a new team after Mike Bliss (2002), Travis Kvapil (2003), Johnny Sauter (2016), and Brett Moffitt (2018). He joined Front Row Motorsports and the Ford development programme for 2022, ultimately delivering the latter its third Truck driver’s championship following Greg Biffle in 2000 and Matt Crafton in 2019.

He is also the second driver with Stadium Super Trucks experience to win a Truck title after Sheldon Creed in 2020; the two had raced together in SST at Road America that year, just a day after Smith scored his maiden Truck victory at Michigan. The series congratulated Smith on Twitter, posting “Another driver with SST seat time wins the @nascar truck series championship. Congratulations”.

Besides defending his title in 2023, Smith will contest a part-time Cup and Xfinity Series schedule for FRM and an ally, respectively.

As Camping World is ending its title sponsorship after fourteen years, Smith is the final Camping World Truck Series champion. Craftsman will take over naming rights in 2023, though it is unlikely that Johnny Benson will be looking to retain his crown as technically the most recent Craftsman Truck champ.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	154	Running
2	6	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	154	Running
3	12	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	154	Running
4	10	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	154	Running
5	5	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	154	Running
6	13	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	154	Running
7	3	51	Corey Heim	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	154	Running
8	4	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	154	Running
9	15	30	Kaden Honeycutt	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	154	Running
10	22	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	154	Running
11	23	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	154	Running
12	9	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	154	Running
13	2	62	Layne Riggs	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	154	Running
14	24	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	154	Running
15	20	91	Colby Howard	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	154	Running
16	17	35	Jake Garcia	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	154	Running
17	21	17	Taylor Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	154	Running
18	32	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	154	Running
19	19	61	Chase Purdy	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	154	Running
20	8	66	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	154	Running
21	26	40	Dean Thompson	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	154	Running
22	11	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	153	Running
23	31	5	Tyler Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	152	Running
24	30	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	152	Running
25	25	9	Blaine Perkins	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	152	Running
26	28	43	Chris Hacker	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	152	Running
27	29	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	152	Running
28	27	02	Johnny Sauter	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	152	Running
29	16	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	151	Running
30	7	98	Christian Eckes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	151	Running
31	14	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	133	Accident
32	18	7	Rajah Caruth	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	106	Accident
33	33	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	63	Too Slow
34	34	33	Keith McGee	Reaume Brothers Racing	Chevrolet	15	DVP
35	35	20	Armani Williams	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	6	Accident

Bold – Champion
Underline – Championship Round driver
Italics – Rookie of the Year
† – Competed for Rookie of the Year