Zane Smith sneaks into Truck Championship Round with United Rentals 200 win

Somehow, some way, Zane Smith will fight for a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship. Despite entering the last race at Martinsville Speedway before the season finale outside of the top four and with just one top-five finish, he slipped into the lead as a wreck took out the leaders on the final lap to clinch his first win of the season and a spot in the Championship Round. It is his second time in as many years in which he made the final round, and he hopes to improve a spot from his runner-up points finish in 2020.

The Truck Series has drawn scrutiny throughout the season for its high frequency of wrecks, which many have chalked up to inexperience as the lowest tier of NASCAR’s three national divisions or even a lack of mutual respect between drivers. In any case, Saturday’s United Rentals 200 did little to reduce those comments as thirteen cautions (excluding the yellow to signal the end of Stage #2) were waved, resulting in an average of just 8.2 laps being run under green.

Some of the incidents took out playoff contenders, most notably with John Hunter Nemechek being turned by non-playoff driver Austin Wayne Self into the wall on lap 131. Although he retired and finished thirty-ninth, his domination of the season leading up to the race kept him above the cut line.

“(Self) shouldn’t be out here if he’s just going to hook someone in the right rear and turn them in the fence,” said Nemechek. “NASCAR should definitely look at that. It’s playoff contention. You’ve got to have respect and he doesn’t.”

Other wrecks were compounded by the overall physical nature of short track racing, as was the case with Parker Kligerman spinning Johnny Sauter on lap 178 in retaliation for vice versa occurring twenty laps earlier. Both incidents resulted in cautions.

Perhaps the most pivotal incident came in overtime after Corey Heim and Dawson Cram wrecked. Todd Gilliland, who had dominated the event, faced challenges from Smith and Stewart Friesen, both of whom were fighting to get into the final round. After a lap of battling, Friesen bounced off the wall coming to the white flag and clipped Gilliland before spinning himself entering turn one. Smith committed to the inside to take the lead as the caution came out, securing his first win of the year and qualify for the final round.

With a driver outside the top four winning, Smith leapfrogged reigning champion Sheldon Creed for one of the final spots. Despite not having a win, Matt Crafton finished fifth to join Smith, Nemechek, and Ben Rhodes. Crafton is seeking his fourth title, which would tie him with Ron Hornaday Jr. for the most in Truck history.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	9	21	Zane Smith	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	204	Running
2	10	16	Austin Hill	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	204	Running
3	27	15	Tanner Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	204	Running
4	6	18	Chandler Smith	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	204	Running
5	5	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	204	Running
6	30	75	Parker Kligerman	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	204	Running
7	3	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	204	Running
8	39	17	Taylor Gray	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	204	Running
9	4	2	Sheldon Creed	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	204	Running
10	24	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Chevrolet	204	Running
11	28	51	Corey Heim	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	204	Running
12	8	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	204	Running
13	26	02	Kris Wright	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	204	Running
14	14	30	Danny Bohn	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	204	Running
15	18	20	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	204	Running
16	37	45	Chris Hacker	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	204	Running
17	7	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	204	Running
18	12	12	Tate Fogleman	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	204	Running
19	23	1	Hailie Deegan	David Gilliland Racing	Ford	204	Running
20	21	22	Austin Wayne Self	AM Racing	Chevrolet	204	Running
21	15	98	Grant Enfinger	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	204	Running
22	20	32	Bret Holmes	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	204	Running
23	33	41	Dawson Cram	Cram Racing Enterprises	Chevrolet	204	Running
24	17	19	Derek Kraus	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Toyota	204	Running
25	2	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	203	Running
26	19	26	Tyler Ankrum	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	203	Running
27	34	24	Jack Wood	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	203	Running
28	25	25	Josh Berry*	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	203	Running
29	36	11	Spencer Davis	Spencer Davis Motorsports	Toyota	202	Running
30	38	33	Jesse Iwuji	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	202	Running
31	22	13	Johnny Sauter	ThorSport Racing	Toyota	201	Running
32	31	3	Sage Karam*	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
33	11	40	Ryan Truex	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	198	Running
34	35	34	Josh Reaume	Reaume Brothers Racing	Toyota	198	Running
35	40	49	Roger Reuse	CMI Motorsports	Ford	193	Running
36	32	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing	Ford	190	Running
37	16	04	Cory Roper	Roper Racing	Ford	188	Running
38	29	9	Colby Howard*	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	174	Running
39	1	4	John Hunter Nemechek	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Toyota	129	Accident
40	13	23	Chase Purdy	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	33	Rear Gear

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Underline – Eliminated from playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Truck points