Zane Smith Likely To Be Overshadowed By Other Rookies
10 months agoZane Smith will drive the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports as a NASCAR Cup Series rookie. His team is a satellite of Trackhouse Racing. It's unclear whether Smith's car will be closer to the Trackhouse cars or the other Spire cars in speed. Chevy has invested much more into Spire recently and the team should improve. However, many expect the Chevies to be slower than in previous years because Ford and Toyota introduced new chassis, while Chevy did not. Ultimately, Josh Berry should outperform Smith if the Fords are faster, especially because Berry has a legendary crew chief in Rodney Childers, while Smith's crew chief Stephen Doran is unproven. Carson Hocevar will also likely outperform Smith because he already did in the Truck Series last year, and his crew chief is Luke Lambert, who won eight Xfinity races with Noah Gragson in 2022. Expect Smith to finish last in the rookie battle.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference