1 week agoOne driver who had better-than-expected speed during practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend was Zane Smith, who ranked between ninth- and 11th-fastest in all lap average categories, including 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, and 30-lap average. His single fastest lap was 17th-fastest on the board. Zane then qualified 17th for this weekend's Straight Talk Wireless 400, which forces the question, does he have upside on Sunday--particularly in DFS? Smith had a day to forget here at Homestead last season, as he qualified up in 19th but ended up finishing 30th when it was all said and done. The No. 38 team also struggled to find speed during the race last week at Las Vegas despite qualifying ninth, as Smith ended up 23rd out in the desert. There's always some sneaky potential for Zane Smith on race days--he does have a second-place finish to his credit at Homestead in the Truck Series--but more than likely, he's going to slip back a bit this weekend. Use him sparingly, if at all, in your DraftKings lineups this weekend.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: Racing-Reference
2 weeks agoFresh off of his top-10 finish at Phoenix last weekend, Zane Smith may be able to make it back-to-back at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Smith walked away with a 16th-place here at Las Vegas ast fall, and he was able to grab top-10 results at both Kansas and Michigan last season. Kansas is the sister track to Las Vegas, and Michigan is often added into the comparisons for Vegas and Kansas, for what that's worth. As always, rolling the dice with Zane Smith is always a pretty big gamble due to his major inconsistencies. However, he has shown promise early this season, and if he can keep his fenders clean on Sunday, we could see another strong performance from the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team. With that being said, because of his high starting position this weekend at Las Vegas (ninth), you should probably look elsewhere when building your DFS lineups, even with Zane's low salary ($5,800). The potential for negative Place Differential is too high.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: BVM Sports
3 weeks agoFront Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith quietly obtained one of the best results of his Cup Series career during Sunday's Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Starting the race from the 26th position, Smith made up positions during the first stage but was also involved in a crash during lap 10. The No. 38 Ford driver was able to continue on and went on to place 20th at the end of the first stage. Smith kept himself out of trouble during the second stage but did not progress much further as he ended the stage in 18th place. In the final stage, Smith kept his quiet momentum up and effectively used tire strategy to take option tires during the stage. Eventually, after passing up other drivers who were on regular tires during the race's late runs, Smith wound up with a ninth-place finish after fighting and holding off other drivers, gaining the best finish of his Cup career to date at Phoenix.
--Sean Engel - RotoBallerSource: NASCAR.com
3 weeks agoZane Smith starts 26th at Phoenix and on paper is not expected to do much because his best career finish at the track is 29th. However, he has switched from Spire Motorsports to Front Row Motorsports for 2025 and FRM has arguably been better at the track lately than Spire was last year. Michael McDowell had top fifteens in three of his last four starts while Todd Gilliland posted top 20s in both races. Since Smith was substantially faster in the second half of 2024 than the first, it seems likely that his actual finish will be better than his projected finish at this track, especially since FRM is a Penske satellite and the Penske has obviously put far more emphasis into Phoenix than any other team after winning three straight titles here. He is a lowkey solid choice for place differential.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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