{"id":29251,"date":"2025-01-02T13:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T18:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=29251"},"modified":"2025-01-02T12:54:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T17:54:54","slug":"zane-smith-front-row-motorsports-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/01\/02\/zane-smith-front-row-motorsports-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Zane Smith To Race 2025 NASCAR Cup Series With Front Row Motorsports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NASCAR\u2019s worst-kept secret of the off-season is out, with Zane Smith making his return to Front Row Motorsports (FRM) for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/30\/nascar-young-guns-to-watch-in-2025\/\" target=\"_self\">2025 NASCAR Cup Series season<\/a>. Zane Smith is signed under a multi-year agreement, and will race the #38 Dark Horse Mustang.<\/p>\n<h2>Smith Is Returning To Front Row Motorsports<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Guess who&#39;s back? <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZaneSmith?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ZaneSmith<\/a> will return to FRM to drive the No. 38 for the 2025 season. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rzv2iG93Zi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/rzv2iG93Zi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Front Row Motorsports (@Team_FRM) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Team_FRM\/status\/1874848131138859146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 2, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Smith took the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship with FRM, which was one of the most dominant championship victories in the series&#8217; history. The #38 team won four times, including a win at Daytona, while he also took 14 top-five finishes along with 492 laps led. In addition to securing the overall title, Smith also won that year\u2019s regular season championship.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2022\/11\/06\/nascar-truck-series-four-takeways-from-phoenix\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">NASCAR Truck Series: Four Takeways from Phoenix<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>A Rocky 2023 and 2024 Seasons Followed<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zane Smith emotional after first-career win | NASCAR at Michigan\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w3tGW_Kcnbo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Smith would enjoy some success in the Truck Series in 2023, winning at Daytona and the Circuit of the Americas and taking eight top-five finishes. However, he missed out on the title and only made it to the round of eight. At that season\u2019s Homestead Miami round, he finished second. However, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.teamfrm.com\/post\/zane-smith-returns-to-front-row-motorsports-in-2025\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he was disqualified and eliminated from the Playoffs<\/a> after a post-race inspection discovered unapproved windshield supports.<\/p>\n<p>Smith raced in The Cup Series on a partial schedule in 2023, running with FRM at the Daytona 500 and driving for Rick Ware Racing at Martinsville. In the eight starts he made, he earned one top ten at the Coke 600.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/02\/25\/drivers-without-a-long-term-nascar-seat-in-2024\/\" target=\"_self\">In the 2024 season<\/a>, he ran with Trackhouse Racing. While the first half of his 2024 campaign was tough, the second half showed some hope for the young driver. He finished runner up to Logano at Nashville, and secured at top-five at Watkins Glen.\u00a0But his lack of performance meant he was replaced for the following year by Australian Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen. The New Zealander won on his NASCAR Cup debut at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2023\/07\/05\/nascar-cup-series-shane-van-gisbergen-shocks-in-chicago\/\" target=\"_self\">Chicago<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Smith and FRM Looking To Build On 2024<\/h3>\n<p>Despite his rough 2024 campaign, Smith is looking to use his experience and elevate his performances throughout the 2025 season. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.teamfrm.com\/post\/zane-smith-returns-to-front-row-motorsports-in-2025\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Smith said of the move<\/a>,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI want to thank Bob (owner, Bob Jenkins), Jerry (general manager, Jerry Freeze), and Mark Rushbrook at Ford for making this happen. I know that we can win together in the Cup Series like we did in the Truck Series. It\u2019s a great time to come back as we continue to make FRM even better.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bob Jenkins, owner of Front Row, spoke on the third driver joining the team;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis finalizes our drivers for 2025 in the Cup Series and we can now make all our teams as strong as possible. We have come a long way, but there is a lot more ground to make up, too. We now have the drivers who can build on where we are today and take us to the next level.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The news comes as Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing are suing NASCAR for antitrust violations. The recently won a preliminary injunction, allowing them to race chartered in 2025, and purchase this third charter for Smith from Stewart-Haas Racing.<\/p>\n<p>Smith is replacing Michael McDowell on the team. The 2021 Daytona 500 winner will move on after the 2024 season to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/07\/27\/new-driver-for-spire-motorsports-in-2025-possible-replacements-for-corey-lajoie\/\" target=\"_self\">run with Spire Motorsports<\/a> in the #71 car.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/12\/19\/23xi-front-row-win-preliminary-injunction-will-race-chartered-in-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">NASCAR Files for appeal on 23XI, Front Row Preliminary Injunction,<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASCAR\u2019s worst-kept secret of the off-season is out, with Zane Smith making his return to Front Row Motorsports (FRM) for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Zane Smith is signed under a multi-year agreement, and will race the #38 Dark Horse Mustang. Smith Is Returning To Front Row Motorsports Guess who&#39;s back? @ZaneSmith will return [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5372,"featured_media":29257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1664],"tags":[887,2229,992,391,1243],"class_list":["post-29251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-nascar-cup-series","tag-ford-performance-racing","tag-front-row-motorsports","tag-noah-gragson","tag-todd-gilliland","tag-zane-smith"],"modified_by":"Hayden Murdock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29258,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29251\/revisions\/29258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}