Zane Smith will return to the No. 38 Ford Mustang entered by Front Row Motorsports, the team confirmed Thursday. The 25-year-old Huntington Beach, Calif. native has signed a multi-year agreement that will see him join former teammate Todd Gilliland and newest FRM driver Noah Gragson.
“I’ve always felt at home with Front Row Motorsports,” said Smith. “They believed in me when I signed with them to race in the Truck Series initially in 2022 and we shared so much success together, winning six races and a championship in two seasons. Unfortunately, everyone had to make tough decisions because there were only two Cup cars available at Front Row Motorsports going into last season when I was ready to move up full-time.
“Now, going into next year, Front Row has really taken their Cup program to another level and I cannot think of a better line-up of teammates. Todd and Noah are great friends of mine and we all have a lot to prove as young drivers in the Cup Series. It is a great time to come back and continue to build my career with an organization where I know I can win.”
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Smith won the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship with FRM in one of the most dominant seasons in the series. Smith won four times, including Daytona, collected 14 top-five finishes, led 492 laps, won the regular season championship, and capped the season off by winning at the Phoenix Raceway season finale to capture the series championship in dramatic fashion.
In 2023, Smith defended his wins at Daytona and the Circuit of The Americas in the Truck Series with FRM, but barely missed out on qualifying for the Championship 4 for the fourth consecutive season.
The same year, Smith made his second start in the NASCAR Cup Series, and his first Cup race with FRM in the Daytona 500. He qualified in an open entry and impressed with a 13th-place finish. Later that year, Smith earned his first top-10 in the premier series with FRM after finishing tenth at the 600-miler at Charlotte Motor Speedway – a crown jewel NASCAR event.
The 2024 season officially marked Smith’s rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series as the full-time driver of the No. 71 car, which was highlighted by his runner-up finish at the Nashville Superspeedway in June and fifth-place finish at Watkins Glen International in September. Since his initial Cup Series debut in 2022, Smith has recorded five top-10 and 17 top-20 finishes. In fact, Smith has finished in the top-20 in over a third of his 45 Cup career races, including the last two Daytona 500 races. He will return to the Ford Performance stable next season more experienced and is looking forward to his return to FRM.
“I 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,” Smith said. “It’s a great time to come back as we continue to make FRM even better.”
Going into his third year with the No. 38 team, Ryan Bergenty will serve as the crew chief for Smith, having called the shots for Smith in a limited schedule in 2023.
“We want to welcome Zane back to Front Row Motorsports,” said Jenkins. “He brought us our first championship and we believe that he can win in the NASCAR Cup Series, too. We have always believed in his talents, and we will work hard to give him what he needs to be successful. We have confidence in Zane.
“This 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.”