Zane Smith and the No. 38 Boot Barn Ford Finish 10th
Front Row Motorsports (FRM) competed in the 64th running of the Coca-Cola 600. After rain cancelled practice and qualifying, and moving the race to Monday, Michael McDowell and Zane Smith came out swinging on the track.
After rolling off 30th in just his sixth career NASCAR Cup Serie start, Smith and the No. 38 Boot Barn Ford Mustang got to work early. Fighting dirty air and tightness through Stage 1, Smith maintained a top-20 position, finishing 20th. Smith battled his way back from a lap down through Stage 2 before finishing 26th. Back on the Lead Lap in for Stage 3 and 4, Smith pushed his way inside the top-15, eventually making it to the front of the field to lead three laps when the leaders came in under caution. After a series of restarts and quick cautions, the No. 38 team elected to pit for fresh tires on the last caution with 20 laps to go. While the team gave up track position, Smith took advantage of the fresh rubber and wheeled his way back up to 10th to finish out his first Coca-Cola 600 and his first career top 10 finish in the premier Cup Series.
Smith’s next race in the Cup Series is two weeks away at Sonoma Raceway.
Zane Smith, Driver No. 38 Boot Barn Ford Mustang:
“I am so happy, as happy as we could be, really. I was worried when we didn’t take tires there and were running really good and had a really good day. It just worked out, so just a great job by this whole 38 Boot Barn FRM team. We got our Mustang better and better every single stop and that’s so cool. We run on half the budget, if that, than a lot of these guys, so to finish top-10 in our sixth start at the Coke 600 is really cool.”