Zane Smith claims Truck title in three-way fight to the finish

A late-race caution sent the race into a two-lap overtime with Ben Rhodes in the lead but he had taken just two new tires on his previous pit stops while his nearest competitors had taken four.

On the restart, Smith took the field three-wide and cleared for the lead with one lap to go then held off Rhodes by 0.236 seconds to earn his fourth win of the season and his first series championship.

Smith, 23, had finished second in the series standings the past two seasons and moved to Front Row Motorsports in the offseason.

“Oh, my God, third time’s a charm. I want this (expletive) more than anyone in the world. I don't care what anyone says. Thank you to all you race fans, my whole team. Oh, my God, I was crying that whole lap,” Smith said.

“I've wanted this championship for so long. I’ve wanted this moment all my life. Thank you, everyone. That’s all I’ve got.”

Asked about his approach to the final restart, Smith said, “I wasn't going to let it go down like that. I was either wrecked or I was winning this thing. There was no other option.

“Just last year and the year before we showed so much speed and should have won a lot more races than we did, but (team owner) Bob Jenkins is the only reason why I’m here right now, and without him, none of this would be possible.”

Rhodes said he thought had had a chance for the win and his second consecutive championship were it not for the late caution.

“I don’t know, two tires versus four, that was the name of the game. We didn’t have the pace all night that we needed to be up there and repeat so it was a great heads-up call by my crew chief,” Rhodes said.

“Ultimately, we just didn’t need that last caution. I think we could have held them off for the final few laps. I was giving (Zane Smith) all the dirty air he could handle. I think we were going to be fine until that caution got us.”

Fellow championship contender Chandler Smith finished third, John Hunter Nemechek was fourth and Stewart Friesen completed the top-five.

Ty Majeski, the final title contender, was in contention for the win most of the race but wrecked with three laps to go in regulation and finished 20th.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead-lap trucks all pit with Nemechek first off pit road. Matt DiBenedetto was penalized for speeding on pit road and had to restart from the rear of the field.

When the race resumed on Lap 99, Nemechek was followed by Chandler Smith, Corey Heim, Zane Smith and Majeski.

Just after Chandler Smith grabbed the lead on the restart, Christian Eckes spun after contact with Tyler Ankrum and wrecked in Turn 1 to place the race under caution.

Only a handful of trucks pit and Chandler Smith led the way on the restart on Lap 106 followed by Nemechek, Heim and Zane Smith.

Just as Nemechek cleared for the lead after the restart, Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth and Layne Riggs wrecked in Turn 2 to bring out the fifth caution of the race.

The race resumed on Lap 112 with Nemechek followed by Chandler Smith and Zane Smith.

Zane Smith took the field three-wide on the restart and reclaimed the lead as Chandler Smith fell into second and Nemechek third.

With 30 laps remaining, Zane Smith had built more than a half-second lead over Chandler Smith as Nemechek remained in third.

On Lap 134, Hailie Deegan appeared to cut a tire and wrecked in Turn 3, which brought out a caution.

Most of the lead-lap trucks elected to pit with Rhodes the first off pit road thanks to a two-tire pit stop. Friesen stayed on the track and inherited the lead.

On the restart on Lap 141, Friesen led the way followed by Carson Hocevar, Rhodes, DiBenedetto and Kaden Honeycutt. Majeski restarted in eight, Chandler Smith ninth and Zane Smith 11th.

Rhodes finally cleared Friesen for the lead on Lap 144.

With three laps to go, Majeski wrecked as he raced Zane Smith trying to claim second place and placed the race back under caution and set up a two-lap overtime.

At the start of overtime, Rhodes led the way followed by Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and Nemechek.

Stage 2

Zane Smith ran down Nemechek and passed him with two laps remaining and held on for the Stage 2 win.

Chandler Smith ended up third, Heim fourth and Majeski rounded out the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all the lead-lap trucks elected to pit with Heim first off pit road.

On the restart on Lap 54, Heim was followed by Nemechek, Zane Smith and Chandler Smith.

Hocevar was penalized for going below the yellow line prior to the restart and he had to serve a pass-through penalty.

Nemechek got around Heim on Lap 55 to take the lead for the first time in the race.

With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Heim maintained a lead of just under a second over Zane Smith as Chandler Smith ran third.

As the stage wound down, Zane Smith and Nemechek traded the lead with Smith finally clearing Nemechek on Lap 87.

Stage 1

Pole-winner Zane Smith cruised to the Stage 1 win over Heim, his ninth stage victory of the 2022 season.

Friesen was third, Nemechek fourth and Matt Crafton rounded out the top-five.

Zane Smith started on the pole and quickly cleared for the lead only to see Riggs get around him on Lap 2 to take the top spot.

Zane Smith reclaimed the lead on Lap 7 just before Armani Williams and Keith McGee wrecked in Turn 3 on Lap 8 to place the race under caution.

The race resumed on Lap 14 with Zane Smith out front followed by Riggs and Heim.

With 20 laps remaining in the stage, Zane Smith had built a 1.7-second lead over Heim while Friesen ran third.

With five laps to go, Zane Smith’s lead had ballooned to more than 2.3 seconds over Heim.