Zane Smith, who has been locked in a driver development contract with Trackhouse Racing, while being loaned out to the Spire Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in 2024, has agreed to mutually part ways with Trackhouse Racing at season’s end. Smith will continue to pilot the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 through the end of the year, and is free to seek a new ride for the 2025 campaign.
The race team announced the decision to mutually part ways with Smith in a social media post on Friday night.
Trackhouse Racing and Zane Smith have mutually agreed to separate at the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, allowing the 25-year-old former NASCAR Truck Series champion to immediately accept other opportunities. Smith drives the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in…
— Trackhouse Racing (@TeamTrackhouse) August 23, 2024
“Trackhouse Racing and Zane Smith have mutually agreed to separate at the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, allowing the 25-year-old former NASCAR Truck Series champion to immediately accept other opportunities,” the team statement read. “Smith drives the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in an alliance with Trackhouse Racing and will continue for the remainder of this season.”
Smith issued a statement, where he expressed disappointment about the situation.
— Zane Smith (@ZaneSmith) August 23, 2024
“Obviously, I am disappointed that I’ve been put in a tough spot,” Smith said in the statement. “I am diligently exploring quality driving opportunities and hope to quickly wrap up my plans for next year. Meanwhile, kudos to our #71 Cup team. We’ve turned our year around this summer with six top-20 finishes in the last ten races, which includes a top-10 last weekend and a runner-up finish in Nashville. With more determination than ever, I will continue to do what I know best and that is to work hard, race my heart out, and prove myself. Thank you to everyone that has and continues to stand behind me.”
Smith, a native of Huntington Beach, CA, had a rough start to his NASCAR Cup Series rookie season, but in recent months has started cranking up the results. The nine-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race winner has scored both of his top-10 finishes this season over his last six starts.
His best finish on the season was a second-place effort at Nashville Superspeedway.
While no details have been offered about potential landing spots for Smith, the driver does have a past connection with a team that is still in the free agent driver market as he wheeled a truck for Front Row Motorsports to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship in 2022, and he scored six wins in two seasons with that program.
One Response
I get why this decision has been made, though the timing is a bit unfortunate in that Zane has been putting up much better finishes in the last handful of races. He seems to finally be getting things and we have seen that rookies need a good bit of time to develop in Cup. There are probably other underlying factors. Zane is a talented driver and seems well respected going back to Trucks. Perhaps he’d be a better fit with Front Row, his old team. I think he would have already been there had Gilliland not develop as well as he has(and good for him!), which I think was unexpected. If not that, as the first commenter pointed out, Zane would likely fit in well in Xfinity if he can’t stay in Cup. I think jumping directly from Trucks to Cup, for him, was not an ideal situation. Neither was being signed to Trackhouse but driving under Spire. I hope to see him in a decent Cup car or a good Xfinity car next season.