Top Dog: Zane Smith
On the heels of a historic day for Spire Motorsports in last week’s Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, the team looked to build off that momentum at Bristol Motor Speedway (Sept. 22).
After 500 laps of earning battle scars and the field licking its wounds from a Kyle Larson beatdown, Zane Smith stood as one of the lone underdogs in the top 20 with a 16th-place finish.
Based off qualifying, the No. 71 team looked in the worst position of the Spire trio, with both Carson Hocevar and Corey LaJoie starting inside the top nine while Smith qualified 33rd.
Bristol’s annual gem of the night race was literally night and day compared to its spring day race, an event that forced drivers to manage their cars with tires significantly wearing off after 30 laps. This time, that tire wear was the polar opposite, making passing tougher and emphasizing the importance of track position.
However, passing was not impossible, and Smith’s performance affirmed that throughout the night.
The 25-year-old clawed his way to 26th by the end of stage one, but was quickly relegated by a penalty for pitting outside his pit box. Smith remained resilient, bouncing back in stage two to get up to 25th.
Despite falling a lap down during the race, Smith was able to hang around the other drivers on the same lap as him. That paid off on lap 329 when a caution came out, allowing Smith to gain the free pass.
That was exactly what Smith needed to continue to move forward, cracking the top 20 shortly after getting back on the lead lap and bringing the car home just outside the top 15.
While 16th may not jump out on the score sheet, it was an impressive run for the rookie given that there were only three cautions for cause, minimizing opportunities for strategy, adjustments and attrition.
Smith’s Bristol performance continues to slowly unleash his potential at the Cup level. Over the past 11 races, his average finish is 15.7. In the first 18 races, it was approximately 28th, revealing a massive boost in performance over the past couple of months.
For one of the few drivers who has yet to announce his 2025 plans, Smith is methodically forcing teams to think about picking up the phone.
Notable Underdog Runs
Hocevar joined Smith in the top 20 for Spire in his second start in the Bristol Night Race. A year ago while filling in at Legacy Motor Club, Hocevar landed an 11th-place finish in just his fourth career Cup start.
After a seventh-place qualifying run this time around, it looked as though he would improve. Hocevar ran inside the top 10 for much of the opening stage before sliding to 12th by the end of the run.
A disastrous pit stop during the stage break would set Hocevar back for the rest of the night. During the stop, one of the air guns got stuck on the right side. To make matters worse, the car shifted into neutral when it hit the ground, dropping Hocevar to 23rd.
The Portage, Mich. native swiftly worked his way back into the top 20, finishing stage two in 18th. However, that was the ceiling for him under the Tennessee sky, as he finished 18th. Still, it gave the freshman driver his 13th top 20 in the last 15 races.
Another driver who has quietly picked up his performance in the second half of the season is Daniel Hemric. That trend continued at Bristol with a 19th-place showing.
Hemric hung around the top 20 all night, menacing playoff drivers who were trying to get the free pass by holding them off for it a couple of times. The No. 31’s balance on the high line looked solid throughout the night, allowing him to keep pace with the top 20 cars and eventually work his way into it and cap it off in 19th. With short tracks being a kryptonite for Kaulig Racing this season, a top 20 almost feels like a win for the organization.
Rumors have been swirling that Hemric will be replaced by Ty Dillon next season, but with three finishes of 19th or better in the past six races on top of 13 overall in what has been a down year for Kaulig, it begs the question if that is the right decision.
Perhaps the biggest news entering the weekend was the rare trade in NASCAR. Spire Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing swapped LaJoie for Justin Haley beginning next weekend at Kansas Speedway and continuing through the end of 2024.
While both drivers will move to their new homes this week, each still had one more race with teams where they have been an integral part of real growth.
Haley’s impressive stint with RWR concluded with a 22nd-place finish. It was a quiet night overall for the Winamac, Ind. native, yet it’s still a giant leap from where RWR just a couple of years ago. Haley wraps up his tenure at the Ford team with two top 10s, 11 top 20s and a 23.1 average finish, all single-season highs by an RWR driver who has made 10 starts or more.
LaJoie’s curtain call with Spire was not as quiet, nor as smooth. Once again, the No. 7 had impressive pace throughout the weekend, something LaJoie has had the past couple of weeks.
The Charlotte, N.C. native ran just outside the top 10 nearly the entire first half of the race, putting together one of his best short track runs of the year. However, things started to deteriorate on lap 243 when he got into Joey Logano, spinning the No. 22 into the inside wall.
In spite of that, LaJoie was able to keep his strength going, running in 11th early in the final stage. But on lap 329, it all came to a screeching halt when he was turned into the outside wall, ultimately ending his night.
This season has seen many highs and lows for the veteran, but his contributions to Spire cannot go without mention. Eight of LaJoie’s 11 career top 10s have come with Spire, which make up about 52% of Spire’s top 10s since its inception in 2019. LaJoie also recorded all four of his top fives with the organization, and his career-high average finish of 20.8 a year is a team best, though Hocevar is on pace to top that mark.
The switch brings a level of intrigue to follow for both drivers over the next seven weeks. Haley, who will also pilot the No. 7 in 2025, returns to the team where he pulled off a massive upset in the 2019 summer Cup race at Daytona International Speedway. There is also the potential prospect of him matching up with champion crew chief Rodney Childers.
Meanwhile, LaJoie’s future isn’t as lucid as it seems. There was no confirmation that he will be with RWR in 2025, so the next seven weeks could be vital to his long-term plans.
Playoff Underdog Update
And just like that, the honeymoon of winning Daytona is over for Harrison Burton in terms of making a deep playoff run. Burton entered Bristol in virtually a must-win situation, yet a 34th-place put a damper on those hopes.
Things got even worse when Burton pulled off the track and into the garage with a power steering issue, relegating him to 35th.
Nevertheless, props to Burton for making the playoffs in the face of an uncertain future when he broke through at Daytona. Plus, had he earned stage points in the playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway and not had a miscue at Watkins Glen, he may have had a fighting chance entering Bristol.
Now he can focus on ending his Wood Brothers Racing tenure on a high note before he makes the transition to AM Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season.
What They’re Saying
Hemric (19th): “Not a bad night for this No. 31 Mountain Dew Doritos team. We fired off well and got the free pass to get back on the lead lap a couple of times. Overall, I think we showed some decent speed throughout the weekend and a huge improvement from the spring race here.”
Burton (35th):
LaJoie (36th):
Small Team Scheme of the Week
Each time Bristol rolls around, you can expect one of the Kaulig cars to stand out above the rest. That was the case once again, with Food City joining Kaulig to sport the Mountain Dew and Doritos colors on Hemric’s No. 31 Chevrolet.
There isn’t a much better combination, and this scheme and Bristol were the perfect duo that left the other schemes in the dust.
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.