Daytona Truck series results: Zane Smith triumphs in rain-shortened race

Zane Smith picked up right where he left off.

The 2022 Truck Series champion navigated a rather rhythmless race en route to a 2023 season-opening win at Daytona International Speedway on Friday night. Smith zoomed to the lead with about 35 laps to go, led for 11 laps, found himself in the lead when the race was officially called because of rain — and then took a damp trip to Victory Lane.

This marks the eighth win of Smith’s career and his second win at Daytona.

The triumph locks Smith into the 2023 playoffs.

“They put in such an effort this off-season, worked their guts out like usual, and I’m just happy to see it pay off for them,” Smith told reporters in the wee hours of Saturday morning. “Obviously we’re carrying this momentum that we ended our year last year. It’s the same group, same people and same goal. We’re off to a good start.”

Tanner Gray finished second. Christian Eckes finished third.

For pretty much all of Friday night, chaos was king:

▪ Stage 1 saw two separate weather cautions. The first lasted four laps; the second lasted three.

▪ The rain reappeared again late in Stage 2 and even prompted a three-minute red flag — but not before it caused an eight-car pile-up that ended the days of Hailie Deegan, Dean Thompson and Clay Greenfield. The end of Stage 2 saw some carnage, too: An incident on the backstretch knocked Parker Kligerman out despite a promising run and sent Stewart Friesen down five laps.

▪ Not much changed for the first half of Stage 3. Another wreck transpired after Rajah Caruth got loose on Turn 3 and collected a handful of drivers in the process, including Daniel Dye and Matt Dibenedetto — and then a steady shower prompted another red flag. The race ended with 21 laps to go.

The race was called at 11:12 p.m.

In total, the race saw 20 lead changes, nine different leaders and seven cautions for a total of 41 laps.

Smith will also run in the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

When asked which was more exciting — qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Thursday or winning the race on Friday — Smith didn’t need a second thought.

“Obviously tonight,” Smith said, adding, “Happy to be in the show, but tonight was so cool. Regardless of how you end up winning it, obviously, yeah, I wanted it to be an exciting finish, but like I said, I don’t know anyone who’s going to turn down a win at Daytona.”

Official results from Daytona

Inspection completed just past 12:30 a.m. Saturday. No issues.

Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Smith has won three races at Daytona International Speedway. He’s won two. The error has been rectified above.

This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 11:14 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription