DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The grand return of Craftsman to the NASCAR Truck Series ended prematurely Friday night.
The culprit: rain.
The season-opener at Daytona International Speedway was won by defending champion Zane Smith when NASCAR called the race with 79 of 100 laps completed.
Smith had led three times for 11 laps when the race was initially put under the red flag for rain with 27 laps to go. His No. 38 Ford took the lead for the last time on a restart with 36 laps to go, when Smith got around Corey LaJoie to take the point.
“I picked a good time to get to the lead,” Smith told Fox Sports before joking, “I think this is the hardest rain I’ve seen in my life.”
After about a 45-minute wait, the trucks returned to the track. But the hope of finishing the race ended when a heavy mist resulted in another red flag with 21 laps to go.
The race was mercifully called around 11:10 p.m. Eastern Time.
The victory is the eighth of Smith’s career and his second in a row after he won at Phoenix Raceway in November to claim the 2022 truck championship.
Smith won over TRICON Garage’s Tanner Gray.
For Gray, a former NHRA drag racer, it was his best result in 72 career starts. He entered Friday’s race with seven top fives.
Gray was “happy” to finish second after his No. 15 Ford suffered damage throughout the race.
Gray didn’t believe he had anything to challenge Smith “unless something big happened.
“Most of our splitter was gone. Had a hole on the right front. Door was caved in front of the left rear. Just a lot of damage that I felt like even being behind Zane made it tough for me to really get to him and push him as well as where I felt like I needed to.”
Smith scored his second consecutive victory at Daytona. (David Moulthrop Photo)
Rounding out the top five was Christian Eckes, Colby Howard and Grant Enfinger.
For Eckes, it is his third career top five on a superspeedway. He finished third at Daytona last year and fifth at Talladega.
“I feel like I’m going to have to write a book one day: ‘1,000 Ways to Lose a Speedway Race,’” Eckes lamented in the Daytona media center. “Last year we lost two on green-white-checkered [finishes], this year we lost due to rain.”
Smith was able to take the lead after a caution with 43 laps to go.
GMS Racing’s Rajah Caruth was eliminated after he triggered a multi-truck wreck. Caruth’s No. 24 truck spun after he bounced between Smith’s No. 38 and Corey Heim’s No. 11.
The ensuing carnage collected Matt DiBenedetto and Daniel Dye.
“I was trying not to get put in the middle and didn’t want to jack up (Chase Elliott), so I just filled it,” Caruth told Fox Sports. “(Smith) started coming down and I lifted to not get into him and I just don’t really know what happened at that point.”
Under the caution race leader LaJoie, who had led 15 laps, missed the radio communication about pitting and accidentally stayed out.
He led when the race went back under green. By turn three, LaJoie got sucked into the middle lane as Smith claimed the lead.
A few laps later, the caution – and eventually the red flag – was put out due to rain for the third time during the race.
The red flag would last for roughly 45 minutes.
Stage One
Rookie Nick Sanchez started from the pole, but the first lap of the season was led by Ty Majeski.
Majeski would lose the lead to Eckes on the next lap, just before the first caution of the night flew for light rain in the vicinity of the track.
The race resumed on lap six as Eckes held the point, only for the caution to quickly return for lingering rain. The green flag went back out on lap 10, leaving only 10 laps left in the first stage.
The run to the stage finish saw Eckes and Matt Crafton swap the lead multiple times.
The last lap saw Majeski take the lead from Crafton, only for him to get loose exiting turn four, allowing Eckes to slip by on the outside coming to the green-white-checkered flag.
Eckes finished ahead of Crafton, DiBenedetto, Majeski and Deegan.
Under the caution, many teams only took fuel as Eckes was first off pit road. Meanwhile, Tyler Ankrum assumed the lead and won the stage after he and 11 other trucks stayed out.
Ankrum, who finished seventh, led a total of 15 laps and won both stages.
Ankrum’s stage sweep came after he didn’t win a single stage in 2022.
Keyword: Smith Begins Title Defense With Daytona Victory