Zane Smith will drive the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports on a full-time basis for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the team announced Thursday.
Smith, 25, joins the program to pilot FRM’s third chartered entry in a multiyear agreement after the team completed its purchase of a charter from the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing.
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“I’ve always felt at home with Front Row Motorsports,” Smith said in a press release. “They believed in me when I signed with them to race in the Truck Series initially in 2022 and we shared so much success together, winning six races and a championship in two seasons. Unfortunately, everyone had to make tough decisions because there were only two Cup cars available at Front Row Motorsports going into last season when I was ready to move up full-time.
“Now, going into next year, Front Row has really taken their Cup program to another level and I cannot think of a better lineup of teammates. Todd (Gilliland) and Noah (Gragson) are great friends of mine and we all have a lot to prove as young drivers in the Cup Series. It is a great time to come back and continue to build my career with an organization where I know I can win.”
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Winner of the 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship with FRM, Smith completed his rookie season at the Cup level in 2024 driving the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports through a partnership with Trackhouse Racing. The native of Huntington Beach, California, collected two top fives and four top 10s in his first full season, leading six laps and ending the season with a 23.2 average finish.
Smith reunites with Front Row Motorsports after a one-year hiatus from the organization. Smith piloted FRM’s No. 38 Ford in the Truck Series for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, collecting a series title and six victories in that span with 24 top fives and 29 top 10s across 46 starts. Additionally, Smith made seven Cup starts for Front Row in 2023, earning a best finish of 10th in that year’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I want to thank Bob (Jenkins, owner), Jerry (Freeze, general manager) and Mark Rushbrook at Ford for making this happen,” Smith said. “I know that we can win together in the Cup Series like we did in the Truck Series. It’s a great time to come back as we continue to make FRM even better.”
In a Thursday interview on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Freeze explained that he and Jenkins wanted to keep Smith in the FRM camp the entire time. Circumstances, however, prevented that.
“We only had two Cup cars and two charters, and we liked the two guys we had at the time — Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland — and we just didn’t have a place for Zane,” Freeze said. “We really tried to talk him into trucks another year, but he was ready to move on. He had done all he could do in the Truck Series, winning the championship and a lot of races. And he had opportunities to move on, and he chose to move on last year into a new program with Trackhouse. We wished him well. We maintained a friendship through it all and finished that 2023 season. … We still were big fans of Zane’s and hoped he was going to have a great run at Trackhouse and with the Spire car last year.
“Obviously some things changed in their camp and some things changed in our camp where there was an opportunity to purchase a charter and really get to a place that Bob Jenkins, our car owner, always wanted to be in — having Zane driving for us in a third car. We just didn’t have what we needed to be able to do that. So now we’re in a position this year where we were able to get that for the 2025 season and Zane was available. He was easily the guy that we wanted all along to drive that new [car] for us next year.”
Ryan Bergenty will serve as Smith’s crew chief in 2025 after spending the past two seasons primarily with Gilliland. The duo of Bergenty and Smith worked together for six of Smith’s Cup starts in 2023.
“Our team is excited to be working with Zane,” Bergenty said in a release. “He is an outstanding talent and brings a strong competitive spirit to the group.”
Gilliland has competed for Front Row since 2020, dating back to his tenure in Trucks before making the jump to the Cup Series in 2022 with a best Cup finish of fourth (Indianapolis road course, 2022). Gragson joins FRM this season after spending 2024 with Stewart-Haas Racing. Gragson has made 75 Cup starts dating back to 2022 with two top fives and eight top 10s, boasting a best finish of third (Talladega-1, 2024).
“We want to welcome Zane back to Front Row Motorsports,” team owner Bob Jenkins said in a release. “He brought us our first championship and we believe that he can win in the NASCAR Cup Series, too. We have always believed in his talents, and we will work hard to give him what he needs to be successful. We have confidence in Zane.
“This finalizes our drivers for 2025 in the Cup Series and we can now make all our teams as strong as possible. We have come a long way, but there is a lot more ground to make up, too. We now have the drivers who can build on where we are today and take us to the next level.”
The program will now turn its attention to finalizing its partners, crew chiefs, and driver and car number pairings for the 2025 season, the team said in a release.