Zane Smith on mental toll of Cup journey, boon of Bristol performance

Zane Smith was so close, he said he could taste his first NASCAR Cup Series victory on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. But sitting on the front row with only four laps separating him from the final restart and the checkered flag, Smith washed high against Carson Hocevar and opened the door for Christopher Bell to scoot by and ultimately win, preventing him from scoring that first win as the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford faded to third. MORE: Bristol results | Smith's career stats The defeat stung, but having a chance? Being in position that late in the game? That's a feeling Smith's missed since his days of stacking wins in the Craftsman Truck Series just two years ago. "Man," Smith said in a Tuesday teleconference, "when you're trying to get your first win in the Cup Series -- something you've just wanted to be in for your whole life -- and then the opportunity is right in front of you (and) it's going to be settled in a couple of minutes, yeah, there's a lot of things running through your head. Like, man, pretty much everything that I have known in my career, I need to funnel it down to right now to see how I could possibly execute this race win. ... "I've worked for this all my life, and the opportunity is right here. Who knows if I'll have this opportunity again?" [caption id="attachment_488035" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]Ethan Smith | For NASCAR Digital Media[/caption] Those are the moments Smith lives for, at age 26, competing in his second full-time season at the highest level of NASCAR. The Huntington Beach, California native has been fighting for these opportunities for far longer than most people likely remember with a Truck debut in 2018 that came seven years ago. A full-time tenure from 2020-2023 led him to nine wins across four seasons, three Championship 4 appearances and a Truck title in 2022. His Cup tenure -- while young -- has yet to be so fruitful. Bristol marked the third top five of his career and first with FRM. Across 74 starts, those quality finishes have been hard to come by. "You get warned about that as the conversations get brought up of maybe you going to race on Sunday," Smith said. "And, man, you could go through a stretch there without just winning something, and it takes a toll on you. Like, man, can I still do this? Do I still stay as locked in as I did? And you question why it's not happening." But Smith has made peace with those struggles this week, with Bristol a boon to remind him he is improving race by race. "Fortunately, we have a lot of data and analytics looking at where we can improve and maybe circling more than one reason why we're not," Smith said. "And I think we're thankful for that because that could just naturally take a toll on a driver. But it was a good reminder on Saturday that I feel I still can win." A tough slate of results through July and August wasn't representative of what Smith felt his finishes should have been, with multiple late incidents ousting him from sure top-15 results. As the driver, he feels it's his responsibility to play "quarterback" and lead his team mentally through those heartbreaks. "I'm just a big believer in, like, hard times build tougher people," Smith said. "And I think through racing and doing this for a living [...] you're going to experience so many ups and downs. Regardless, I mean, even at the high, I feel that just keeping a level head goes a long way. You just don't let your lows get too low. And so with that, I feel like that's how we've been able to rebound."