”I’ve lost three years of my life this year”: Zane Smith speaks out on the agony of his unfair Spire sacking

NASCAR driver Zane Smith recently opened up on his unjust split with Spire Motorsports. Smith was with Spire in partnership with Trackhouse Racing and piloted their #71 Chevrolet; however, following the end of the 2024 season, Kaulig Racing's Shane van Gisbergen was in line to replace him.

Smith made his NASCAR debut in the 2018 Eaton 200 at World Wide Technology Raceway in the Truck Series. Over a six-year career, Smith has achieved nine victories across NASCAR's top three divisions—all in the Truck Series. Notably, four of those wins came during his 2022 championship season, where he piloted the #38 truck for Front Row Motorsports to secure the Truck Series title.

Shane van Gisbergen's entry into the Cup Series cast uncertainty over Smith’s future in the division, following his abrupt departure from Spire Motorsports. In a recent interview with Sportsnaut's renowned journalist Matt Weaver, Smith reflected on his misfortune.

“I feel like I’ve lost three years of my life this year,” Smith told Sportsnaut on Monday. “When I was let go, it was a weird situation and life isn’t always fair, but it wasn’t fair. I got a text from Bob (Jenkins, FRM team owner) asking if I was set for next year so I told him, ‘as a matter of fact, I just got fired.’" Smith said

The 25-year-old California native then expressed how he thought that FRM's owner Bob Jenkins had called him to talk about moving back to the Truck Series; however, that was not the case.

“I thought he was just interested in talking about the Truck Series but after going back-and-forth and realizing what he was putting together, I signed within a week," he added.

Smith is set to pilot the #38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports in the 2025 Cup Series season. The former Truck Series champion previously ran the same entry for FRM when he secured his sole NASCAR title. This opportunity arose after FRM secured a preliminary injunction to compete as a chartered team and successfully acquired a third charter from Stewart-Haas Racing.

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Zane Smith sets realistic expectations as he craves 'consistency' amid the natural quest for race win

In his rookie full-time Cup Series season, Zane Smith drove the #71 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing in partnership with Spire Motorsports. Across 36 races, Smith achieved 4 top-ten finishes, 2 top-five results, and posted an average finish of 23.194.

The rookie's underwhelming results could possibly be the reason for his departure from Spire. However, as Front Row gave Smith his second wind, their new #38 Ford driver outlined his expectations from the upcoming season. He said:

"We all wanna see a race win, get in the playoffs- that would be awesome,” Smith told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “But to me, I just wanna see consistency. It'd be awesome to try to run in the top-10 week in and week out.” via SiriusXM

Meanwhile, the Cup Series will return for the pre-season Clash at the historic Bowman Gray Stadium after nearly five decades. Catch the action live on 2nd February at 8:00 PM Eastern time.