“The guy we wanted all along”: FRM’s Jerry Freeze shares his thoughts on the return of Zane Smith to the Ford roster 

Front Row Motorsports GM Jerry Freeze recently opened up on signing Zane Smith on a multi-year agreement with the Ford roster. The 25-year-old Smith will return to the Bob Jenkins-owned organization as a full-time Cup Series driver for the 2025 NASCAR season.

Speaking with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Freeze discussed how FRM wanted Smith to continue competing in Trucks; however, the young driver was apparently ready to run full-time in Next-Gen cars. Thus, Smith chose to compete with Spire Motorsports in his rookie Cup Series season.

Nevertheless, the circumstances changed, and Front Row Motorsports' relationship with Smith came 'full circle' after the Ford team announced the procurement of the third charter from the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing. Freeze said:

"Honestly, some things changed in their [Spire] camp and some things changed in our camp where there was opportunity to purchase the charter and really get to the place that Bob Jenkins, our car owner, always wanted to be in was having Zane driving for us in the third car." [1:05]

Freeze continued:

"We just didn't have what we needed to be able to do that. And so now we're in a position this year where we were able to get that for the 2025 season and Zane was available. And so he was easily the guy that we wanted all along to drive that new team for us for next year."

Smith previously competed for the Mooresville, North Carolina-based organization for two seasons in the Truck Series, winning the championship in 2022. Moreover, the Huntington Beach, California native ran select races for FRM in the 2023 season before transitioning to a full-time role in NASCAR's premier division last year. However, until now, FRM had only two charter entries in the Cup Series which diminished Smith's chances of continuing his contention with the Ford roster.

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Zane Smith to reunite with his former crew chief at FRM

Zane Smith will drive the No. 38 Ford Mustang and will partner up with Ryan Bergenty, who will serve as the crew chief for the upcoming season. This will not be the first time the duo will work together, as they also did so during the part-time stint with FRM.

At the time, Smith ran six races, including one at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2023, where he finished in the top 10.

Zane Smith will be a part of the young driver lineup for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series. His teammate Todd Gilliland will drive the No. 34 Ford, and the new addition Noah Gragson was signed after SHR announced their plans to shut down their Cup operations.

As far as the 2024 NASCAR season is concerned, Smith had an underwhelming first half but bounced back with two top-five and two top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at Nashville Superspeedway.