Zane Smith feels frustrated by strange Talladega racing style despite winning pole

For today's NASCAR Cup Series race at the Talladega Superspeedway, Zane Smith will be starting from the front of the pack after his qualifying performance put him in pole position. Speaking with the media after, Smith admitted that he would be looking at past races to understand how the previous leaders of the race managed themselves. The #38 driver also agreed with the challenging nature of the Talladega race, and having to adjust how he's used to racing.

The Front Row Motorsports driver was asked by Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass about whether he's looking forward to the event later today, or if he's dreading the fuel management he'll have to do due to the length of the speedway, which might end up being frustrating.

"Yeah. I mean, it's frustrating and just weird style racing. You know, I’m gonna have to go through and rewatch just kind of how the leader kind of controls a lot of that. I expected to have speed, but didn't really expect it to have pole there, so kind of got to go study up on a few things over the night," he said.

Smith also set up his expectations for the race today, confessing that he's not anticipating leading every single lap.

"But all in all, a lot is going to change. I'm not going to lead every lap tomorrow, but just if I could be around rolling at the end and hopefully in the first few rows and have a shot at is all I can ask for," he added.

This is Zane Smith's first-ever NASCAR Cup Series pole position, which he secured after he put in a top speed of 182.174 mph and a best lap time of 52.565s. Behind the #38 driver are champions Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, with Ryan Preece and Austin Dillon closing out the Top five starting positions.

The green flag for the 'Jack's Link 500' will wave at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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Zane Smith's team share a video commemorating his first pole

Front Row Motorsports posted a video of Zane Smith's day at the Talladega Superspeedway that ended with the 25-year-old securing pole position. Sharing it on their Instagram, the video featured Smith's time in the car, as well as after, as he was congratulated and awarded the Busch Light Pole Award.

"If you ain’t first you’re last 🏁, " the caption read.

Speaking after his strong qualifying session, the #38 driver commended the team on their efforts during the break between the Bristol race and today.

“Just really proud of how our whole team has been working together before our one-week break [last week], and I feel like that one-week break was perfect not to reset but to digest and think about what we need to rebuild on," he said. [via NASCAR]

Zane Smith's FRM teammates, Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson, will be starting in 15th and 27th places, respectively.