Zane Smith’s wife McCall expresses pride after FRM star’s maiden pole position in NASCAR

Zane Smith's wife, McCall, showed support for the NASCAR driver's maiden pole position at Talladega Superspeedway. McCall said she's proud of the #38 Front Row Motorsports team as her husband will lead the field to green on Sunday.

With a lap time of 52.565 seconds around the 2.66-mile track, Smith secured the first starting spot, besting Kyle Busch, who was off by 0.132 seconds to earn a front row start. Joey Logano was third on the timing sheets, followed by Ryan Preece and Austin Dillon, respectively.

In an Instagram post, McCall, who got married to Zane Smith in January 2024, shared her thoughts on her husband's milestone in his second year in the NASCAR Cup Series.

"So awesome! So proud of the whole 38 team 🤍 Starting from the pole tomorrow in 'Dega," she wrote.

McCall Smith's Instagram story - Source: @mccallkelli on IG

Zane Smith's FRM teammates, Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson, didn't have the same speed in the qualifying session. Gilliland was down by 0.430 seconds to start in 15th, while Noah Gragson was 0.699 off the pace to settle with a 27th starting spot.

The Jack Link's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will commence on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET on Fox. It will be the first of two stops at the Alabama track, with the latter happening in the Round of 8.

This year marks the 25-year-old's first full-time season with FRM piloting the #38 Ford Mustang. He previously drove for Spire Motorsports as a loaned driver from Trackhouse Racing, but was dropped in favor of rookie driver Shane van Gisbergen, who drives the latter team's new third car.

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"We have the speed to do it": Zane Smith on racing at Talladega from pole position

Zane Smith shared his perspective on starting on pole position with a strong racecar. The 2022 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion believes his ride has the speed to post a good race result, but expects the unexpected, especially considering superspeedway races tend to be unpredictable.

The #38 Front Row Motorsports driver said (via NASCAR):

"Obviously a lot of speed [...] 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 added:

"And now we’re off to a good start for this next long stretch. Proud of the speed and everything we’ve been doing, just need to execute a little bit better but a ton of speed this weekend. Long race tomorrow and a lot of things are going to happen and go on, but obviously we have the speed to do it. We’ll see how it goes."

Zane Smith driving the #38 Ford Mustang at Talladega Superspeedway - Source: Imagn

In his last three Cup starts at Talladega, Smith has yet to finish in the top 20, let alone the top 10. His best result was 21st place in the 2024 YellaWood 500, wheeling the #71 Spire Motorsports Chevy.