Sunday afternoon's race at Chicagoland Speedway marks a milestone for Zane Smith. He will make his 100th Cup Series start while driving the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports, and he will pursue a simple goal.
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"I hope to get my first Cup Series win," he told media members on Tuesday. "I don't know if that counts before 100 starts, but it would be awesome.
This is an important number for up and coming NASCAR drivers. They have enough experience to avoid those rookie mistakes, and they know whether they will be able to contend for wins on a regular basis.
This is the benchmark that many in the industry use to determine a driver is on that right track toward success.
"I think throughout the industry, especially in the Cup Series, they look at that," Smith said. "Everything has to go right for a race win and race wins, but showing that you're running up front and having good runs is what's super important.
"Fortunately, I've had glimpses of that throughout my early starts, but I would say since my 80th-ish start it's been more consistent of being able to run up front more consistently. The recent race in Charlotte I was able to lead laps and contend for a race win."
The 100th start is a milestone. Some drivers, such as Corey Heim, score that first win well before that number. He won his first Cup race in his 13th start while matching Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson.
Kevin Harvick won in his third start while Brad Keselowski won in his fifth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won in his 12th start.
Ty Gibbs won his first Cup race in his 131st start. Chase Elliott won his first Cup race in his 99th start.
Smith showed some glimpses early in his career. He ran 17th in his first-ever Cup start in 2022 while replacing Chris Buescher. He then posted his first top-10 finish in the 2023 Coca-Cola 600, his sixth start at NASCAR's top level.
The California native bounced between places before landing at Front Row Motorsports. He made one start for RFK Racing, one for Rick Ware Racing, and a full season's worth of starts for Spire Motorsports via Trackhouse Racing.
Smith scored four top-10 finishes and two top-fives with Spire Motorsports, including a runner-up in the chaotic five-overtime finish at Nashville Superspeedway. He then posted career-highs in 2025, his first season at Front Row Motorsports, by finishing inside the top 10 five times.
This season, Smith has already matched his career-best mark of two top-fives. He has set a new career-high with six top-10 finishes. He has led laps in multiple races and contended for wins. Although crashes at Michigan and Pocono took him out of the race as he drove inside the top 10.
"I have a few seconds and thirds or whatever, but I'm honestly leading these races at the wrong time," Smith added. "I just need to do it a little bit later, but I feel like that's what's mostly important.
"I feel like everyone kind of understands in the industry of how hard these races are to win, and then on top of that we're a smaller team, too, so we're doing a lot with a little and trying to make big strides each year."
Smith will seek to keep this momentum as he heads to a track where he has scant experience. He has only made two starts at Chicagoland Speedway — one in the ARCA Menards Series and one in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Smith doesn't even remember the ARCA start, and he barely has any memory of the O'Reilly start. Yet, he remains confident that he can go out and perform at the track as he reaches his milestone.
He just has to take advantage of things that worked in the past for the No. 38 team.
"I'm just trying to approach it like any other mile-and-a-half," Smith said. "The biggest question mark are the bumps with the Next Gen car and how it's gonna handle that, but certainly one of the best mile-and-a-halves character-wise and the racing it produced.
"I'm excited to get back there and I'm looking forward to it. I'm glad we have good speed on mile-and-a-halves right now."
