NASCAR has a new last place driver after the Brickyard 400
As a dedicated NASCAR fan, I’ve been following Zane Smith’s rollercoaster ride of a season with great interest. For much of it, he found himself as the last place driver in the point standings among full-time competitors for Spire Motorsports. But just when it seemed like his season was doomed to be forgettable, he surprised us all at Nashville Superspeedway with a valiant battle for the win against Joey Logano.
At the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series, Zane Smith from Spire Motorsports, a newcomer driving the No. 71 Chevrolet on loan from Trackhouse Racing Team, has frequently occupied the bottom position in the standings as the last and 34th ranked driver among those competing full-time.
As a gamer, I can tell you that in the first 14 races of the season, I didn’t manage to place higher than 13th position once. I only had one finish within the top 20. Sadly, seven of my results were even worse than that, placing me outside the top 30.
A few weeks ago at Nashville Superspeedway, Smith was in a tight race for the victory against Team Penske’s Joey Logano. However, he ultimately finished second best. Smart pit stops, conserving fuel towards the end, and overall wise racing moves by Smith unexpectedly positioned him as a strong challenger.
After the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, where Smith was contending for a top-three position until making a necessary pit stop for fuel towards the end, he now boasts an impressive five top 20 finishes in the previous eight races.
And his 17th place finish at Indy most notably elevated him from last place in the point standings.
Wood Brothers Racing’s Harrison Burton now has that unfortunate distinction.
As a longtime NASCAR fan with fond memories of watching Burton race in the Cup Series, I was taken aback by the recent announcement that he will be leaving Wood Brothers Racing at the end of the 2024 season. Burton’s departure feels like the end of an era for me and many other fans. But as much as it pains me to see him go, I’m excited about the fresh energy and talent that Josh Berry will bring to the team.
Since being promoted to the Cup Series in 2022, Burton has faced challenges. In the 2022 season, he managed only two top 10 results and ended up in 27th position in the standings. Similarly, during the 2023 season, he secured just two more top 10 finishes and ranked 31st.
As a gamer, I was in 33rd position before an unfortunate multi-car collision occurred on Sunday. Luckily for me, I held a comfortable nine-point lead over Smith at that time.
Considering Smith’s latest progress and the poor 10th place finish of Burton being the lowest best result among all full-time drivers, Smith seemed likely to rank 34th.
Now he has indeed dropped to 34th.
Despite facing challenges throughout the initial part of the racing season, Burton completed every race except for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in the first half of the year.
Currently, he’s missed finishing in three out of the last four races, putting him ten points behind the leading driver who he used to trail by a significant margin throughout the season.
NASCAR will take a break for the next two weekends as NBC focuses on the Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Racing will restart on August 11 with the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, airing live on USA Network from 6:00 p.m. ET onwards. Begin your free FuboTV trial now and catch all the excitement!
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2024-07-22 15:02