Another Round … Zane Smith is back at the controls of the No. 91 Instacoat Premium Products (IPP) Chevrolet Silverado RST at Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) for his second-consecutive start. The 2022 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion made his first start with MHR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway one race ago and drove to an eighth-place finish. Smith rejoins the No. 91 team and crew chief Kevin Bellicourt on Saturday night for his second of four scheduled appearances.
Knocking on the Door … The former champ has been knocking on the door to BMS’ victory in his last two NCTS starts on the concrete at “Thunder Valley”. Smith has led a combined 82 laps in the last two races on concrete and was the runner-up in 2022. Of his nine NCTS victories, Smith has one short track win at Martinsville Speedway in October 2021 and has a victory on the concrete surface at Dover Motor Speedway in 2020. Smith was always one of the primary threats during his tenure as a full-time NCTS competitor is positioned to be a major player for his first BMS victory on Saturday night.
MHR at Bristol … The MHR teams have shown plenty of pace in the last two events on the concrete surface at the “Last Great Colosseum”. The No. 19 team, led by crew chief Charles Denike, earned the pole position in 2022 and 2023 with Derek Kraus and Christian Eckes, respectively. Eckes and former MHR driver Jake Garcia were the two fastest drivers in last September’s practice session, with Eckes going on two sweep both stages and led 150 laps. Smith looks to continue that trend and park an MHR entry in BMS’ victory lane for the first time and capture his first sword and second-career short track victory.
Tune In … Smith and the MHR teams have a one-day show on tap at BMS on Saturday with all on-track action live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Practice and qualifying air live on FS1 at 3:00 p.m. ET followed by NASCAR Raceday at 7:00 p.m. ET and the green flag at 8:00 p.m. ET. Stay connected with the No. 91 IPP team by following @BMR_NASCAR on Twitter, @bmrnascar on Instagram, and Bill McAnally Racing on Facebook.
Zane Smith Quote:
On his second start with MHR at Bristol:
“Bristol is such a cool racetrack and really challenging to race. We’ll need to qualify well with our Instacoat Premium Products Chevrolet since passing has been difficult the last couple of years. Track position means a lot and being efficient in traffic will be important on the long runs too. The guys at MHR had really fast trucks last fall, so hopefully we’ll have more of the same and be up front when it counts on Saturday.”
