Zane Smith NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship of 2022

When the NASCAR Trucks Series hosted their final tournament of the season, it was called Lucas Oil 150 Race at Phoenix Raceway by having the best 4 drivers and could only have one winner to determine themselves. All 35 Drivers participate the event for season finale and it has 150 Laps with 3 Stages for all together. The 4 Drivers that has to determine the is #18 Chandler Smith, #38 Zane Smith, #66 Ty Majeski and #99 Ben Rhodes. Whatever who has the best performance will win the Truck Series Champions.

The Race was all lined up with trucks in a row of 2 before starting the race. When the pit crew truck got off the racetrack, the person at the white checker flag waved the green flag to start the race for one last time of the 2022 Season. When the action began, Zane Smith made a pass next to the #62 Driver Layne Riggs during most of the 1st Stage but finished it by taking an easy note to win the 1st Stage. During the 2nd Stage, everyone dives into the shortcut to get all spread out by getting the lead but Corey Heim the #51 Truck held the spot to take the lead. During most of the 2nd Stage, the Smith Brothers were fighting for the lead even Ben Rhodes while the #4 Driver JH Nemechek tries to take the lead but did got eliminated during the last race at Miami Speedway. Zane Smith held his position to beat Corey Heim and JH Nemechek which won the 2nd Stage.

During the 3rd and Final Stage, the entertainment started when Chandler Smith took the lead with the rest of the drivers after turn 1 but it wasn’t fir long when Tyler Ankrum the #16 Truck pushed Christian Eckes the #98 truck and he was spun hit by the wall which they release the first caution flag. After a mishap start of the 3rd Stage another caution came out but this time was Taylor Gray the #17 Spencer Boyd the #12 and Rajah Caruth the #7 and Derek Kraus the #19 all got his at turn 2. After 2 Cautions, the race resume and its rush hour of pickups going through all 4 turns and all if the drivers were started to get aggressive for taking the top spot. The top 5 Trucks were going for the battle to give themselves the winning spot. It was Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Chandler Smith and Ty Majeski. Not for long, Hallie Deegan the #1 Truck was caught hit in the wall with only 16 laps to go and then got wind up with a flat tire, but was unable to resume to race. So she put her truck back to the garage because the truck also not fully stabilize. The battle of the top 10 drivers resume and all the way to 4 laps to go, Ty Majeski was going to going to do a little contact to Zane Smith but lost control and did a 90 degree angle spin which was unfortunate for his luck. He got hit in the wall and the Caution came out which means the race is going to finish in Overtime.

During the Final few laps of Overtime it was the battle of the 3 Drivers that are still in the Playoffs. It could be Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes again like last year or Chandler Smith the rookie driver of 2021. The battle started with Chandler Smith taking the lead, then Ben Rhodes & Zane Smith took inside of turn 1 while giving a bit of a dash to go up front. By turn 2 to 3, Chandler got to Zane’s spot to fight for the win, while Zane had other ideas to slide up to creep back and capitalize the idea to the lead at turn 4 which brings in the final lap. By the final lap, Ben Rhodes give a small push to Chandler but hang on to survive the completion. Chandler Smith almost got his spot back in the inside, but Ben Rhodes cut through the outside and the Orange Trucks fought hard to battle for 1st Place for the final 2 turns. By the the time the 2 Orange trucks reached to the final spot before the finish line, Ben Rhodes wanted to hit the bumper in the final corner and had a minor hit in the wall but managed to hang on and crossed the finish line less than a truck length behind while Chandler Smith so close but took 3rd and took 0.259 seconds back of the winner, which means Zane Smith is Officially the 2022 NASCAR Truck Series Champion of the season. Zane Smith’s Crew Cheif celebrated their moment of victory lane. Even though Zane Smith got his 4th victory of the season, and it was a clean sweep but won all 3 stages. Smith earned the pole position for the race of Phoenix Raceway and won both stages before claiming the victory of the series title.

During The celebration, Crew Chief Chris Lawson was very proud of him from his bravery and encouragement of a true truck driver. Zane Smith couldn’t find a job before driving the pickup for NASCAR and finally got his career into a reality. Zane Smith did the donut and he grew up from Huntington Beach, California and did the charm to become a NASCAR truck driver champion while raised the NACSAR Championship Flag. The dedication of hard work proves that he did all of the best that he is officially the 2022 Camping World Truck Series Champion. Everyone was really excited and proud of him. He thanked his crew chief and pit crew for the long journey of the season. Zane had a couple of interviews and said that “the 3rd time is a charm” which he gained momentum. He also finally thanked Michael Roberts Construction for the help and sponsor the other companies that was added on his truck throughout the Season. When it was time to check the other truck drivers, there was a different emotion that Ben Rhodes was disappointment because he wasn’t able to find a way to get the win, but he tried to use 2 tires vs 4 tires which didn’t have the pace. However, he was grateful for the opportunity this season especially the help from his crew chief, Kubota and Toyota for the fight to stay in the Playoffs and stayed in the Final 4. Hopefully, he’ll learn some technique to resume by staying in the playoffs for future seasons. Chandler Smith had good run by being mistake free with no contact but couldn’t figure out to beat Zane but the Smith’s were outstanding at Phoenix Raceway. He thanked Toyota, Satellite and KBM for the proud effort and the fighting spirit but he that the result “It wasn’t meant to be”. Finally, Ty Majeski had his interview but he a great chance to stay in, except he was being aggressive to the truck. He thought it would work if to use a little wiggle to contact Zane Smith which ended up spun out and got hit in the wall. Overall, we was thankful for the opportunity to be the Nascar Trucks Camping World Series. He was thankful that Road Ranger Cincinnati and Toyota for the accomplishment which he was proud of the performance this season and hopefully come back stronger next season. At the Championship Stage, Zane Smith was crowned as NASCAR Truck Series Championship and everyone celebrated his victory by using water and Gatorade to give him the celebration. Fox Sports Reporter Jamie Little interviewed Tamara Ward who was the Chief Operating Officer of Camping World and she was thankful for the opportunity of Truck Drivers being on the Nascar Series for so many years while still going strong. Before it the moment to shine, Jamie introduce Senior Vice President of Racing Development and Strategy Ben Kennedy which congratulate Zane Smith and all of the crew members especially all of the people who watched it on TV. Finally, Zane Smith has lifted the trophy and makes him the 2022 NASCAR Truck Series Camping World Champion. He had the interview which the win was a dream come true