In a week full of announcements, Trackhouse Racing and Zane Smith announced Saturday a multi-year agreement. This agreement will see Smith drive for Spire Motorsports next season after they purchased Live Fast’s charter. News of that sale broke Saturday morning then officially announced after the Smith news. Zane Smith will be driving the new Spire entry from the charter purchase. At the time of this writing, there is no news about who will be driving Spire’s 77 car in 2024.
Zane Smith returns to Chevy after a two-year hiatus with Front Row Motorsports and Ford in the Craftsman Truck Series. Smith is the reigning Truck Series champion and will skip the Xfinity Series to run fulltime in Cup next year. Heading into this season, most people expected Smith to be announced as a Cup Series driver for the 2024 season. However, the assumption was that Smith would either be with Front Row Motorsports or Stewart-Haas Racing. After Front Row announced the retention of both of their current drivers, Smith was bound to leave the team. While SHR assumedly has an open seat with the 10 car, their non-Kevin Harvick teams performances leave much to be desired. With no other open Cup Series rides in the Ford camp, Smith jumped ship back to Chevy via Trackhouse.
With the Smith signing, Trackhouse and Spire will now have an alliance for the 2024 season. While the announcement did not include plans beyond 2024, a likely scenario is that Smith will drive a chartered Trackhouse entry in the 2025 season.
This announcement is two big pieces of news in one. To start, time to discuss the Zane Smith piece of this news.
Zane Smith to Trackhouse
Trackhouse Racing is seemingly loading up on talent to potentially run a four car team in the near future. Earlier this week, the team announced Shane van Gisbergen signed a developmental deal. This will see Gisbergen run a mixture of Cup, Xfinity, Trucks, and Modified Series races in 2024. Now, Trackhouse plucks the top young prospect from the lower series and brings Zane Smith in on a quasi-developmental deal. Although Smith will be running fulltime in the Cup Series, he will be loaned out to Spire Motorsports.
Attempting to predict how well Zane Smith will run in 2024 is tough. At this point, it is unclear what speed Spire Motorsports will have next year. Corey LaJoie has seen an improvement with his 7 team. His average finish has improved by 3.4 spots compared to last season. However, LaJoie has only managed two Top-10s. Meanwhile, Ty Dillon and the 77 team have still been running in the back of the pack. While Spire has gained more financial funds through their Gainbridge sponsorship, it is difficult to determine if that will be translate to faster cars quickly.
Mediocre Cup Starts
While Spire Motorsports is a big question mark about Zane Smith’s 2024, the driver has not been too impressive in his limited Cup Series starts. In six starts this season, Smith has an average finish of 26.5. He did finish tenth during the Coke 600 though. However, when Smith has replaced Todd Gilliland in the 38 car, Gilliland has outrun Smith in Rick Ware Racing equipment. The one race where Smith finished better than Gilliland saw the latter crash out during the third stage.
Does Smith’s mediocre Cup Series runs mean he will be mediocre next season? Of course not. Smith is running fulltime in the Craftsman Truck Series with blips of NextGen car adventures sprinkled into his 2023 season. The two vehicles are vastly different and it likely is difficult trying to find rhythm when in spot starts. With that said, Smith’s mediocre runs might have played a factor into Front Row choosing Gilliland.
Trackhouse Expansion
Trackhouse currently seems set to run a four car team in the near future. With the two signings from this week, Trackhouse have four drivers signed for multiple seasons. Justin Marks and his ownership group continue to look to innovate their team. While 2023 has been a bit of step back on-track, the team is still arguably Chevy’s second best team. Barring significant developmental struggles from Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse will have four Cup Series worhty drivers on the roster through (at least) 2025.
This announcement leaves one big question for Trackhouse: where do you plan on getting two charters from? Reportedly, running the 91 car for the team is a financial struggle. Even with their Chicago win, it is incredibly difficult financially and logistically to run a non-chartered entry. For those unaware, a team with chartered cars have to use their existing chassis to run a non-chartered car. They are not allowed to purchase a new chassis from NASCAR to run the non-chartered entry.
For sure, Smith will need a charter for 2025. Based on recent reports, Stewart-Haas Racing might be looking to sell two charters once their current Ford contract expires. Maybe Trackhouse has an eye on those for 2025. If not there, you could argue Rick Ware Racing could sell a charter. After those options, the charter market seems limited. Plus, Trackhouse will have to contend with other teams who likely want to expand their operations.
Ford Asleep at the Wheel
What is Ford doing? Zane Smith was their prized poach from Chevy a couple years ago. Now, he is heading back to the manufacturer Ford stole him from. Now, Ford’s developmental ranks are headed up by Cole Custer, Riley Herbst (who is not signed for 2024 yet), and Hailie Deegan. Yikes.
As pointed out by Robert Cwick earlier this season, Ford has an issue within their developmental ranks. In the past calendar year, Ford has now lost three developmental drivers (Smith and the Gray brothers). There is only one Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series program that are reserved for Ford developmental drivers. While Ford’s current Cup Series lineup features a good amount of youth (six drivers under thirty for 2024), the lack of a developmental tree has to be concerning.
Ford might not be able to influence driver lineup decisions as much as fans (or even Ford) may like, but the optics are poor. This is especially true considering SHR likely has the 10 car open and Zane Smith still decided a third Spire Motorsports entry would be better for him next season. Granted, Smith’s deal is with Trackhouse. However, Trackhouse outclassing SHR also does not look good for Ford. Trackhouse is a team on the rise while SHR looks like a sinking ship. Plus, Tony Stewart does not seem pleased with Ford.
Spire Buys Live Fast Charter
The first bit of news from Saturday saw the sale of a charter. Live Fast sold their only charter to Spire Motorsports. Inflation is hitting everyone it seems, as the charter sold for $40 million.
After three seasons, Live Fast will no longer be a fulltime Cup Series operation. In their press release for the sale, the team did state that they have intentions on running some races as an open team. That likely will include attempting the Daytona 500. While the site of open teams has been almost non-existent this season, hopefully Live Fast can be a semi-consistent entry into the Cup Series. Meanwhile, BJ McLeod’s Xfinity Series team should see improvement next season with his portion of the $40 million charter sale.
What are Spire’s Plans?
Meanwhile, Spire Motorsports will now have three charters under their control. For 2024, each charter has a known spot. Corey LaJoie will drive the 7, the 77 will run under the Spire umbrella, and their newly acquired charter will be helmed by Zane Smith. What happens in 2025 though? LaJoie signed a multi-year deal, so he will use a charter. Based on who has been reported to drive the 77 next year, that charter will also remain with Spire. However, what about the new charter? Once Smith returns to Trackhouse, will Spire run three chartered entries?
With the rumors that the Andretti family is eyeballing an entry into NASCAR, Spire Motorsports has been viewed as their landing spot. Gainbridge is an Andretti affiliated sponsor. If Andretti does buy some or all of Spire, could NASCAR see Marco Andretti run in the Cup Series? Marco Andretti ran the Mid-Ohio Craftsman Truck Series race this season. Plus, he is a former SRX champion. Perhaps that third charter will see Marco Andretti drive for Spire in 2025.
What About the 77?
Zane Smith will not be in the 77 car. In the announcement, it was made clear that Smith’s 2024 ride is from the newly acquired charter. That leaves the 77’s future up in the air still. Based on the current rumors, Carson Hocevar looks slated to drive that car in 2024. Much like Smith, Hocevar would be skipping the Xfinity Series. With how well Hocevar has looked in his three Cup Series starts, it seems like a logical decision.
If the rumors are true, then Hocevar will likely run fulltime in 2024. However, what about Shane van Gisbergen’s Cup Series starts? Depending on how many Cup starts Trackhouse wants to give the New Zealander, how much of a strain does that put on the team if those are all PROJECT 91 starts? With this Spire alliance, maybe the 77 car is shared between Hocevar and Gisbergen. Hocevar is still young and Spire has a Xfinity Series car. Instead of fulltime Cup Series racing, Hocevar and Spire could contend for the Xfinity Series championship. Meanwhile, Gisbergen can run a chartered car. This could be important if Trackhouse plans to run Gisbergen for the Daytona 500. While this is pure speculation, it is an intriguing option that is available to both teams.
