Despite having almost a hundred NASCAR Cup Series starts to his name, Zane Smith has yet to claim a victory. The Front Row Motorsports Ford star, who in 2026 is punching above his weight on given days, is certainly looking to change that as he is set to hit his 100th race start at Chicagoland this weekend.

Several Top 5s and Top 10s, including a couple of runners-up and third places over the course of his Cup career, could not make him a winner. However, Smith feels running up front and being in contention for the win is also an "important" step before he can finally take the win ahead of the milestone start.

"I feel like that's what's mostly important," Smith said in a clip shared by Joseph Srigley on X. "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. So proud of that and just proud of our running. But yeah, I would love to put an exclamation mark on this on the 100th start."

Smith, who drives the No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, has had volatile results this season. However, he has two Top 5s and six Top 10s so far. He wants to use all of these experiences to get stronger and eventually take home a victory.

After 18 races in 2026, he is in 23rd place in the regular season championship with 340 points. Having led 62 laps this season, the No. 38 driver is far from where he needs to be to win a race in the current scenario.

What Zane Smith expects at "brand new" Chicagoland circuit

For the majority of the young drivers, Chicagoland is a brand new track as NASCAR is returning to the track after a seven-year hiatus. They last hosted a Cup Series race at this track in 2019, which makes the track fairly new for several drivers.

"There's only a handful of people in the field that have raced at Chicagoland before," Smith said. "For the majority of the field, including myself and my teammates, this is a brand-new track for us." (As quoted by Speedway Digest)

Austin Dillon claimed the pole in the race seven years ago, while Kevin Harvick led most laps. However, Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports claimed the victory ahead of Kyle Larson and Joey Logano.

The 2026 eero 400 will take place on Sunday, July 5, at 6:00 PM ET. The 1.5-mile oval track will have 267 laps of racing for 400 miles.

This is going to be the 19th race of the season, and fans can expect a fierce fight between Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick, the top two contenders for the regular season championship.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yash Kotak