Fantasy NASCAR Racing

Chase. They made it to the final round of the Chase; but was eliminated before the Championship race at Phoenix and finished sixth in points.  The pair returned to the Xfinity Series in 2021 and had much the same results.  This year they failed to get a win, but had 11 Top 5 and 19 Top 10’s.  He had three races he almost won, finishing second at Talladega, Michigan and Homestead.  Meendering Jones were together for the fourth year in 2022; working for owner Joe Gibbs.  Jones ran good this year; and lost at least one win because he was intentionally crashed while leading.  Daytona saw them finish in the lead pack at Daytona; albeit in 17th place.  At Fontana they were involved in a crash that actually occurred in over time.  They ended up finishing 33rd.  A tenth place finish at Las Vegas was followed by a second place at Phoenix.  He broke through to get a win a few weeks later at Martinsville.  The win put them into the play-offs and he advanced through each round on points.  Heading into the last race before the cutoff to make the Championship; Jones was in a must win situation.  The team showed up strong and won the pole.  Jones had a battle with his team-mate Ty Gibbs and managed to pass him with two laps to go.  Gibbs had already punched his ticket to run for the championship; and a win by Jones would give JGR two cars in the championship finale'.  But after they took the white flag; Gibbs just flat drove "through" Jones and punted him into the wall.  Gibbs sped on to the win; and when he climbed from his car he was greeted with a chorus of boos from the fans in attendance.  It was a stupid move by Gibbs in several ways.  First; he had just crashed out a team mate and it was most certainly on purpose.  Second he had kept his car owner from having two cars with a shot to win the Championship instead of just one, and third he showed how little respect he had for his fellow drivers and how little class he himself had.  Jones left JGR at the end of 2022 and moved to drive for JRM.  Meendering would stay with JGR and be crew chief for driver Sammy Smith in 2023.  Meendering worked with young Sammy Smith in 2023.  After finishing just inside the top 20 the first three races; they grabbed a win at Phoenix.  The rookie had most of his finishes inside the top 20 all season except for when he was involved in a crash.  In the playoffs they ran well with all but one finish inside the top 10.  But a 17th place finish at Las Vegas in the Round of 8 saw him get eliminated just before the championship race at Phoenix.  For the year they had the one win, six top five and 16 top ten finishes.  For his career, Meendering has spent the last seven years in the Xfinity series and saw him start with SHR.  He won twice, both with Cole Custer, before moving to Joe Gibbs Racing.  Since that time, he has added six more wins, five with Brandon Jones and the one this year with Smith.  For 2024, Smith has departed JGR to go drive for JRM, while Meendering will stay on to lead whoever ends up in the #18 car.  Meendering ended up paired with Chandler Smith in 2024 at JGR.  When the season started, they were on fire.  At great run at Daytona saw them finish fifth.  They followed that with a second place run the next week at Atlanta, and had no finish worse than eighth the first seven races of the season.  In addition to that they won the fourth race at Phoenix, when Smith led 88 laps beating Jesse Love.  They also won the seasons sixth race. At Richmond Smith led 76 laps beating Aric Almirola by five seconds.  Other than when they had mechanical failures, or got involved in a crash, the duo posted good finishes.  From Daytona (race #22) to the end of the season, they only had one finish worse than eighth place.  They easily made the Chase, and in the Round of 8, even though they had finishes of third and fourth, a 13th place finish at Homestead saw them be eliminated from the championship race.  For the year they finished fifth in the season points.  For 2025, Zane Smith will be moving to the Cup series to drive the #38 for Front Row Motorsports.  For the year the duo paired up for two wins, 17 top five and 22 top ten finishes.