NASCAR has a new last place driver after the Brickyard 400

Spire Motorsports rookie Zane Smith, who is driving the No. 71 Chevrolet for the team while on loan from Trackhouse Racing Team, has spent much of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season as the 34th and last place driver in the point standings among the individuals who compete full-time.

In the season's first 14 races, he finished no higher than 13th place and had just one other finish inside the top 20. Seven of his results were outside of the top 30.

Then at Nashville Superspeedway a few weeks ago, Smith found himself in a battle for the win with Team Penske's Joey Logano and had to settle for second place. Good pit strategy, late fuel saving, and just an overall smart race from Smith turned him into a sudden contender.

Following Sunday's Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which saw Smith running inside the top three once again before he needed to make a late pit stop for fuel, he now has five top 20 finishes in the eight most recent races.

And his 17th place finish at Indy most notably elevated him from last place in the point standings.

Wood Brothers Racing's Harrison Burton now has that unfortunate distinction.

It was recently announced that Burton is set to leave Wood Brothers Racing at the end of the 2024 season, with current Stewart-Haas Racing driver Josh Berry having been confirmed as his replacement behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford for next year.

Burton has struggled since being promoted to the Cup Series in 2022. He recorded just two top 10 finishes in the 2022 season en route to a 27th place finish in the standings, and he recorded just two more in the 2023 season en route to a 31st place finish.

Before he was collected in a multi-car crash on Sunday, Burton was sitting in 33rd place in the standings, nine points ahead of Smith.

But given Smith's recent improvement in form, plus the fact that Burton's season-high finish of 10th is the worst best finish among all full-time drivers, he looked poised to drop to 34th.

Now he has indeed dropped to 34th.

Though Burton had struggled since the season began, he still managed to finish every race in the first half of the year, except for the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

Now, however, he has three DNFs in the four most recent races, and he finds himself 10 points behind the lone driver he had been ahead of for much of the season.

NASCAR is off for the next two weekends due to NBC's commitment to the Summer Olympics in Paris, France. Action is scheduled to resume on Sunday, August 11 with the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. The race is set to be broadcast live on USA Network beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss any of the action!