Tensions get high during every NASCAR Cup Series race. For fans of the sport, they have the unique opportunity to do something no other fanbase gets to do and that's listen to a team’s radio and conversations during the heat of battle when those emotions are at their highest.

Zane Smith is in his second full-time Cup season. Through the first 11 races of the 2025 campaign, the No. 38 driver has had a solid start, including seven top 20s and a season-best ninth at Phoenix. Heading into Sunday’s race at Kansas, he had an average finishing position of 19.1.

Chase Elliott (9) and Zane Smith race at Kansas Speedway.

Starting in the middle of the pack at 18th, the Front Row Motorsports driver had a strong start to the race at the 1.5-mile track and finished 10th at the conclusion of the first stage.

Early in the second stage, the 26-year-old driver found himself running in ninth when his crew chief Ryan Bergenty offered him some advice on the team radio .

“When you get those runs here, if you get them in dirty air when you're clear, we've got to work on that,” he instructed his driver.

“Bro. [Expletive] you,” Smith fired back. “I’m trying.”

It was quite a surprising response for the driver who is known throughout the garage for his quiet demeanor. Despite his less-than-enthusiastic reply, it didn’t affect his performance in that stage where he managed to improve on his first stage result by one spot and finish ninth.

However, in that third and final stage with multiple cautions, the FRM car got shuffled back in the field but still managed to salvage a solid 16th-place finish for the day.