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Page 1 of 4  Having come ever so close to winning a Sprint Cup race three years ago at Talladega Superspeedway, Regan Smith could not be sure he would ever get as close to a victory after Smith was denied the win at Talladega when NASCAR ruled he ran below the yellow line while passing Tony Stewart, but this time, Smith survived a green-white-chequered finish at Darlington Raceway.
"I can't believe it, you guys," Smith said over the radio. "This is the Southern 500. We're not supposed to win this thing."
"Winning here means more to me than that win ever could've meant. I don't think I'll go to bed tonight thinking about Talladega, that's for sure. I'm not supposed to win this race. I've never even had a top five. I guess in this series, it just shows anyone can win," added Smith.
Carl Edwards got to know Regan Smith in late 2002, when the future Sprint Cup star was driving a Truck Series entry for Mike Mittler, an owner from his home state of Missouri.
Edwards had run seven races in the vehicle, but couldn't start any more and still maintain his eligibility for the rookie of the year award following season.
So Mittler pulled Edwards out of the seat in favour of a New Yorker named Regan Smith, a move that at first left some hard feelings.
Edwards recalls: "I was kind of heartbroken. I'm a race car driver. I didn't want to work on that truck while somebody else was driving it. I felt kind of honoured after it was all over to have worked with [Smith] and met his family. They're really good people. We changed the engine right there in the garage, and I decided, I'm going to go ahead and work and swallow my pride here. I'm glad I did, because I got to know Regan a little bit better, and he's a good guy. He could have treated me any way, and he treated me like gold there. I've got a lot of respect for him."
With 10 laps remaining, Jeff Burton's engine blew up to bring out a caution, Smith radioed to crew chief Pete Rondeau that his #78 car was pretty good in clean air, leaving the decision to stay out to Rondeau, who agreed with his driver and told him to "go for it".
Smith cleared Edwards and thought well, at least he could salvage second place, but when Edwards didn't immediately catch up to him, his goals changed.
One qualifying lap, thought NASCAR's best qualifier, and he might have a chance to win the thing, which he did, keeping his foot down on the accelerator, bouncing off the wall in Turn 2, staying glued to the bottom of the track and forcing Edwards to pass him on the outside.
"I definitely underestimated that restart a little bit," Edwards said. "When I drove down into Turn 3 on the last lap, I sincerely planned on driving right by him. His car stuck a lot better than I thought. It surprised me. I really thought it was going to be a drag race to the start-finish line. He stayed out front."
While the 27 year old Smith was celebrating, a post race scuffle ignited after tempers erupted behind him between Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer, who, with just a handful of laps left, tangled in an accident following the penultimate restart after Harvick appeard to swerve at Busch, the pair making contact while running side by side out of Turn 2.
After the race, Harvick tracked down Busch's car, 'brake tested' him on pit road, then got out of his car and attempted to punch Busch through the car window, Busch then slammed into Harvick's driver-less car, sending it crashing into the inside wall.
Harvick and Busch then stared each other down from their cars as they entered the garage before a stand-off, that looked as if it might erupt further, finally ending when Busch bumped Harvick several times to make space to drive off.
Both drivers were summoned to the NASCAR hauler and following his meeting with the NASCAR race officials, Harvick said: "Obviously we were racing hard and doing what we had to do there at the end, and things happen, that's it, what do you do? That's racing, I guess!"
Race Fast Facts provided by NASCAR Statistics
Darlington Raceway - 62nd Annual SHOWTIME Southern 500
Race Winner: Regan Smith
Age: 27
Team: #78 - Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
Owner: Barney Visser
Crew Chief: Peter Rondeau
- Regan Smith won the 62nd Annual SHOWTIME Southern 500, his first victory in 105 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
- This is his first victory and second top 10 finish in 2011.
- This is his first victory and first top 10 finish in four races at Darlington Raceway.
- Carl Edwards (second) posted his fifth top 10 finish in eight races at Darlington Raceway. It is his eighth top 10 finish in 2011.
- Brad Keselowski (third) posted his second top 10 finish in three races at Darlington Raceway.
- Carl Edwards leads the point standings by 23 points over Jimmie Johnson.
Failed to qualify: (3) #81 Scott Riggs; #71 Andy Lally; #92 Brian Keselowski
Race Comments: Before a crowd estimated at 61,000, Regan Smith won the SHOWTIME Southern 500, his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.
TIME OF RACE: 3 hours, 53 minutes, 51 seconds
AVERAGE SPEED: 129.678mph
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.196 second(s)
COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD: Kasey Kahne (181.254mph. 27.131 seconds)
AMERICAN ETHANOL GREEN FLAG RESTART AWARD: Kasey Kahne
DIRECTV CREW CHIEF OF THE RACE: Carl Edwards (crew chief Bob Osborne)
GOODYEAR GATORBACK FASTEST LAP: Kevin Harvick (173.161mph, Lap 246)
MAHLE CLEVITE ENGINE BUILDER OF THE RACE: Hendrick Engines (#39)
MOBIL 1 OIL DRIVER OF THE RACE: Kasey Kahne
MOOG CHASSIS PARTS PROBLEM SOLVER OF THE RACE: Greg Biffle (crew chief Greg Erwin, 0.006 seconds)
NASCAR SPRINT CUP LEADER BONUS: No winner: rolls over to $110,000 at next event++
O'REILLY AUTO PARTS POSITION IMPROVEMENT AWARD: Dave Blaney (17 places)
++Rollover money awarded at year's end, amount not included in race winnings.
Caution Flags: 11 cautions for 46 laps. [Beneficiary in Brackets] 7-9 (Car #60 Spin Backstretch [None]); 36-41 (Oil On The Track / Competition [7]); 75-78 (Car #34 Accident Turn 2 [None]); 85-88 (Car #48 Spin Turn 1 [36]); 124-127 (Debris Frontstretch [36]); 222-225 (Car #48 Spin Turn 4 [2]); 231-235 (Car #6, 83 Accident Backstretch [56]); 240-243 (Car #9, 20 Accident Frontstretch [18]); 281-284 (Debris Backstretch [48]); 359-362 (Oil On The Track [88]); 365-368 (Car #18, 29, 33 Accident Frontstretch [00]).
Lap Leaders: 21 lead changes among 12 drivers. Kahne 1-9, Newman 10-37, Mears 38, Schrader 39-40, Kahne 41-75, McMurray 76-88, Kahne 89-114, Edwards 115-123, Ky. Busch 124-175, Truex Jr 176, B. Labonte 177-178, Ky. Busch 179-204, Edwards 205-221, Harvick 222, Edwards 223-235, Harvick 236-281, Kahne 282-332, Stewart 333-338, Kahne 339-340, Edwards 341-358, Kahne 359, Smith 360-370.
2011 Southern 50Showtime 0 unofficial race results:
| Pos. |
Started |
N° |
Driver |
Car |
Sponsor |
Pts/Bns |
Laps |
Status |
| 1 |
23 |
78 |
Regan Smith |
Chevrolet |
Furniture Row Companies |
47/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 2 |
4 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Ford |
Aflac |
43/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 3 |
10 |
2 |
Brad Keselowski |
Dodge |
Miller Lite |
41/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 4 |
1 |
4 |
Kasey Kahne |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
42/2 |
370 |
Running |
| 5 |
2 |
39 |
Ryan Newman |
Chevrolet |
Tornados |
40/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 6 |
3 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
Sport Clips |
38/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 7 |
9 |
14 |
Tony Stewart |
Chevrolet |
Office Depot / Mobil 1 |
38/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 8 |
22 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
Ford |
3M |
36/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 9 |
12 |
1 |
Jamie McMurray |
Chevrolet |
Bass Pro Shops / Tracker |
36/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 10 |
29 |
56 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Toyota |
NAPA Auto Parts |
35/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 11 |
14 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
Wrigley's Doublemint |
34/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 12 |
5 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet |
Drive to End Hunger |
32/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 13 |
6 |
9 |
Marcos Ambrose |
Ford |
Stanley |
31/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 14 |
30 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
Amp Energy Sugar Free / National Guard |
30/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 15 |
19 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet |
Lowe's / Kobalt Tools |
29/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 16 |
36 |
0 |
David Reutimann |
Toyota |
Aaron's Outdoors Mossy Oak |
28/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 17 |
13 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Budweiser |
28/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 18 |
15 |
47 |
Bobby Labonte |
Toyota |
Lance Snacks / Tom's Snacks |
27/1 |
370 |
Running |
| 19 |
28 |
5 |
Mark Martin |
Chevrolet |
GoDaddy |
25/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 20 |
7 |
43 |
A.J. Allmendinger |
Ford |
Best Buy |
24/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 21 |
11 |
6 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
UPS "We Love Logistics" |
23/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 22 |
18 |
27 |
Paul Menard |
Chevrolet |
Turtle Wax / Menards |
22/0 |
370 |
Running |
| 23 |
16 |
42 |
Juan Montoya |
Chevrolet |
Target |
21/0 |
368 |
Running |
| 24 |
41 |
36 |
Dave Blaney |
Chevrolet |
Golden Corral |
20/0 |
367 |
Running |
| 25 |
20 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
Wiley X Sunglasses |
19/0 |
366 |
Running |
| 26 |
21 |
38 |
Travis Kvapil |
Ford |
Long John Silver's |
0 |
365 |
Running |
| 27 |
25 |
22 |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
Shell / Pennzoil |
17/0 |
364 |
Running |
| 28 |
40 |
32 |
Ken Schrader |
Ford |
H&B Railroad / U.S. Chrome |
17/1 |
364 |
Running |
| 29 |
27 |
9 |
Landon Cassill |
Chevrolet |
Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit |
0 |
364 |
Running |
| 30 |
32 |
13 |
Casey Mears |
Toyota |
GEICO |
15/1 |
364 |
Running |
| 31 |
26 |
33 |
Clint Bowyer |
Chevrolet |
BB&T |
13/0 |
363 |
Running |
| 32 |
37 |
34 |
David Gilliland |
Ford |
Taco Bell |
12/0 |
362 |
Running |
| 33 |
24 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet |
Caterpillar |
11/0 |
358 |
In Pit |
| 34 |
8 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
10/0 |
332 |
Running |
| 35 |
17 |
20 |
Joey Logano |
Toyota |
The Home Depot |
9/0 |
318 |
Running |
| 36 |
35 |
37 |
Tony Raines |
Ford |
Front Row Motorsports |
8/0 |
172 |
In Pit |
| 37 |
42 |
7 |
Robby Gordon |
Dodge |
Fast Five / Speed Energy |
7/0 |
87 |
In Pit |
| 38 |
33 |
150 |
T.J. Bell |
Toyota |
Bandit Industries |
0 |
67 |
In Pit |
| 39 |
31 |
46 |
J.J. Yeley |
Chevrolet |
Red Line Oil |
5/0 |
34 |
Out of Race |
| 40 |
34 |
60 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Big Red |
0 |
29 |
In Pit |
| 41 |
38 |
30 |
David Stremme |
Chevrolet |
Inception Motorsports |
3/0 |
27 |
Out of Race |
| 42 |
43 |
87 |
Joe Nemechek |
Toyota |
NEMCO Motorsports |
0 |
22 |
Out of Race |
| 43 |
39 |
66 |
Michael McDowell |
Toyota |
K-Love |
1/0 |
7 |
In Pit |
* Rookie
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