Regan Smith

Regan Smith
Born	September 23, 1983 (1983-09-23) Cato, New York
Achievements	1996 WKA Grand National champion 1997 WKA Manufacturer's Cup champion 1998 Canadian Grand National Karting championship 2001 Allison Legacy Series champion
Awards	2008 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
131 race(s) run over 5 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 78 (Furniture Row Racing)
2011 position	26th
Best finish	26th - 2011
First race	2007 Food City 500 (Bristol)
First win	2011 Showtime Southern 500 (Darlington)
Last win	2011 Showtime Southern 500 (Darlington)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 5 0
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
102 race(s) run over 6 year(s)
Best finish	20th - 2006
First race	2002 Sam's Town 250 Benefiting St. Jude (Memphis)
Last race	2007 Winn-Dixie 250 Presented by PepsiCo (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 6 1
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
23 race(s) run over 5 year(s)
Best finish	32nd - 2007
First race	2002 John Boy and Billy / Hardee's 250 (South Boston)
Last race	2008 Cool City Customs 200 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 5 0
Statistics current as of December 5, 2011.

Regan Smith (born September 23, 1983) is a NASCAR driver. He currently drives the #78 Furniture Row Chevrolet Impala for Furniture Row Racing.

Beginnings

Smith grew up in Cato, New York and began his racing career at the age of four, when he began racing go-karts and microds. Over the next several years, he won numerous regional and state championships. In 1995, he and his family moved to Mooresville, North Carolina to allow Smith to advance his career. He joined the World Karting Association and continued to win, joining the factory-supported team owned by Enzo Chiovitti in 1998. That same year, he began competing in the Allison Legacy Series.

In 2001, he began driving in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, winning four consecutive poles.

2002-2004

Smith began his NASCAR career racing in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2002. He made his debut at the age of 18 driving the #63 Ford F-150 for MB Motorsports at South Boston Speedway. He qualified 28th and finished 29th at South Boston and finished 30th at Phoenix after starting 12th in that race. He also made his Busch Series debut at Memphis Motorsports Park for Ed Whitaker, starting 16th but finishing 39th after a wreck.

Smith moved to the Busch Series in 2003 for a full-time ride with Bost Motorsports. Despite a lack of major sponsorship, Smith had three top-twenty finishes. However, the underfunded team opted for other drivers halfway through the year, forcing Smith out of work. He drove one race for Innovative Motorsports at Pikes Peak International Raceway, finishing 40th after early mechanical failures forced him to exit the race on the second lap. He also drove for Mac Hill Motorsports in the Ford 300, finishing 28th.

Smith continued to drive for Mac Hill in various Busch races in 2004, his best finish coming at Nashville Superspeedway, where he finished 24th. Following his release from the team, he was hired to drive the #50 Enzyte Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Michael Holigan for three races and appeared in a few episodes of The Reality of Speed on Spike, his best finish 26th at Chicagoland Speedway, before that team suspended operations. After a fifteenth place finish at Pikes Peak for Phoenix Racing, he posted his best NASCAR finish to date at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the Truck Series, 9th in the #06 John Boy and Billy Chevy for MRD Motorsports.

2005-2007

Smith began the 2005 season with Xpress Motorsports's #19 team, but lost the ride after sponsorship failed to materialize. He was then hired as the driver of the #65 Glynn Motorsports Dodge Ram and in four races in the truck he had a 20th at Texas and a pair of 22nds at Mansfield and Dover, and after that was elevated to Glynn's Busch Series team. Originally unsponsored, the team garnered sponsorship from Who's Your Daddy? and Samson Stone. Despite a streak of six races where he did not qualify worse than twelfth, including three thirteenth-place runs, he was released from the team. He ended the year in the Truck Series MRD for the closing races of the season, finishing 29th, 33rd and 32nd in three late season starts for that team.

At the end of the 2005 season, Smith signed on with Team Rensi Motorsports to run a full Busch season for 2006, with his best finish of 10th coming at Charlotte Speedway. Smith ended the season with one top 10 as well as a number of other strong finishes, and ended the season 20th overall in points. Towards the end of the season Smith tested for Ginn Racing at Kentucky, and signed a deal with them to run the full Busch season, and also 16 cup races which, would come in a car shared with Mark Martin for the 2007 season.

2007-2008 Ginn/DEI years

Smith racing at the road course Infineon Raceway in June 2007

Smith's car from 2008

Regan Smith made his Nextel Cup debut at the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing 25th in NASCAR's first Car of Tomorrow race. Regan made 6 starts in the #01 sharing ride with Mark Martin. Regan attempted to make the Daytona 500 but did not make the race. He was removed from the #01 on July 17, 2007 and moved to the #14 after the release of Sterling Marlin, but before the team could run a race Ginn Racing mergered with Dale Earnhardt, Inc.. As a result the #14 team's owner points were transferred to DEI's #15 team and Smith was out of a ride for the 2007 season, allowing him to keep his rookie status for 2008 (only six starts). He then moved to the Craftsman Truck series to drive the #47 for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports for starting at O'Reilly Raceway Park.

Smith returned to the #01 for 2008 as its sole driver, with Martin moving over to the #8. The team operated with little to no sponsorship (Principal Financial Group was the main sponsor), but managed to stay in business the entire season. Smith lost out his first win at Talladega Superspeedway because on the final lap, in the trioval, he passed Tony Stewart and gotten first place, but however it was announced that Smith went below the yellow line when he made the pass. The victory was given to Stewart. Smith said that he was pushed down by Stewart, which was true, but his excuses were ignored.

Despite finishing the season with no top ten finishes in 34 races (he was removed for both road course races), Smith won the 2008 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year award, beating out Sam Hornish, Jr.. He became the first rookie driver in Sprint Cup history to finish every race entered in his rookie season.

2009 Furniture Row era

After the 2008 season DEI shut down the #01 after merging with Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR operation and Smith was released. On January 14, 2009 he signed with Furniture Row Racing to drive the #78 for its part-time 2009 slate of races. He made eighteen of twenty attempts with the team, and was hired to drive for the team full time in 2010, with the team being offered Richard Childress Racing chassis and Hendrick Motorsports engines.

In 2010, he did not score any top tens. His best finish was 12th (twice) but still finished 28th in the point standings, his best of his career. The team changed engine providers, becoming a user of Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies (a joint venture of his former DEI team and Childress Racing) engines for the 2011 season, with Stewart-Haas Racing offering pit crews..

2011: Breakthrough Season

At the 2011 Daytona 500, Smith finished seventh after crashing in the final laps while battling for the lead. Although disappointing, he was able to come back and finish 7th in the first Top Ten finish of his Cup series career and for Furniture Row Racing.

On May 7, 2011 at the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Speedway, Smith won his first Sprint Cup race, holding off Carl Edwards at the end. On a late caution, Smith stayed out on older tires while Edwards and most of the lead lap cars pitted for fresh right side tires. Smith fended off Edwards on two restarts to claim the First win of his career at Darlington Raceway.

At the 2011 Brickyard 400, Smith had enough fuel to end the race in 3rd place, his second Top 5 of 2011, Also a strong run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway proved that Smith was ready for the Sprint Cup Series with another Top 10 position. At the fall race at Talladega Superspeedway, Regan was involved in a very hard crash towards the end of the race, Regan was able to walk away from the crash uninjured.

External links

• Official website
• Smith earns his break
• Career statistics at Racing-Reference.com

Achievements
Preceded by Juan Pablo Montoya	NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Joey Logano