Photo by: Eric Gilbert
TALLADEGA, Ala. (May 6, 2012) -- Regan Smith was one of the early victims of an engine failure in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Not soon after the 43-car field took the green flag to start the Aaron's 499, Smith saw his day come to an end when smoke started to spew out of his Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet on Lap 15 of 188.
Smith brought the car to the garage, parked it and left the Alabama facility with a 40th-place finish, his worst result of the season.
"Being out of the race early due to a mechanical malfunction really hurts because we felt that we had a shot of doing something positive today," said Smith.
According to NASCAR's final result sheet, Smith was the first of four drivers who retired from the race prematurely due to an engine problem. The others were Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Raines.
Before Smith experienced an engine issue, Furniture Row crew chief Pete Rondeau liked what he was seeing out of Smith's No. 78 Chevrolet.
"All was going well," explained Rondeau. "Regan started in the back, showed that he could drive to the front and then was settling in when the engine started to smoke. Very disappointing since we had high expectations today."
While it was difficult for Smith to conceal his major disappointment, he took an honest and positive approach to the team's current situation.
"Call it what you want but right now we're partially in a slump and partially in a bad-luck streak," said Smith. "We need to forget about the past, look forward and start to turn things around."
Looking forward can only bring fond memories to Smith, who enters Saturday night's race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway as the defending Southern 500 champion.
"A Darlington performance like last year would go a long way right now," said Smith. "Staying positive and focused is very important for our Furniture Row Racing team. I love the Darlington track and hopefully we can have another strong performance there."
The Talladega race winner was Brad Keselowski. Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, David Ragan, Trevor Bayne, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff B
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
NASCAR stars partner to purchase CARS late model series
Dale Jr. on Next Gen's 'surgical' steering and the challenge it presents
Earnhardt, Stewart, Bowyer to test NASCAR Next Gen car
Top Stories of 2018, #8: Furniture Row shuts down
Martin Truex Jr. comes one position short of repeating title
Martin Truex Jr. fastest in Friday's Cup practice at Homestead
Long Beach IMSA: Bourdais spins then tops FP2 for Cadillac
Latvala: Neuville, Evans tied for WRC Croatia lead "something special"
Streets of Long Beach receive changes ahead of the IMSA, IndyCar doubleheader
The Chinese Grand Prix's Chaotic Return and Cloudy Future
The ex-F1 driver taking on NASCAR with a new team
The early benefits and challenges of NASCAR's Next Gen car
How Penske's rookie sensation opened NASCAR's new era in style
Six key themes to follow in the 2022 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments