Regan Smith won his first career Sprint Cup Series race last night at one of the most historic NASCAR circuits ever. He did a great job of running solid all race long and holding off Carl Edwards with 2 laps to go. Regan was very emotional during the interview in victory lane which is understandable. He is one of those drivers that rarely gets mentioned on or off the air, but has the talent to perform well. This just might land Regan a contract offer from a more popular team. It's too bad the conflict between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch took the camera time and commentator's attention away from him, he deserved to be documented throughout the post-race show. A shoving match between Kevin Harvick's pit crew and Kyle Busch's pit crew took place right before Regan Smith's winning celebration was about to begin. Kevin was aggravated with Kyle because Kyle spun out Kevin intentionally immediately after Clint Bowyer spun out first while racing 3-wide with the #18 and #29 cars. However Bowyer in the #33 car spinning out was caused by unintentional contact with Bowyer's teammate Harvick. Kyle Busch is a talented driver, but this proves he can be a loose cannon if he becomes angry of not winning... for once!
I am disappointed and confused that Jeff Gordon eventually was not near as good as he was in the first half of the race. Jeff ended up crossing the finish line in 12th place. I was correct about Kasey Kahne qualifying good, though I didn't expect him to stay up near the front the way he did. Kahne qualified on the pole and unlike last week's pole winner Juan-Pablo Montoya, Kasey raced solidly in he top 10 throughout the evening. Fantastic performances from Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman. That #39 team was expected to have a strong showing at Darlington, but Keselowski was a complete surprise to me and every other NASCAR fan. Through the early stages of the race it was Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, and Carl Edwards that were the fastest, where did Keselowski and Regan Smith come from? I enjoy watching the Sprint Cup Series race every weekend. I am proud to congratulate Regan Smith and that #78 team on an impressive victory at a difficult race track like Darlington.
Darlington Results:
1. Regan Smith
2. Carl Edwards
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Kasey Kahne
5. Ryan Newman
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Tony Stewart
8. Greg Biffle
9. Jamie McMurray
10. Martin Truex Jr.
*11. Kyle Busch
*12. Jeff Gordon
*14. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
*15. Jimmie Johnson
*17. Kevin Harvick
*Noteable drivers
Written by: Tyler McMurter
Fun Facts of Dover:
ReplyDelete-Jimmie Johnson is the favorite to win this Sunday
-Jeff Gordon has 4 wins at Dover
-It will be Martin Truex Jr's 200th career start this Sunday at 1pm!
-Kurt Busch in his first 4 races had a worst finish of 9th, in his last 6 races his BEST finish is 10th! Kurt is going the wrong way.