FORT WORTH, Texas (April 14, 2012) — Regan Smith posted a 23rd-place finish in Saturday night’s Samsung Mobile 500 Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Smith, who started the race from the 26th position in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet, couldn’t seem to find the rhythm during the 334-lap event on the 1.5-mile oval. He ran in the mid to low 20s during the windy 501-mile race, which only produced two cautions for 10 laps.
“It was an uneventful night that’s for sure,” said Smith, who also finished 23rd at the previous Texas race in November. “We had some handling issues and just couldn’t get maximum performance tonight. We made adjustments that helped, but we never got untracked.”
Smith dropped three positions in the driver point standings — from 18th to 21st. However, he is only 17 points from being in the top-15.
“A good result will get back what we lost tonight in the standings,” said Smith. “But right now it’s not about the standings, we need to string together some solid finishes and build momentum. Good results always seem to take care of the point standings.”
In the first seven races of the season, Smith has claimed four top-20 finishes, a 23rd and two 24ths. His two best results were 15th in Las Vegas and 16th in Martinsville.
“Again, we haven’t had any really bad finishes, but we also haven’t had any really good finishes,” noted the 28-year-old Smith. “My main concern right now is getting to the finish line with top-10 or better results. We seem to be stuck with finishes in the mid teens to mid 20s. That’s not good enough. We expect more out of our Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet.”
The Texas race winner was Greg Biffle. Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The next Cup race is Sunday (April 22) at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.
