Last weekend, Regan Smith made the last lap pass on Brad Keselowski to grab the win in the DRIVE4COPD 300. Then on Sunday, his team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500. So at the JR Motorsports shop this week, Smith said that there were a lot of happy guys.
“I didn’t think we were going to be able to have a shot on the outside, but we were able to catch the air just right,” Smith said in reflecting back on the move he made. “Once I was able to the outside of Brad, I pinned him on the bottom as much as I could and figured it’d give me a shot as we came off turn four at the win – really the only chance I had was to separate the air and fortunately I slowed him down enough to get back to the flag first.
“Anytime you win at Daytona, it’s exciting. I’ve worked since I was four years old to have a chance to win there and it felt real special to get a win there. To have a good friend win the 500, it made the whole week more meaningful.”
Smith said that he remembers going to the Daytona 500 when he was four years old and realizing then how magical Daytona can be.
“It was pretty cool to get that feeling and understand what it feels like to pull into victory lane,” he added. “Sometimes you’re like, ‘What does it take to win at Daytona?’. It’s not easy to win here. It means a lot to say that I got wins at special places like Daytona and Darlington.”
Like Daytona, there is rain in forecast for Phoenix. Last weekend, the Nationwide Series saw their qualifying session shortened but got in the full race. This weekend’s forecast may see qualifying either rained out or shortened once again, with the race possibly delayed to Sunday or Monday.
When it comes to sitting around and waiting out the rain, Smith says that it does effect your energy level, but you can prepare for being stuck in the satiation when you know the forecast before hand.
“I won’t start to prepare mentally unless I see a radar that looks like there’s going to be a window. Then I’ll go into my routine,” Smith said. “My routine I can usually start four, five hours before the race with what I eat, how I hydrate, etc. When you’re aware and ready for it, it’s easier to prepare for it than a pop-up shower.”
Some people say that weather in the air increases the intensity on track, but Smith says that it depends on the circumstances that you’re under. For the Daytona 500 last weekend, that was just a product of the perfect storm.
“Part of that was the factor that there was more rain coming, while part of it was they realized how important track position would be at Daytona,” he commented.
Smith will look to make it through the rain and whatever comes his way this weekend to increase his points lead, while working with young teammate Chase Elliott. 18-year-old Elliott enters his first full season in the Nationwide Series and Smith feels that Elliott has the right attitude given the situation.
“From his standpoint, I wish I was as mature and quick of a learner at that age as he is,” Smith commented. “He picks up a lot of things real fast. It seems like he’s always asking questions, always observing stuff. One of my regrets when I was younger was not asking more questions. Instead, I was a little more hard-headed and tried to learn things my way.”
On a personal standpoint, Smith says he hopes the momentum carries forward from Daytona and certainly having that on his side will play a factor.
“If we don’t have it, it’s tough to get; if you do have it, it can be tough to do things wrong at times,” Smith said. “I think that was big for our team with the big changes that we made in the off-season. That’s a huge confidence booster – not just for me, but those guys wrenching on those cars, for Ryan on the pit box making those calls. It’s huge for everybody.
“Now with that said, this is a whole different weekend and we get to see if the stuff we worked on really helped us or not. This weekend and Vegas are really going to let everything come to the forefront in what you’ve done well and what you need to work on. It’s an important weekend and we want to get all 46 points that are possible.”
Smith enters this season with a new crew chief as Ryan Pemberton is on the pit box calling the shots after Smith worked with Greg Ives last year. Smith says while Pemberton did a good job last weekend, this will be the first weekend that they will truly be working on adjustments.
“We’re going to have know what needs to be done and well I may have given Greg this information last year, I may need to give Ryan different information this year just because they all tune differently,” Smith explained. “There’s going to be little things like that to work through. I’ve worked with Ryan before so it’s not someone totally new, but typically when I have something new, I keep it as simple as possible and progressively feel what they need for information. There may be a little bit of that learning curve, but besides that, Ryan has a lot of experience on the pit box in managing people, the crew and even drivers.”
Smith added that he’s excited to have Pemberton’s veteran leadership on the pit box as he feels that will help him personally.
“There were times last year that I let my head out of the game and didn’t keep my focus on what I need to,” Smith continued. “I know he is going to keep that focus in me all the time.”
