This past weekend at Las Vegas, Regan Smith did not have the race that he was looking for. Coming off a pair of solid finishes to start the year and the points lead, Smith had high hopes in possibly contending for the win.
However, the pieces weren’t there from the beginning as Smith struggled through practice to get the handling right, and the speed to match his teammates. Based on practice, it looked like Smith would possibly finish in the teens or maybe even the 20s.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t unload as well as we wanted to,” he commented post-race. “We struggled through practice trying to get the car balanced. We made big changes going into qualifying and the car felt a lot better.”
Though grown from last year’s experience, Smith continued to work on his car and got it better throughout the race, running inside the top 10 with a solid car and good pit strategy.
Then with three laps to go, he’d make considerable contact with the wall – forcing him to limp the car home. Still, though, because many drivers were a lap or two down due to the caution coming out among green flag pit stops, Smith would be credited with a 10th place finish.
“We started the race off extremely loose on exit,” Smith said. “We had to adjust for that as soon as we could. In the process of adjusting on that, the caution came out and trapped us a lap down. We battled for the lucky dog, which we got and then had to restart toward the back. That required us to pick our way through traffic. Eventually we got up there and raced with the guys. We were just on the splitter really hard at the end of the race. Then I slapped the wall with four to go. We were fortunate to salvage 10th.”
For most drivers who got into the wall, they had the unfortunate circumstance of finishing outside of the top 15, losing valuble points. Smith, meanwhile, was able to hold on to the points lead due to his 10th place finish.
Championship seasons are all about being successful, winning races and being consistent – though also about salvaging the best finish that you can on your toughest days.
Last year, there were times where Smith ran into similar situations, and finished outside of the top 10. As a result of those poor finishes and struggles on the Elkhart Lake road course, he finished third in points.
This year’s performance at Las Vegas may not have been the most glamorous, but continuing to make hte car better and salvage the best day possible shows growth in Smith as a driver and growth in the JR Motorsports team.
If Smith can keep the consistency going, this day in Vegas may be one of hte races that they look back on at hte end of the season when they’re hosting the championship trophy.
Smith now heads to a track that he’s ran well at in the past – Bristol Motor Speedway. Last year, he finished sixth in spring, while finishing 21st after an issue on pit road.
“As a company, we’ve been fortunate to run well at Bristol, but we had a wheel mishap last fall that we never could recover from,” Smith said. “Still, we have confidence heading up there and that’s a testament to everyone on this team and all their hard work. We’ve started the season strong, and aside from a struggle last week at Vegas, I think we’re on the right track and focused.”
