Called upon at 3:30 a.m. EST, Regan Smith agreed to drive the No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS and sub for Kyle Larson, who was sat out of the race due to fainting during an autograph session on Saturday.
Starting at the rear of the field, Smith worked his way up through the field, entering the top 10 during the second half of the race.However, his good run would come to an end on lap 286 as he would go for a spin in turn two after contact.
““It was just a check-up, chain reaction deal,” he commented. “By the time it got back to me I hit the car in front of me and whoever was behind me hit me even harder. It is typical Martinsville. We saw it happening all day. Sometimes it’s such a big check-up that you can’t do anything about it. It was just a racing deal.”
Restarting at the rear of the field, Smith would work his way back to the 16th spot by race end.
“I look at the results and there were cars that we ran around that I thought we were as good, maybe a little better,” he added. “We were definitely a better long run car. If we could have had a 70 lap run at the end of the race I would have felt better about things. Once I had to restart on the outside I struggled on the outside and never really got rolling. It was a good race car and for all things considered not having the seat in it as of 8:00 a.m. this morning it is not a bad day.”
