DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 7, 2012) — Apologies if the following sounds redundant.
The discouraging no-luck streak that has plagued Regan Smith continued Saturday night in the Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Smith’s No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet, which has recently been a magnet for multicar wrecks, got collected once again in a melee of spinning cars on Lap 124 of 160. It was the third straight week and fourth in the last six events that Smith suffered the same fate.
The incident, which involved seven cars, dropped Smith to a 34th-place finish in the 18th race of the season.
Smith was able to drive his crippled car to the garage where the No. 78 crew made a number of repairs, including the installation of a new radiator. Smith was able to return to competition with nine laps remaining.
“Not much to say except we got to keep our heads up and keep battling until we snap this incredible bad-luck cycle,” said Smith, who remains 26th in driver points. “We were on our game plan tonight. The car was getting better, the pit stops were good and we continued to make progress. And then came the wreck.”
Smith’s bad-luck streak also includes a flat tire in the closing laps at Michigan International Speedway on June 17.
The race winner was Tony Stewart, Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Michael Waltrip and Bobby Labonte.
The race had six cautions for 23 laps and there were 12 lead changes among nine drivers.
The next Sprint Cup race is Sunday (July 15) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
