DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A month ago Regan Smith didn’t know he’d be racing in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Go one step further, he didn’t know if he would be racing period, but a late off-season agreement with Tommy Baldwin Racing paid off for the solo NASCAR Sprint Cup Series organization with an eighth place finish in the Great American Race.
What was more impressive? Smith battled back from a Lap 19 spin to collect his 12th career top-10 in Cup competition.
“It was a good, smooth day for us,” said Smith. “The car, other than the spin at the beginning, I don’t know what happened there. But I got on the brakes and it just spun out. It handled great all day long. All the guys at Tommy Baldwin Racing, gave me probably one of the better handling cars I’ve ever had here.
Once it came down to it in the end and we were able to get a little bit of position, and we got four tires and made the most of an opportunity on that last pit stop and it came to life.”
Smith, a Sprint Cup winner at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway said the early race incident had little hindrance of the team’s performance.
“I knew it didn’t do any damage,” he said. “I was watching the wall and the grass just trying to stay in the middle of it. That’s all I was worried about. You don’t want to rip the splitter off of these things and ruin your day there. And then after the spin, all four tires were flat, so I had to nurse it back around and also not lose a lap in the process. But, I wasn’t worried about it, I just didn’t understand what happened.
“I barely touched the brake pedal and the car went 180 in the other direction. That’s not good! But I was steering the whole time. I didn’t want it to snap back into the wall. I was shifting gears and doing the normal deal and hitting the brake and hitting the gas; whatever you can to keep it safe.”
Many approved of the move from the veteran Baldwin to pair with the likable Smith. Exiting a season of consistency in the NASCAR XFINITY Series last year with JR Motorsports, Smith brought knowledge, speed and a sense of stability to the still growing team.
Sunday afternoon, Smith gave the team what they were looking for and a much-needed boost with their first top-10 effort in three years.
It was the 32-year-old’s third top-10 finish in the season-opening event and first since 2013. More importantly, Tommy Baldwin Racing earned just their third top-10 finish of their Cup career since the team’s inception in 2009.
Ironically, all three finishes have occurred on superspeedways. Former Cup driver Dave Blaney earned the team their career-best, a third at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in 2011. J.J. Yeley delivered the team’s second top-10 run at Daytona in Feb. 2013. All had backing from Golden Corral, the family-friendly buffet chain.
“I’m proud of this team. It’s a small team,” sounded Smith. “We work hard. Tommy pours everything he’s got into this race team. And we’ve got some great partners and great investors, and we’re going to work hard all year.”
Next weekend, the series’ heads to Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, where speed, finesse and handling will be at its finest, and while it will be a somewhat challenge for Smith to pull off back-to-back top-10 efforts, momentum in NASCAR is everything and the team will feed off that to keep their season pointed in the right direction.
The performance in the 58th annual event also means that kids eat free at Golden Corral Monday (Feb. 22). A free kids buffet with an adult buffet purchase at regular price at participating locations. There is a limit of two (2) free kid’s meals per adult buffet purchased.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
