May 2011

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1 23 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
2 4 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
3 10 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge
4 1 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota
5 2 39 Ryan Newman Tornados Chevrolet
6 3 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Toyota
7 9 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot / Mobil 1 Chevrolet
8 22 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
9 12 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
10 29 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
11 14 18 Kyle Busch Wrigley Doublemint Toyota
12 5 24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger / AARP Chevrolet
13 6 9 Marcos Ambrose Stanley Ford
14 30 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy Sugar-Free / National Guard Chevrolet
15 19 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
16 36 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Outdoors Toyota
17 13 29 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet
18 15 47 Bobby Labonte Lance / Tom’s Snacks Toyota
19 28 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
20 7 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford
21 11 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
22 18 27 Paul Menard Turtle Wax / Menards Chevrolet
23 16 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
24 41 36 Dave Blaney Golden Corral Chevrolet
25 20 17 Matt Kenseth Wiley X Eyewear Ford
26 21 38 Travis Kvapil(i) Long John Silver’s Ford
27 25 22 Kurt Busch Shell / Pennzoil Dodge
28 40 32 Ken Schrader US Chrome / R&D Railroad Ford
29 27 09 Landon Cassill(i) Security Benefit / Thank a Teacher Today Chevrolet
30 32 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota
31 26 33 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet
32 37 34 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
33 24 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
34 8 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota
35 17 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota
36 35 37 Tony Raines Front Row Motorsports Ford
37 42 7 Robby Gordon Fast Five / Speed Energy Dodge
38 33 50 T J Bell(i) Little Joe’s Autos Toyota
39 31 46 J J Yeley Red Line Oil Chevrolet
40 34 60 Mike Skinner(i) Big Red Toyota
41 38 30 David Stremme EchoStor Technologies Chevrolet
42 43 87 Joe Nemechek(i) NEMCO Motorsports Toyota
43 39 66 Michael McDowell K Love Toyota

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Regan Smith pulls off major upset at Darlington

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(May 7, 2011)

DARLINGTON, S.C.—Nearly three years after a NASCAR ruling denied him his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory, Regan Smith finally got the elusive win.

After staying out on old tires, Smith held off Carl Edwards to win Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in a dramatic green-white-checkered-flag finish.

Smith crossed the finish line .196 seconds ahead of runner-up Edwards.

“This is the Southern 500—we’re not supposed to win this thing,” an incredulous Smith radioed to his crew after the race.

Brad Keselowski, also on old tires, finished third, with polesitter Kasey Kahne running fourth and Ryan Newman fifth.

The victory was redemption for Smith, who was deprived of an apparent victory at Talladega in 2008 when he was penalized for passing Tony Stewart below the yellow out-of-bounds line that separates the racing surface from the apron.

VIDEO: FINAL LAPS AT DARLINGTON / HARVICK/BUSCH SCUFFLE

After a final round of green-flag pit stops, Edwards, the Sprint Cup points leader, passed Kahne for the lead as the cars sped into Turn 1. Edwards was comfortably in front when Jeff Burton’s engine blew and oiled the track with 10 laps left, causing the 10th caution of the night.

After Smith, Keselowski and Stewart stayed out, taking the top three spots under caution, Edwards climbed to second after a restart on Lap 363 of the scheduled 367-lap race. The previous caution, however, was only a prelude to a wild three-wide wreck involving Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch later that same lap. That set up the two-lap sprint as the race went to overtime, with Edwards and Smith taking the green flag side-by-side.

Kahne, Edwards and Harvick took turns out front during the second half of the race after Busch made an unscheduled pit stop.

Busch had led 78 laps when a vibration forced him to the pits on Lap 205. A caution for Jimmie Johnson’s spin on the frontstretch trapped Busch a lap down. The driver of the No. 18 didn’t get the lap back until he received a free pass as the highest scored lapped car for a restart on Lap 244.

Busch had worked his way up to 12th before NASCAR called the ninth caution of the race on Lap 280 for debris on the backstretch.

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Race Recap | Darlington
10 Martin Truex Jr.
9 Jamie McMurray
8 Greg Biffle
7 Tony Stewart
6 Denny Hamlin
5 Ryan Newman
4 Kasey Kahne pole sitter and led the most laps
3 Brad Keselowski
2 Carl Edwards

Victory Lane

1 Regan Smith gets his first career win, in 105 starts. This win puts him into the All Star Race in a few weeks.

Other Stories on the day

Matt Kenseth got into Marcos Ambrose and received some damage

Juan Montoya sent Jimmie Johnson for a wild ride, but the 48 had no damage

Kyle Busch dominated early but a loose wheel sent him a lap down

Jimmie Johnson later spun again all by his lonesome and went a lap down

David Ragan ripped the whole drivers side of Brian Vickers 83 car like a can opener

Joey Logano spun and hit the inside wall hard

Big wreck with 5 laps to go. Clint Bowyer bounced off of Kevin Harvick went into the inside wall hard. Then Kyle Busch hooked Kevin Harvick and spun the 29.

After the finish Kevin Harvick sought out the car of Kyle Busch and played a game of cat and mouse with their cars. While on pit road, Kevin got out of his car and went after Kyle landing a punch inside the 18 car. Kyle then revved his engine sending the 29 car unmanned into the pit wall.