2012 Southern 500 Logo

DARLINGTON, S.C. (Nov. 9, 2011)

The NASCAR Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series are set to make their way to Darlington Raceway on Mother’s Day weekend, May 11-12, for their annual dance with the Lady in Black.

“With Regan Smith getting his first career win and Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch going toe-to-toe on pit road, the 2011 Southern 500 was one for the ages,” said track President, Chris Browning. “The Southern 500 proved once again that Darlington is the track on the NASCAR circuit that consistently produces the most exciting races for fans and competitors, alike.”

Adding to the excitement for both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races in 2012 will be the debut of Danica Patrick. Patrick recently announced that in addition to the Darlington 200, she would also be entering the Southern 500 Sprint Cup event.

Fans will notice several enhancements this year when ordering their tickets to Darlington Raceway, here are just a few:

• · Special Youth Pricing – Darlington Raceway will offer half-price reserved seats at each event for youths 17 and under. All general admission seating at the NASCAR Nationwide Series Darlington 200 will be free for youths age 17 and under.
• · Expanded Family Section Seating – Darlington Raceway has expanded its Family Section (alcohol and tobacco free seating) to include sections in all grandstands at the facility.
• · Special Military Discount – Military members will pay just half price for grandstand seating at all events. Military members taking advantage of the half-price seating offer for the Southern 500 will also receive a special camouflage Darlington Raceway t-shirt that they are encouraged to wear on race day. Military members will be asked to stand in their seating area during pre-race ceremonies and be recognized by the crowd.

You can keep up with all of the latest news from Darlington Raceway at DarlingtonRaceway.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DarlingtonRaceway and on Twitter at Twitter.com/TooToughToTame.

Darlington Raceway, or the track Too Tough To Tame as it is known to many, is where the purest of NASCAR competition meets true southern hospitality. A NASCAR staple since 1950, Darlington Raceway has seen some of motorsports most talented drivers thunder to Gatorade Victory Lane. On Mother’s Day weekend, May 11-12, 2012, NASCAR’s biggest stars return to battle the track Too Tough To Tame in the Sprint Cup Series Southern 500® and Nationwide Series Darlington 200.

Tickets for events at Darlington can be purchased by calling the Darlington Raceway ticket office at 866-459-RACE or online at http://www.darlingtonraceway.com/tickets/.

- Darlington Raceway, Press Release

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Logo

Busch, driver of the No. 18 car, and Harvick, driver of the No. 29 car, have each been fined $25,000 and placed on NASCAR probation for the next four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points events until June 15 for violating Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing – involved in an altercation on pit road after the conclusion of the race).

“These penalties are a result of what occurred on pit road after the race was over,” said Kerry Tharp, senior director for communications, competition. “They are about maintaining a safe environment on pit road.”

- NASCAR, Press Release

Harvest Hope Food Bank employees load a pallet of food onto their truck at Darlington Raceway

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 10, 2011)

The donation weighed in at more than 1,000 pounds and included fresh produce and breads.

You can keep up with all of the latest news from Darlington Raceway at DarlingtonRaceway.com, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DarlingtonRaceway and on Twitter at Twitter.com/TooToughToTame.

Darlington Raceway, or the track “Too Tough To Tame” as it is known to many, is where the purest of NASCAR competition meets true southern hospitality. A NASCAR staple since 1950, Darlington Raceway has seen some of motorsports most talented drivers thunder to Gatorade Victory Lane.

- Darlington Raceway, Press Release

No longer did a heavy hand come down on a driver who retaliated against another; a slap on the wrist a good talking to became the extent of NASCAR’s punishments. Drivers such as Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski learned this first hand after they tangled on the track last season; a tangle that ended with a scary upside down crash for Keselowski courtesy of Edwards. Edwards was given a token fine and placed on probation; a pretty meaningless ‘punishment’. - Full Story by Greg Engle

2011 NSCS Casey Mears - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series took to the track ‘Too Tough To Tame’ on Friday for its opening practice session. Mears was looking sporty in his #13 GEICO Toyota Camry and rested 26th on the speed charts at its conclusion. Unfortunately, the final practice would be rained out, forcing the GEICO team to head into qualifying with a bit of uncertainty.

When qualifying got underway on Friday evening, Mears calmed the nerves of his GEICO team when he calmly paced the Lady In Black in just 27.879 seconds, at a rate of speed of 176.391 miles per hour. His effort placed him 32nd on the starting grid for Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500.

A packed house and clear skies saw the field get underway when the green flag was displayed on a cool Saturday evening. Starting 32nd, Mears and the #13 GEICO Camry quickly jumped to the 30th position by the close of the event’s second lap. When the evening’s first caution flag was displayed on Lap 5, Mears radioed to crew chief, Bootie Barker: “The car is so tight.” Along with providing Mears with four tires and fuel, the Germain Racing pit crew made the necessary adjustments to free the car up when Mears brought the #13 GEICO Camry down pit road under caution.

Mears’ visit to pit road proved fruitful and the #13 GEICO Camry began strategically navigating its way through the field. After reaching the 9th position on Lap 38, Mears eventually found himself as the leader, putting the Gecko at the front of the field for the second time this season.

As the Sprint Cup Series field continued to circuit the 1.366-mile oval, Mears would once again begin to battle his racecar. On Lap 133, Mears radioed to Barker: “It’s terrible, I can’t go. I can’t do anything because I’m too loose.” When the caution flag was displayed on Lap 230 for a Brian Vickers/David Ragan crash, Mears took the opportunity to bring his #13 GEICO Camry to the attention of the Germain Racing pit crew. After furnishing him with four fresh Goodyear tires, a full tank of Sunoco racing fuel and much needed adjustments, the GEICO crew returned Mears to the racing surface in the 28th position.

Mears quickly moved the #13 GEICO Camry forward and landed back in the Top 25 on Lap 247. Mears remained in hot pursuit of the field and for a series of laps he nipped at the bumper of Juan Pablo Montoya before the Columbian driver fell victim to the Gecko and surrendered the 24th position on Lap 279.

As the #13 GEICO Camry continued notching positions on the racetrack, Mears’ voice grew silent on the team’s radio frequency. Mears’s progress continued until NASCAR placed the field under caution when Mark Martin scraped the wall on Lap 280.

Sitting inside the Top 20, Mears’ night would take a challenging turn on the Lap 285 restart. As the field went back under green with just 82 laps to go, cars began to bunch up giving Mears no other option but to check up, consequently causing David Reutimann to make contact with the rear of Mears’ #13 GEICO Camry. The result was significant rear end damage to Mears’ machine, forcing him down pit road under green flag conditions on Lap 287 to repair the affected sheet metal and attempt to restore the racecar’s stability.

With just 80 laps remaining, Mears would spend the balance of his evening fighting to keep the car under control, but turned respectable lap times nevertheless. His efforts would be rewarded when the checkered flag was displayed, as he was able to salvage a 30th place finish despite the heavy damage to the #13 GEICO Camry. Mears finished just ahead of Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton and Brian Vickers and was able to solidify the #13 GEICO Camry in the Owner Point standings, jumping the team to 34th.

“Man, we had a nice run going, so it’s a little tough to take a 30th place finish,” Mears said after the race. “The good thing is that we were able to work hard and run up front tonight. Crashes happen in racing, so while it’s frustrating, it doesn’t take away from how well we did. We were right there and we were definitely going to get a good finish for GEICO and the Germain Racing team. We’re doing all of the right things and we’re getting better each week, so I know we’ll continue moving forward and making it happen.” He added, “It’s great to see Regan (Smith) win because he, as well as the whole Furniture Row team, are good people. It’s also encouraging to see a single car team win a race. Those guys were sitting where we are sitting now about six years ago, so to see them make it to Victory Lane is very encouraging. We will be there.”

Next week will find the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series taking aim at the Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware.

Mears and the #13 GEICO Toyota Camry will hit the one-mile oval of Dover International Speedway for the opening practice session at 11:00 AM (EDT) on Friday, May 13th. Qualifying will follow on Saturday, May 14th, at 12:10 PM (EDT).

The FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race is on Sunday, May 15th, and it will be televised live on FOX beginning at 1:00 PM (EDT). The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will carry the live radio broadcast.

To learn more about the GEICO Racing program, please visit: www.geicogarage.com

You can also follow GEICO Racing on Twitter: www.twitter.com/geicoracing

Please visit the Casey Mears Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/caseymearsracing

- Player Management International, Inc., for GEICO Racing, Press Release

2011 NSCS No. 36 Golden Corral / Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet Impala SS

The Golden Corral team started the weekend focusing on race runs in practice. Blaney made 11 race-trim laps in practice before rain canceled the rest of the practice sessions. The No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet qualified 42nd for the Showtime Southern 500.

Blaney took the green flag from the back on the pack and focused on keeping the No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet clean and slowly working his way through the field. The Buckeye Bullet battled a very tight condition in the first run but wheeled up to the 31st spot by lap nine. Crew chief Tommy Baldwin radioed for Blaney to pit during the lap 36 caution. The team changed four tires, added fuel and made major adjustments to the Golden Corral Chevrolet.

The No. 36 restarted 31st on lap 41. Blaney quickly radioed that the Golden Corral Chevrolet was really loose and worse in turns three and four. By lap 62, the Hartford, Ohio native was running faster laps but told the crew the car began to revert back to the tight condition. The No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet fell a lap down on lap 70 while in the 30th spot. A caution on lap 75 allowed the team to make more changes to the car. A quick caution 10 laps later gave Blaney the lucky dog. He drove down pit road for service and restarted at the back of the field in 30th.

By lap 100, Blaney radioed that the car was loose everywhere and not getting better, and Carl Edwards lapped the No. 36 on lap 115. Another caution on lap 124 gave the team the lucky dog again. Blaney said the car was worse in turns one and three but really loose all around the track. The crew changed four tires, added fuel and continued to make changes to help the handling of the Golden Corral Chevrolet.

Blaney continued to race in the top-30. The team battled the handling of the No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet, as the car would swing from being really loose to tight with each change. By halfway of the 500-mile event, Blaney was in the 30th spot and struggling to find grip. By lap 243, the balance of the No. 36 Chevrolet was better, but the team still worked to find grip. Blaney fell two laps down on lap 277 while in the 26th position.

The Golden Corral Chevrolet was loose during the final runs of the 370-lap race, but Blaney worked to keep the nose clean and get a solid finish. Knowing the No. 36 was the only car three laps down with 60 to go, the TBR team focused on making changes to the racecar to improve the handling. By lap 342, the No. 36 car’s lap times improved with Blaney stuck three laps down.

On-track incidents and clean driving moved Blaney to the 24th position when the field attempted a green-white-checkered finish. When the checkered flag dropped, the No. 36 Golden Corral Chevrolet was in the 24th position, three laps down.

The top-25 finish moved the TBR team up two spots in the NSCS Owner Points. The No. 36 is now 32nd, 16 points ahead of the 36th spot. Blaney also moved up in the NSCS Driver Standings and is in the 31st position.

“We struggled with the handling of the Golden Corral Chevrolet from the beginning of the weekend, but the team never gave up. It seemed like the handling would swing back and forth from tight to loose. We just couldn’t find a good middle ground. We got better by the end of the race, which is our goal every week. We went into the weekend looking to survive and have a solid points day, and we definitely achieved that.”

The TBR team will head to Dover International Speedway next weekend locked into the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks on Sunday, May 15th.

About Golden Corral Corporation:
Founded in 1973, privately held Golden Corral Corp. is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. Golden Corral currently has 485 restaurants in 41 states. The company’s vision is to be the leader in the family restaurant segment by making pleasurable dining affordable for every guest, at every restaurant, every day. Golden Corral restaurants nationwide have long been strong supporters of the U.S. Military and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Golden Corral helped raise more than $1,000,000 for the DAV in 2010 as part of its annual “Military Appreciation Monday” initiative. For more information on Golden Corral, visit www.goldencorral.com.

About Tommy Baldwin Racing:
Tommy Baldwin Racing was formed in 2009 by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Crew Chief Tommy Baldwin. Baldwin utilized a slumping economy to open a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team for a fraction of the cost. The team competed in two full seasons with multiple drivers behind the wheel of the No. 36 Chevrolet and improved in the standings each year.

Based in Mooresville, N.C., TBR will compete in the full NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule in 2011 with NASCAR veteran Dave Blaney piloting the No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet. Looking to improve on-track performance and increase the number of races they complete, TBR is still seeking partners to support their racing efforts. TBR’s driver development program, Heinke-Baldwin Racing, will also compete in various NASCAR series in 2011.

For more information on Tommy Baldwin Racing, visit tommybaldwinracing.com or follow us on Facebook, facebook.com/TBR.HBR, and Twitter, twitter.com/TBR_Racing.

- Tommy Baldwin Racing, Press Release

The No.78 team celebrates Regan Smith and Furniture Row's first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Darlington Raceway - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

The victory in Saturday night’s SHOWTIME Southern 500 Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway was not only the first for Smith, but also the maiden win for the Denver-Colo.-based team.

The only other time Smith had a brush with victory was at the 2008 fall race in Talladega, Ala. when his apparent win as a driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc. was nullified by NASCAR for passing Tony Stewart below the out-of-bounds yellow line on the final lap.

But Saturday night at the 62-year-old historic Darlington Raceway, Smith was officially referred to as a NASCAR winner.

“I don’t really know how to put it in words right now — it is so surreal,” said Smith, whose previous best finish was seventh in the season-opening Daytona 500.

As the jubiliant Smith was celebrating the Mother’s Day weekend victory with his teammates, he took time to talk about his mother, Lee Smith, his biggest fan since he started racing as a 4-year-old in the Syracuse, N.Y. area.

“First and foremost to all the Moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day,” stated Smith. “My Mom is not here — she’s in Tuscaloosa, Alabama helping with some of the tornado recovery efforts with animals. ‘Mom, hi, I love you. Sorry you missed this one.’ ”

Before the 27-year-old Smith showed his emotional side, he was a steadfast, hard-charging driver who refused to get passed in the final 11 laps even though his No. 78 Chevrolet was running on older tires.

Smith assumed the lead on Lap 360 as a result of not pitting for fresh tires during a caution. The gutsy decision to stay out, while running in the top six, was made by crew chief Pete Rondeau.

“Pete made a great pit call — that won the race for us,” noted Smith.

The soft-spoken Rondeau, who took over the crew chief duties nearly one year ago, said about the pit call, “It’s a split-second decision. Sometimes you make out well with it and sometimes you don’t. I was leaning one way and said, ‘What the heck, we’ll ask Regan where he’s headed. He said we’re both on the same page.’ ”

As he was positioned in front of the field, Smith tenaciously held off the challengers on the Lap 363 restart. But two laps later, the yellow flag waved again, sending the scheduled 367-lap race into overtime with a green-white-checkered finish.

For the second time, Smith held his ground in his Furniture Row Chevrolet, powered by an Earnhardt-Childress Racing (ECR) engine. He took the lead on the final restart and never looked back, crossing the finish line .196 of a second ahead of Carl Edwards.

Regarding the last restart, Smith said, “Carl was on the outside and he had fresh tires or fresher tires than I did. I spun them real bad on the first one (restart, Lap 360) and I just backed it up a notch on the second restart and went with it. It stuck and I held it wide open in (turns) one and two on the first lap and tried to hold it wide open in (turns) three and four also. The car was good when I got in clean air. I can’t be more proud of this team.”

The last lap did present a nail-biting moment for the Furniture Row team when Smith scraped the infamous Darlington wall.

“I hit the wall in turn two on the white-flag lap but the chances of me checking up there were about zero,” explained Smith. “I could have torn the right front off and kept going. I don’t think anybody realizes how much work has gone into getting this program where it is out of Colorado. Joe Garone (general manager), Barney Visser (owner), all of them. Man, we are in the All Star race! We have all kinds of cool stuff going on.”

Yes, by virtue of the win, Smith automatically qualifies for the May 21st Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Smith, who entered the race as the top qualifier with a 7.1 average, started 23rd — his worst qualifying effort of the season.

“The car was good all night, I don’t think we made many big adjustments,” said Smith.

He added, “I won a race at Darlington. The names who have won here…the Pearsons, Yarboroughs and on and on, you name it. I was sitting behind some of those guys today and I was thinking, ‘Man, these guys are pretty awesome. They are legendary.’ I don’t know if my name deserves to be next to them, but after tonight, maybe it does.”

Joe Garone, Furniture Row Racing general manager, talked about what the victory meant for the organization.

“This is not only a big deal for Barney (Visser, team owner), but also for Furniture Row Companies, which consists of Denver Mattress, Sofa Mart, Bedroom Expressions and Oak Express, for standing behind the team. It’s been a long road. It’s been six years building this team and literally from scratch. Tonight just solidifies all that hard work and shows the racing community that you can win races outside of the normal North Carolina area.”

The congratulations were pouring in to Smith, especially from his fellow drivers — Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr to name a few.

When asked about Smith’s victory, Earnhardt said, “Well, Regan is an awesome talent and a really, really good person. It’s good to see a good guy win. And he’s worked really hard to get into this sport and to become a full-time driver in this series. And he deserves what they achieved tonight.”

Smith and the Furniture Row Racing team will take the Darlington momentum to next week’s Cup race (May 15) at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

- DMF Communications for Furniture Row Racing, Press Release

Regan Smith celebrates winning the Showtime Southern 500 with a burnout at Darlington Raceway - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Darlington, S.C. (May 7, 2011) –

Taking the lead with 10 laps remaining as the result of a gutsy pit call by crew chief Pete Rondeau when the other leaders pitted, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet powered away from the field on not one, but two restarts, to claim his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. He led once for a total of 11 laps.

Ryan Newman, No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet, finished fifth that was extended three laps beyond the scheduled 367 due to a late-race caution flag. He led once for 28 laps and jumped two positions in the standings to sixth.

Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, finished seventh in tonight’s race and was credited with leading once for six laps. He climbed three places in the standings to seventh position.

Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, finished ninth to give Team Chevy four of the top-10 finishers in the 10th race of the season. The strong run boosted him to 21st in the standings.

Five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet, remains second in the standings. He battled to finish 15th in tonight’s race after working through handling issues, two spins and a late-race pit road penalty.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 AMP Energy Sugar Free/National Guard Chevrolet, continues fourth in the standings after finishing in 14th position as a result of a late-race pit road violation.

Kevin Harvick appeared to be headed toward a very strong finish in the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet until contact that resulted in the 11th and final caution of the race relegated him to the 17th finishing position. Harvick led twice for 47 laps and remains fifth in the standings.

Clint Bowyer lost two positions in the points order, dropping to ninth place when he and his top-10 running BB&T Chevrolet were caught up in the same accident as his teammate Harvick. He was scored as the 31st finisher.

Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet and Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, sit just out of the top-12 Chase standings in 13th and 14th positions respectively.

Next stop for the NSCS is May 15, 2011 at Dover International Speedway.

REGAN SMITH, CREW CHIEF, PETE RONDEAU AND GENERAL MANAGER FURNITURE ROW,

JOE GARONE, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING CHEVROLET – WINNER

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

KERRY THARP: Let’s roll right into our post-race winning team. We have a first time winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Regan Smith. He’s joined by team general manager Joe Garone and crew chief Pete Rondeau. With the win tonight, he also qualifies for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star Race. Congratulations to that.

REGAN SMITH: Thank you.

KERRY THARP: Great win out there tonight. Talk about it.

REGAN SMITH: We did think about the All Star Race after the race on the cool down lap saying, I can’t believe we just won this race. I think I said something about the All Star Race. I can’t remember.

It was a good race for us. I’m happy to be in here and not be in here under qualifying terms because that’s usually when I get to see anybody in here. First and foremost, this is a pleasant change for me.

The car was good all night. I don’t think we made any big adjustments. There was a couple points where I was winding pretty hardcore. That’s typical for me anywhere. Pete and the guys made some good calls. We got up to six at one point the old fashioned way: driving up there. We had good pit stops. Those guys did a great job. The opportunity presented itself.

Pete and I were talking about it. The decision is his a hundred percent. The way our stuff works is whatever he tells me to do, I do. I did mention, I said, Man, I think this thing would be good with clean air. That’s all he needed to hear to make the call to stay out. That won the race for us right there.

We were fortunate on the last restart. I spun the tires on the second to last restart. The tires hooked up good. When we cleared Carl going into one, I thought, That’s good, at least we’ll finish second in this thing, I won’t have to worry about any of the other guys on fresh tire. When he didn’t catch me at the white flag and I still had a car length gap at the white flag, I thought, I’m going to run another qualifying lap here, we might have a chance at this thing.

I hit the fence at turn two. How hard was it? I thought I hit it hard, anyways. Never checked it up. Sailed off into three. I had been on the bottom all night long. My game plan was to stick with the bottom. I figured if he passes me with his tires on the outside, that’s all right. I sailed off in there, drove it deeper than I wanted to. I got tight in the middle. I saw he drove off pretty deep, which I expected him to do. He got tight at the same time. I don’t know if the air off my car got him or what. He wasn’t able to make the run and we won the Southern 500. That’s pretty awesome.

KERRY THARP: Pete, talk about the decision and stay out there towards the end of the race.

PETE RONDEAU: It’s one of them things you think about a lot, but then it’s a split second decision. Sometimes you make out well with it, sometimes you don’t. I was leaning one way, as it was. I said, What the heck, we’ll ask Regan where he’s headed. He said we were both on the same page. All right, let’s go for it. He’s the one driving it. He wants some clean air, we’ll give him some clean air. He willed it.

He did a great job all night right from the start. We started off, made a few adjustments. We’ll tell him now we ended up right where we were at the start of the race.

REGAN SMITH: That’s how it usually works (laughter).

KERRY THARP: Joe, talk about how meaningful this win is tonight, Colorado race team. Talk about what it means not only for your organization but for other organizations that might be similar to what you have.

JOE GARONE: Well, for our organization, obviously it means everything. We’ve been six years building this team and literally started from scratch. I can tell you a lot of people, and I can’t say I wasn’t with them when Barney Visser wanted it run out of Colorado, that we might just be crazy. It’s been a long road.

After the second or third year we started realizing we can compete in Cup, we can do a good job, get ourselves in a position to win races. Tonight just solidifies all that hard work and shows the racing community that you can win races outside of the normal North Carolina area.

KERRY THARP: We’ll take questions now for Joe, Pete or Regan.

Q. Regan, talk about your emotions as you took the checkered flag and the cool down lap.

REGAN SMITH: There were a lot of emotions. I was trying to get them all out at that point so I didn’t show it too much on TV there. But I couldn’t help it. It’s Mother’s Day weekend. My mom is not here. She’s in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She left Thursday, about the same time I left to come down here, to help out with the recovery efforts and save some animals down there. She’s down there doing that. She’s always been there for all my wins, all my races, everything. She doesn’t miss too many of them. To not have her here, that got me choked up a little. It is now, too.

Outside of that, there’s been so many ups and downs for my career, so many points where you think, Man, what am I doing? What’s the next move? I think it’s obvious now the best thing that happened to me was the end of the ’08 season I didn’t have a drive, I didn’t have a ride, got hooked up with Barney and Joe and Furniture Row Racing. There’s a lot of times the guys could have got down on me last year, this year, some races this year, but everybody stuck behind me and has given me the support that I needed as a driver to keep my head on straight.

I’ll be honest with you. When I walked to the car today, I literally thought we could win the race. I think that every week when we walk to the car. The difference was this week, we did.

It’s very special. I couldn’t think of a better way to do it with the things I’ve been through with a team out of Colorado. I’m pretty close to having a house bought out there. Solidifies my roots out there a little more.

Man, it’s very special.

Q. Regan, when is the last time you won anything? I know this is your first NASCAR win.

REGAN SMITH: It’s been a while (laughter).

Q. What series was it in? And can you further describe this journey in more detail, what a driver goes through when they’re trying? It’s like you were almost hitting your head against the wall. It’s a single car operation, at times a part time deal.

REGAN SMITH: Yeah, certainly. Last major win I had was ’08, a late model race up in Canada, the IWK 250, one of the bigger races they run. I made a comment earlier, this isn’t a knock on Talladega at all, but I would trade all of them for one win in the Southern 500. This is so special. We were looking at the names and faces on the trophy. You think about it. My face is going to be right there next to these guys and it’s going to be there forever. You can’t change that. It certainly means a lot to me.

As for the highs and lows, you know, the year, ’08, my rookie season, even though we won the Rookie of the Year deal, it wasn’t the type of year you want to have by any means. I’ve run, I don’t know, a hundred some races, you guys probably know better than I do, and haven’t had a top five. Recently got my first top 10. To just kind of come out and end up with a win, it’s a good way to get your first top five, I suppose.

We know we’ve got fast racecars and we felt like we had fast racecars and we put it together tonight basically. There was a lot of stuff we said we had to put together. The little stuff was good. Pit stops were good, adjustments were good, I was getting on and off pit road good. There were so many little things that can hamper a race.

Me personally, I understand that stuff better. Hopefully it helps us down the road.

The low point, you know, I can’t say there’s a low point. There’s been a lot of times when I think, What if I don’t get to race in another Cup race again? As a driver, you never know when your last race is going to be.

Last year I was thinking, Maybe they’re going to fire me, I hope not. But who knows what is going to happen. When we had struggles at different points in the season, last year the lowest point was I broke my wrist at Sonoma and raced at Loudon with it broke completely, didn’t have it fixed. I got out of the car, it hurt really bad, it was a horrible day. We were so far off the pace. Probably one of the worst races I personally ever have driven.

From that point on, we started rebounding again. Ever since the Chicago race, even though some of the finishes don’t show it, we’ve been running way more competitive. It’s just been uphill from there, or downhill, I don’t know how you look at it.

Q. (No microphone.)

REGAN SMITH: I have. I didn’t get too many words out of her but, I love you, boohoo, lots of tears and crying. She was very excited. If I know her, she’s going to enjoy a Bacardi and diet Coke tonight. If it’s in a tent, pickup truck, hotel. This is funny. I believe she was staying with Bonnie Allison down there. Don’t quote me on that, but I believe that’s where she was staying most of the time when she was down there. I’m sure she’s celebrating.

Q. In a year where Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500, people are going to find this a Cinderella victory. Talk about that coming.

REGAN SMITH: Yeah, no, you know what, I’m fine with that. Ryan grabbed me and said, You’re 500 to 1 odds in Vegas. Hopefully somebody made some money tonight (laughter).

I watched Trevor win that race. We had a strong racecar. Quite honestly, I felt like we could have won the 500 just as easily. You’re happy for Trevor. It was so cool to see. There’s a part of you that thinks, That could have been us. That’s a big race. We come to the next biggest race, the Southern 500. You have the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, the Coke 600, and the Brickyard. Those are the four. To come here and beat a guy like Carl Edwards. It’s incredible. Cinderella story. Whatever is wrote about it, I’m perfectly fine with it. I don’t care, because we still get a trophy.

Q. It’s your first win, but not the first time you’ve taken the checkered flag in Cup. Do you feel this is vindication for what happened at Talladega? Did you feel like you were going to get that back eventually?

REGAN SMITH: You know what, I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t know if I was ever going to get it back. To get it back at Darlington, absolutely it’s vindication. Winning here to me means more to me than that win could have ever meant. With this team, with the hard work, racing out of Colorado, the things that have gone on, everybody said for how long, You can’t race outside of Charlotte, the 20 mile radius where all the teams are, you can’t do it. We’ve been doing it every week.

We’ve been doing it good for a while, but now everybody is going to notice how good we’re doing it. I don’t think I’ll go to bed tonight thinking about Talladega, that’s for sure (laughter).

Q. Regan, do you dare allow yourself to think, Chase wild card is on the table now? Do you think that far ahead?

REGAN SMITH: We’ve been thinking about that for three or four weeks now, since we dug the hole in points, we’ve had that talk already. We need to take chances like we did tonight and try to sneak some wins out. Our main focus was, Let’s try and sneak as many wins as we can and get back in the 20 points. We had a big hole to dig out of. That’s going to be our goal. We get another win, get back into the top 20, you could make the Chase and use that system to your advantage.

I think that’s something you don’t want to be in the position where you have to use that system to your advantage, you just want to be in the top 10. But it’s there. Since we’ve had the bad luck we had at the start of the year, we’re going to try and use it.

Q. Joe, have you talked to Barney yet? I want to know what his feeling is. So many times it was, We’re going to cut back to this, then go back up. The fact he believed in all you guys. And, Pete, what kind of vindication is this for the guy that was known as Dale Jr.’s other crew chief?

JOE GARONE: I did talk to Barney. Kind of just a quick funny story. Last call, when we decided to stay out, I sent a quick text to him. Normally he’s with us. This was just a disclaimer for Pete. I asked him what he would do. He said, Stay out. So I figured if it went bad, I could always say, It was Barney’s decision, so Pete was covered (smiling).

This is a big deal for Barney. Not just for Barney, but Furniture Row Companies, which consists of Denver Mattress, Sofa Mart, Bedroom Expressions and Oak Express. For standing behind the team, it’s been a long road.

Everyone knows how tough this sport is at the Cup level. They’ve gone over the highs and the lows and just stuck behind us. Just like Regan was staying about what we’ve done with him, our owner, Barney, has done with us.

This is just a great time for him, really excited for him and the whole company.

PETE RONDEAU: I don’t have any vindication from that few years back. I guess a lot of things go around, some come around. This just came around. I’m Regan Smith’s crew chief now, so that part there has gone by.

Q. Regan, where would you have put Darlington on the list of places where you thought you would get your first win?

REGAN SMITH: Well, places where I would like to get my first win, probably near the top, the top two or three for sure. Of places where I thought I would get my first win, it was probably at the bottom because it’s such a tough racetrack.

We talked before the race. We had a game plan. It was to keep the right side clean. If it meant racing at 80% until the end of the race, the last 25, 50 laps, whatever it was, that’s what we needed to do. And it worked. I kept the right side clean all night long. I kept coming up on cars, I would look at them, see their right side was tore off. That’s one we’d be able to get.

The only one that went past me that his right side was obliterated was Kyle Busch, and that’s normal for Kyle Busch at this racetrack. He’s something else.

But, you know, it’s very special. Any win is special. This one is even more special. To get the first one here, I think they were giving me the stats, I think they said there’s only been six first time winners here, and the last one was ’88. It’s certainly a big deal.

It’s like I said earlier, you walk out to the car believing you’re going to win the race, but sometimes you think, If we get a top 10, too, that’s what we need to survive. I think this is a race we’re capable of winning, but let’s survive. We survived and we won.

Q. Regan, the research is several years old, but I think it’s still valid. Darlington is far beyond any other track in terms of the exclusivity of its winners. The only drivers that have ever won here and not won a number of other races is Larry Frank in ’62 and Lake Speed in ’88. From understanding this track, you must understand the difficulty of it. I just wondered if you had a chance to think much about that?

REGAN SMITH: I certainly thought about it. I thought about it when I was standing in Victory Lane and reading the trophy. Pete and I, all of us, were sitting there looking at the trophy thinking, Man, this is special. The next step for us as a team is to get that second win. Obviously now we’ve gotten the taste of how good this feels, you don’t ever want to lose that taste.

The next step is to get the second win and keep working hard. I certainly don’t want to go anywhere near the list of guys that this is their only win.

We’re going to work just as hard to get the next one as we have to get this one, see where that takes us.

Q. Are you still working with Josh at all? He’s back at school. Have you been in contact?

REGAN SMITH: I haven’t talked to him yet. I haven’t gotten to my phone yet to be honest with you. I’m sure there’s a lot of text messages I’m going to have to reply to and calls I have to make back. I’m sure Josh is one of them.

I talked to him Friday morning. Every Friday morning before I go on the racetrack, we look over data and talk to him. He’s certainly been a big help to me from the standpoint of showing me some stuff that I can do to help out the guys when I’m giving them feedback and information.

It’s something that we did last year and it worked last year at the end of the year. We said, Let’s stick with it this year. I think it’s worked.

There’s been a lot of times we pulled out the data sheets and said, That point there is where the car is doing something. It helps Pete and Cole to do the right things to the racecars. I’m sure I’ll be talking to him later at some point tonight.

Q. On the last restart, Brad Keselowski said he was pushing you from behind. Did that help your tires hook up to get you out in front of Carl? It seemed like almost the entire night you were pretty well away from the wall going through three and four. Did you specifically set your car up to keep it away from that wall?

REGAN SMITH: We did. I’ve watched Kyle race here and win here with the right side almost all tore off. I wasn’t saying that in a bad way.

Brad did give me a shove, probably three quarters of the way down the front straightaway. It was just enough of a boost to get me that next little step past Carl to where I could run my line through one and two. If I couldn’t have done that, I don’t think we could have had the momentum to win. So Brad certainly helped me right there. He kind of preoccupied Carl for that corner and it gave me those two car lengths to stretch it out.

He’s a guy that has had his first win, he knows how special it feels, Nationwide races, too. He’s had that first Cup win. You really can’t describe it. I didn’t know how to do the burnouts. I said, I heard you’re supposed to crank a lot of front brake to it. I hope it looked okay. I turned around and wanted to salute the fans because they’re the reason we do this.

Q. Pete, on the last restart you walked him through on the radio the last two laps. Were you as nervous as he was? What were you thinking?

PETE RONDEAU: I wasn’t too nervous with him doing it. Generally you get a guy with the drive and the desire to do this, they get to the front, they’re at the front even if they can just sniff it, they’re going to drive the wheels off of it. Obviously, you can see that.

I didn’t see what he did on the backstretch until I was in Victory Lane. They showed me the tape of him coming off of turn two jacked up, out of shape.

REGAN SMITH: Probably good you didn’t see it (laughter).

PETE RONDEAU: No, I didn’t get nervous about it. Regan, he knows what he’s doing there. We just let him do his thing.

Q. Joe, there’s a lot of people who can celebrate with this victory. You have a pit crew from Stewart Haas Racing, you have chassis from Richard Childress, ECR engines. Is there a better example of true teamwork than this victory tonight? Would you say this would classify as a point that the little guy can still win?

JOE GARONE: Well, I think it does classify that. It is part of the structure for how the little guy does business in Cup. You need partners. You need to have those relationships not just in place, but they have to be good relationships. I can’t even express how good our relationship is with RCR, how well they work with us, the information flow between us. It’s second to none.

Stewart/Haas, this is new for us this year with them. I can tell you the pit stops were rocky in the beginning. They have flat gone to work with Pete and the guys. Bobby Hutchens is over there all the time sweating bullets when the stops aren’t good. I mean, it is good.

Remember when we used to race and run late models on Saturday night, somebody would brake, all the guys would be over there trying to help you, if you went and beat them, you’re in a fistfight afterwards. That’s what it’s like for us. Kind of cool to have that support from other racing teams.

Q. Joe, what are the numbers for the little guy? How many overall employees do you have? How many are based in Colorado? Do you have any based in Charlotte?

JOE GARONE: We have 64 employees total. The pit crew is based in Colorado, so there’s six with an additional two that handle some of the logistics. One of them is actually our spotter, Clayton Hughes, so he still lives in North Carolina.

Q. Do you have a satellite thing at all in Charlotte?

JOE GARONE: We don’t have a satellite shop. We have a weigh station, I guess you’d call it, which is Clayton’s garage at his house. We have a tractor trailer that does a material run for furniture back to North Carolina every week. What we did is we took the back half of that and built some special containers. That’s how we transport our engines and transmissions back and forth. They make a stop at Clayton’s. They unload them and load them. That’s kind of how we do it.

Q. Regan, as good as this feels right now, you probably are aware of some of the stuff that went on behind you in the aftermath. When the series moves on to Dover and people are talking about Harvick and Busch, Montoya, Newman, is any of that going to diminish what happened here tonight?

REGAN SMITH: I can honestly tell you I don’t have an idea what happened behind me, except Carl Edwards didn’t pass me, some of the other details on the restart with Brad and stuff like that, I have no clue what happened in the race other than us winning. You know what, if that’s what’s talked about next week, so be it. I don’t care. It’s not going to take away from the feeling I’ve got right now.

Quite honestly, it hasn’t sunk in, but I think it will sink in tomorrow. I’m not going to go to bed tonight because there’s no chance I’ll sleep tonight.

I think the main thing that I’m proud of is what we’ve done with this team from Colorado. You know, that’s the big take away I get from it. There’s been so much work. Like I said, there’s been a lot of ups and downs. You certainly have to enjoy the ups when you get them. This is one of them. I’m smart enough to know to enjoy it.

Q. Joe, are you still with Hendrick cars or was that part of the technical support switch over with Childress?

JOE GARONE: We’re with Richard Childress racecars. What we do, to be clear, we buy our chassis from Childress and we bring them after they’re inspected at the R&D center, we bring them to Colorado, we do all the work. They’re assembled out there, the bodies are built out there. We have our own seven post machine. We do all our testing there, research and development. There’s some projects we work together with them on in the wind tunnel where we share engineering services.

Our engine program switched from Hendrick to ECR this year. That put us on the loop to put us on the same platform to understand the racecar from simulation and other areas.

Q. Regan, something else to think about. Aside from Trevor Bayne, you and Jeff Gordon are the only two guys outside the top 10 in points that have a win. If you can get into the top 20, maybe a wildcard into the Chase. Is that going to affect the way you race the rest of the regular season at all?

REGAN SMITH: I don’t know that it will affect it. That’s our goal anyways before this happened. Absolutely, yeah, we got to get back to the top 20. We’re going to have to work hard to do that.

I personally think it’s going to take two wins at least to get in based on that system, based on the system the way it is right now. But this is all new to everybody. You never know. It might not take two wins to do that. It might only take one, so we’re certainly going to have to focus on that. At the same time we’re going to focus on getting another win and taking chances to make that happen. That’s all there is to it basically.

I do have to say something else. I saw something that Darrell Waltrip wrote the other day. He picked us and Menard as possible first time winners this year. Paul is one of my best friends in the garage area. I thought, Well, that was nice of him to pick us. We’ve been qualifying real good, but not racing that good. Looks like it was a good pick (laughter).

Q. I wanted to ask you about how you got through some of those lower points. I don’t know if it’s the racer’s mentality that you don’t know any better and you keep pushing forward or you think this day is going to come. How did you fight through that and get to this point?

REGAN SMITH: I’m not going to lie, there has been, my fiancée over in the corner can vouch for this, there’s been some sleepless nights. I’ve laid there, I can’t fall asleep. Might be after a race. I did this wrong, I did that wrong. I’m my own worst critic. I put everything on my shoulders personally. Joe can vouch for that. There’s times I’ll beat myself down just to pick myself back up, if that sounds right, to feel better about things on Monday or Tuesday after a race.

I don’t know. You’re probably right in saying it’s a racer’s mentality. We all do this because we believe in ourselves and because we believe we can win races, we’re good racecar drivers. It’s not just when you get to this level. It goes all the way back to when you’re racing Saturday nights, you’re trying to get an opportunity to get your first Truck start or first Nationwide start. I remember sending out, you know, hundreds of proposals and things like that. I thought, Man, these are cheesy looking. Why am I sending them out? I’m going to send them out anyway.

I can’t begin to say how many people have helped me along the way. To sit here and thank them all, you can’t do it, you’d miss somebody. They all know who they are. You do that stuff, you get doors slammed in your face. When I was running Pro Cup, family owned team, back in the day. Money was tight. You fight and feud sometimes with your family because of it, different things like, that you have different ideas than they do maybe about stuff. It’s tough. It’s like that for so many people out there right now that are racing tonight, Saturday night. It’s not just at this level. It goes all the way back to that level.

You just got to keep digging and keep your head down. There’s people in this garage area, I can pretty much tell you, you can walk up to them and say, Remember when Regan used to call you when he was 16 or 17 years old? Your secretary would say, Regan Smith is on the phone again. He would say, God, tell him I’m not here. I guess the more doors get slammed in your face, the thicker your skin is, the more tough times you have the thicker your skin is.

Q. (Question regarding the trophy.)

REGAN SMITH: It’s going to sit where I have to walk past it every time I get up in the morning. I can tell you that. It’s going to go someplace where I don’t miss it at all. Maybe on the center of the coffee table in the living room. I don’t know for now.

I heard Tony Stewart made the comment, Make sure you take the actual Victory Lane trophy home. I asked them if I could take that one home. We’ll see how that works out for me.

KERRY THARP: Regan, Pete, Joe, congratulations. Great win tonight. Terrific story. Wish you all the best the rest of the season.

REGAN SMITH: Thank you. Thanks for staying so late. Really appreciate that. We’re really excited, so thank you.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet: Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

- Team Chevy, Press Release

2011 NSCS Ryan Newman/Tornados - Photo Credit: Geoff Burke, Getty Images for NASCAR

After being embroiled in controversy during the past week, Ryan Newman put all the conflict behind him and let his driving do the talking by finishing fifth in Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. It was Newman’s second top-five and third top-10 finish in the past three races at Darlington with his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team.

“I’m really proud of all of the guys on the Tornados Chevrolet,” said Newman, who now has seven top-five finishes at Darlington in 13 career starts. “We battled some crazy conditions today. We went from being extremely loose to extremely tight, and we were really scratching our heads. We just really struggled with the racecar and then we finally hit on something and just decided to leave it and take what came to us.

“It was a big rebound for us during the race to finish fifth, but it was an even bigger rebound from the past few races and from everything that has gone on this past week and, now, going into this long stretch of races. It was a good night for us, and a nice job by (crew chief) Tony Gibson and the guys by not giving up.”

Rain at Darlington on Friday meant that Newman & Company didn’t have a lot of practice in their Tornados Chevrolet before the drop of the green flag. But after qualifying second, the No. 39 team felt it had a strong machine for Saturday night’s race. However, an ill-handling racecar plagued Newman for much of the 370-lap race.

After just a handful of laps, Newman told his team his car was a little too free. Despite the loose-handling condition, Newman was able to move into the lead on lap 10. Newman held onto the top spot until lap 37, when the team pitted for the first time under caution.

The crew changed four tires, added fuel and made track-bar and air-pressure adjustments to help Newman, who said he was especially loose and losing speed in turns one and two. Unfortunately, Newman rolled the No. 39 machine forward in his pit box, which slowed the stop and cost the team its top spot. Newman returned to the track for the lap-41 restart in seventh place.

As it turned out, the adjustments didn’t aid Newman and his No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet’s handling issues. By lap 50, Newman told Gibson he was “way looser than before.” The loose-handling issue caused Newman to drop to 10th place before the team had the chance to pit under caution again on lap 73.

During the caution, Newman pitted so the crew could make major adjustments in hopes of improving the car. The crew changed four tires, added fuel, and made track-bar, wedge and air-pressure adjustments. Newman restarted in 13th place.

The frustrations over the handling of his racecar continued for Newman over the next 100-plus laps. The No. 39 Chevrolet went from being extremely loose to the tightest the racecar had been all weekend while Newman fell to as low as 17th on the leaderboard.

Newman called his racecar “edgy,” and even told Gibson he was “lost” as to what changes needed to be made. But one thing was certain in his eyes – “We have got to change something big when we get a caution,” Newman told his crew at lap 180.

When the caution flag waved on lap 222, Newman’s crew finally got the chance to make the big change it needed. The No. 39 pitted for four tires and fuel, and the pit crew added half a spring rubber to the right rear and made an air-pressure adjustment. Newman returned to the track in 15th place for the restart on lap 225.

Within five laps, Newman told his crew, “this is the best we’ve been.” Seven laps later, Newman moved back into the top-10. For the first time during the race, the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet seemed to respond well to the crew’s adjustments – so much so that Newman told the crew not to make any changes during its next stop on lap 281.

Although the team didn’t make any changes to the racecar, the crew didn’t get the No. 39 Chevrolet full of fuel, which meant Newman would have to pit sooner than the rest of the field the next time around. Newman returned to the racetrack in eighth place, which he had to give up on lap 320 when he was forced to pit for fuel.

Newman got four fresh tires and fuel and fell to 22nd, one lap down to the leaders. Luckily for Newman, the rest of the field also had to pit under green and, once all the cars cycled through their stops by lap 339, Newman was solidly in fourth place.

However, two late caution flags shook up the running order. Under caution at lap 357, Newman and Gibson debated their strategy. Noting that they wanted track position, the No. 39 team opted to pit for right-side tires only. With three cars staying on track, Newman restarted in eighth place. Newman was able to move up one spot to seventh before the caution flag waved on lap 363, which set up a green-white-checkered finish.

With two laps remaining, Newman wasted no time making his move and quickly gained two spots to finish fifth.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished seventh at the 1.366-mile oval.

Both drivers led laps in the Showtime Southern 500, with Newman pacing the field for 28 laps and Stewart on point for six laps. The duo’s Darlington effort marked the second time this season that both SHR drivers have finished in the top-10. The last time came seven races ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, when Stewart finished second and Newman finished fifth.

Regan Smith won the Showtime Southern 500 to score his first career Sprint Cup victory.

Championship point leader Carl Edwards finished .196 of a second behind Smith in the runner-up spot, while Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Newman rounded out the top-five. Denny Hamlin, Stewart, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and Martin Truex Jr., comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 46 laps, with 10 drivers failing to finish the 370-lap race, which was extended beyond its scheduled 367-lap distance by the green-white-checkered finish.

With round 10 of 36 complete, Newman improved two positions to jump to sixth in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He now has 317 points and is 61 markers behind Edwards. Stewart improved three positions to climb to seventh in the standings. He has 313 points and is 65 markers back of Edwards.

The next race on the Sprint Cup schedule is the May 15 FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

2011 NSCS No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala (driven by Tony Stewart) - Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR

Despite finishing seventh in Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500, Tony Stewart had one of his best races ever at the venerable Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

The tricky 1.366-mile oval has proven to be a challenge for Stewart, as the two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion had logged only three top-fives and nine top-10s in his 18 previous Sprint Cup starts at the aptly named “Too Tough to Tame” venue.

But as soon as his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team unloaded his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for practice on Friday, Stewart was fast. He qualified a solid ninth and then climbed to second behind his SHR teammate Ryan Newman as Newman paced the field for the race’s first 28 laps.

Stewart was a top-five mainstay, getting shuffled away from the leaders only when getting bogged down on Darlington’s ever-so-tight pit road. He appeared to have a car capable of finally delivering that long-sought win, but during a long, green flag run on lap 278, Stewart made a scheduled pit stop for four tires and fuel. Unfortunately, the caution flag waved just two laps later, momentarily putting Stewart a lap down.

But crew chief Darian Grubb deftly kept Stewart out on the track, whereupon he earned the “wave around,” where any car that doesn’t pit under caution gets its lap back if every car on the lead lap does pit.

When the race restarted on lap 285, Stewart was in 20th, the last car on the lead lap with just 85 laps remaining.

The No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 team dug deep, rallying from their hole to eventually take the race lead for six laps before having to pit one final time for tires and fuel on lap 339.

This dropped them back to 18th with less than 30 laps to go, but when the caution flag waved on lap 359 for Jeff Burton’s blown engine, Stewart and Grubb decided to do the opposite of whatever the leaders did. So, when the front-runners ducked onto pit road, Stewart stayed out, leapfrogging his way to third.

Track position had trumped tires, and even with 18 laps on his Goodyears, Stewart was determined to earn a strong finish. With a tenacious drive, Stewart did just that, outlasting two late-race restarts to bring home his second straight top-10 finish and his 10th top-10 at Darlington.

“The caution that caught us out on the track – there was nothing we could do about it,” Stewart said. “But Darian and this team gave me a good car and we did the best we could with the hand we were dealt. The guys that got around us had fresher tires than us, and it showed on that last restart. This is a tough track. Seventh isn’t anything to celebrate, but we’ll take it.”

Newman, driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished fifth. It was his seventh top-five finish in 13 career Sprint Cup starts at Darlington.

The duo’s Darlington effort marked the second time this season that both SHR drivers have finished in the top-10. The last time came seven races ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where Stewart finished second and Newman finished fifth.

Regan Smith won the Showtime Southern 500 to score his first career Sprint Cup victory. The win had a strong connection to SHR, as the team provides the pit crew to Smith and his No. 78 Furniture Row team.

Championship point leader Carl Edwards finished .196 of a second behind Smith in the runner-up spot, while Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Newman rounded out the top-five. Denny Hamlin, Stewart, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and Martin Truex Jr., comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 46 laps, with 10 drivers failing to finish the 370-lap race, which was extended beyond its scheduled 367-lap distance by a green-white-checkered finish.

With round 10 of 36 complete, Newman improved two positions to jump to sixth in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He now has 317 points and is 61 markers behind Edwards. Stewart improved three positions to climb to seventh in the standings. He has 313 points and is 65 markers back of Edwards.

The next race on the Sprint Cup schedule is the May 15 FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

Toyota Motorsports Logo

Kahne started from the pole in tonight’s race, marking the first pole for Toyota in NSCS competition this season.

Denny Hamlin (sixth) and Martin Truex Jr. (10th) also earned top-10 results for Toyota in tonight’s 500-mile race.

Other Camry drivers in the field included Kyle Busch (11th), David Reutimann (16th), Bobby Labonte (18th), Casey Mears (30th), Brian Vickers (34th), Joey Logano (35th), T.J. Bell (38th), Mike Skinner (40th), Joe Nemechek (42nd) and Michael McDowell (43rd).

Busch remains third in the unofficial NSCS point standings following Darlington, and is now 39 points behind leader Carl Edwards.

Other Toyota drivers in the top-20 in the unofficial NSCS point standings after 10 of 36 races include Kahne (15th), Hamlin (16th) and Truex (20th).

KASEY KAHNE, No. 4 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position: 4th

Are you disappointed you didn’t win the race tonight? “It’s good for — I hit the wall once and I hit it really hard so I screwed up the right side and we had to work on it after that. The guys did a good job of keeping me upfront with pit stops and kept working on the car to make it as good as we could. I’m a little disappointed with fourth, disappointed with myself, but other than that the Red Bull team was awesome. The car was great. Qualifying first helped a ton tonight — having that first pit stall tonight.”

What happened to your race car? “When I was leading I hit the wall and killed the crush panels in the back. It ruined the rear of the car and then it didn’t turn as good either so that killed us for a while. The team did a great job with pit stops and just kept working on our Red Bull Toyota to get it better. I think we were a top two car probably minus the strategy there at the end. That was pretty good for as hard as it hit — that was pretty good.”

How much momentum does this finish give your team? “We started pretty decent this year and then it seemed like these last couple we’ve been really good again. We have Dover and Charlotte and some good tracks for us so we should be capitalizing on some points and get back to where we need to be.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 6th

How was your race tonight? “We had a bad car at the beginning and we fought. I pounded the wall on the second lap. We fought to get it back. We got the car pretty good there at the end. We finished sixth and that’s about what car we had most of the day. We’ll take that. Still trying to build points right now so we have to be a little bit conservative.”

Are you disappointed with your finish? “To finish sixth and be disappointed — that’s a good thing I feel like. We have a lot to build on. The good thing is that we’re having smooth races now and nothing is really catastrophically going on.”

What was your strategy at the end of the race? “We did tires just like everyone else. We were ahead of Regan (Smith) and Brad (Keselowski) and those guys. We told ourselves that we were going to stay out and then at the last minute we decided to pit. It looked like staying out was the call to make. Still it’s a solid day and we needed a good points day.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Finishing Position: 10th

How was your race tonight? “I am so happy for my NAPA guys. They’ve been through a lot this week and did a great job for me in the pits. I feel awful for spinning out. It was my fault. I’m just glad we were able to race our way back to 10th. I knew we could do it because my NAPA team has been giving me good cars all year. We just haven’t been getting the results to show for it. I’ll take this top-10 — this team deserves it.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 11th

Can you talk us through what happened between yourself and Kevin Harvick? “It was tight racing after the restart there. (Kevin) Harvick is up there on the top a little bit loose and I had a run and I gave him room — he kind of came up off the wall. That’s kind of a bad angle, obviously (watching the replay). He lifted early to let me go into turn three and I thought it was all good. Then he drives into the back of me there. He made my car loose all the way through the exit and just made a run for those two guys to get back on my inside. Then obviously Clint (Bowyer) wrecked bouncing off of Harvick. Just uncalled for and just unacceptable racing. It’s in the last couple laps, but I gave him room off of two and I didn’t get the room. Just real unfortunate. We tore up a few good cars there. Our Doublemint Camry was so good today that we should have ran up front and we should have finished up front, but we kind of got marred back in traffic there. Tried to fight our way back forward. It was a really, good clean night and I probably passed the most cars tonight, but there was one I couldn’t pass.”

Have you been asked to go to the NASCAR trailer? “Yeah, no big deal, that’s fine. Good to hash it out now — might as well.”

What happened in the closing laps of the race? “So we were racing there on the last couple laps through one and two and I was following Ryan Newman on the bottom side. He was on the inside of (Kevin) Harvick coming off of turn two. It seemed like Harvick got a little loose or slipped or something and tried to protect himself from the wall. Came off of turn two really shallow and he left about four feet between himself and the outside wall off of two. I was on his inside at that point and underneath the white line trying to give him room and we made contact off of two and as we raced down the backstretch we touched again. Getting into turn three Harvick lifted early and then he throttled back up or let off the brake or something and hit me getting into turn three and pushed me going through the corner there where I got loose and was trying to protect my spot and getting back to the gas. I was really slow off the corner where Harvick and (Clint) Bowyer got back to my inside at the exit. As we came off the corner all three of us made contact and it got real tight. Bowyer spun out, obviously and got into the inside wall and Harvick and I — we couldn’t really get away from each other and he ended up spinning at the end of the frontstretch.”

What happened between you and Kevin Harvick on pit road at the end of the race? “After the race I was just kind of cooling down and talking to Dave (Rogers, crew chief) on the radio about that I wanted to talk to him in the hauler about something and I see the (Kevin) Harvick car — the 29 come up flying up on my inside through three and four. Instead of going to pit road I thought he was going to force me into the inside of the pit road wall so I gave myself a little bit of room and turned up to go back up onto the race track like I would for another cool down lap and he followed me. When he pulled up next to me, I tried to back up. I put my car in reverse and tried to back up and I blew reverse out of the transmission. I tried to back up too fast and the transmission gears are so light that they can’t take that kind of abuse. Blew reverse out so then I had to pull forward and kind of do a U-turn to get back to pit road. I was just trying to get away from the situation with Harvick and unfortunately he got to pit road before me so I pulled in behind him. He let the 47 (Bobby Labonte) go, but I knew if I tried to turn left or right he was going to run into me or block me or something. I just stayed behind him, I was just going to sit there, not worry about it and let him cool his head for a second and let him figure out that we just need to go back to the garage area. Instead of him doing that, he wanted to get out of his car I guess and wanted to fight. I knew that wasn’t going to be a good situation and when I saw him getting out of his car, I knew it wasn’t going to be a good situation. My choices were limited, I was either going to get punched in the face and then wait for Harvick to get back in his car for me to go or just drive through his car and push it out of the way so I could get out of there and try not to get hit or anything like that. I made a judgment call there and it wasn’t one of the best choices that I had, but I pushed his car out of the way on pit road and unfortunately there was men walking down pit road. I hate it that somebody could have gotten hurt, but I was just trying to get away from it and get back to my hauler and go on with my own business.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron’s Outdoors Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 16th

BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Lance / Tom’s Snacks Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing Finishing Position: 18th

CASEY MEARS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 30th

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 83 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Red Bull Racing Team Finishing Position: 34th

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 35th

TJ BELL, No. 50 Little Joe’s Autos Toyota Camry, Gunselman Motorsports Finishing Position: 38th

MIKE SKINNER, No. 60 Big Red Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 40th

JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 NEMCO Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 42nd

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 66 Racehp.com Toyota Camry, PRISM Motorsports Finishing Position: 43rd

- Toyota Motorsports, Press Release

Team Chevy Logo

REGAN SMITH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: ON THE VICTORY:

TAKE US THROUGH THAT FINAL GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED, YOU HAD TO BEAT SOME OF THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS WITH FRESHER TIRES THAN YOU HAD: “My biggest concern on the initial restart, I wasn’t as worried. It was the second restart when Carl was on the outside and he had the fresh tires also or fresher tires than I did. I spun them real bad on the first one and I just backed it up a bit of a notch on the second restart and went with it. It stuck and I held it wide open in one and two on the first lap and tried to hold it wide open in three and four also. The car was good when I got in clean air. That is all I say. I can’t be prouder of this team.”

WHAT DOES THIS FEEL LIKE AFTER THE CLOSE CALL AT TALLADEGA? “This is a lot cooler race than Talladega to win, no offense. It just goes down different and it feels different at the end of the day. It feels a lot different at the end of the day when you say ‘Hey, I won a race at Darlington’. The names that have won here…the Pearsons, Yarboroughs and on and on, you name it. I was sitting behind some of those guys today and I was thinking ‘Man, these guys are pretty awesome. They are legendary’. I don’t know if my name deserves to be next to them, but after tonight, maybe it does.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU? “No, I really can’t. First and foremost to all the Moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day. My Mom comes to every race that I run and she missed this one. She’s in Tuscaloosa, Alabama saving the animals. Mom, hi, I love you. Sorry you missed this one. Gotta thank the fans, Furniture Row. These guys have stuck behind me three yers now. We’ve had some major ups and major downs, I think this will be classified as a major up for sure. The car was good all night we just never had track position. The opportunity showed up to stay out there, Pete (Rondeau, crew chief) made a great pit call. I was going to be mad if he didn’t say that but I was going to do what he told me to do and it worked out. We’re in the All Star race. There’s so much cool stuff going on right now. I had to get my composure, actually just right now I did. We’ve got a neat trophy now. Legends win this race, I’m not supposed to win this race. I’ve never even had a top five. I guess that shows in this series, anybody can win on any given Sunday.”

PETE RONDEAU, CREW CHIIEF NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: ON THE WIN: “It is great, man. Great feeling. Great feeling.”

KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 BUDWEISER CHEVROLET – FINISHED 17^TH

ON HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH KYLE BUSCH AT END OF RACE:

“Obviously we were racing hard and doing what we had to do there at the end and thing happen.”

THINGS HAPPEN, THAT’S IT?

“That’s it. What do you do? That’s racing, I guess.”

WHAT WAS DISCUSSED IN THE NASCAR TRAILER?

“Not much.”

OH, COME ON KEVIN. WHAT DID YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT?

“I don’t have anything really to tell you other than not much.”

IS IT SETTLED BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU?

“You saw the end.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TORNADOS CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5TH: ON HIS RACE: “Congratulations to Regan first of all. Those guys did an excellent job. Heck of a place to win your first race, the Southern 500. Just proud of the Tornados Chevrolet guys. We really battled a loose condition for most of the race. Finally hit on something that woke the race car up and we’ll have to go back and look at what we have to do to make it better next time.”

YOU SAW JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING TONIGHT, EXTREME TIGHT AND EXTREME LOOSE. “Yeah, we really struggled with the race car and then we finally hit on something and just decided to leave it and take what came to us. Just proud of everybody with Tornados Chevrolet. They did a good job to pedal through that situation. We were all scratching our heads. Congratulations to Regan. I’m walking down to say congratulations to him, that was a heck of a way to win your first one. Just proud to have a good rebounding weekend for us after all the things we’ve been through.”

CLINT BOWYER, NO. 33 BB&T CHEVROLET – Sidelined in accident, Finished 31^st: “That’s Darlington. Congratulations to Regan Smith. Proud of him for winning. Proud of BB&T. Just trying to manage everything, stay out of trouble. All day long we did and got caught up in a wreck.”

ARE YOU MAD AT ANYBODY OVER WHAT HAPPENED? “It’s the nature of the beast. There’s no room to race at the end. I knew when the caution come out all hell was going to break lose and it did. I got such a good run coming down there. I felt like I don’t know, I passed four or five cars and I came off there and I had plenty of room. I don’t know if somebody got into Kevin (Harvick) and knocked him down into me or something. He just really abrupt came down and I saw he got wrecked too. How about Regan Smith? At least something good come out of it. I’m proud of him for winning. Proud of BB&T. Just trying to manage everything and stay out of trouble all day long and get caught up at the end.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR., NO. 88 AMP ENERGY SUGAR-FREE/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET – FINISHED 14TH

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE RACE?

“Yeah, I was lucky to finish 14^th. I made a mistake getting onto pit road and just choked trying to make that last pit stop and that cost us about eight spots, probably. We did run a good race and worked really hard to get up to inside the top 10. It was another week where we’ve been able to put the car inside the top 10 and we just need to start capitalizing like we were at the very start of the season, on getting the finishes we deserve and stop making so many mistakes. I think we can do that. I think the confidence is coming more and more each week about the speed we’ve had.”

IS THAT EASY TO DO? MARTIN TRUEX SAID HE WAS ALWAYS AMAZED AT PEOPLE WHO DO THAT AND THEN I WENT AND DID IT, YOU KNOW?

“Yeah, I pitted earlier and had no problem and I was just trying to get a little too much there. I barely hit that cone and that’s all it took.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON REGAN SMITH GETTING HIS FIRST CUP WIN?

“Well, Regan is an awesome talent and a really, really good person. It’s good to see a good guy win. And he’s worked really hard to get into this sport and to become a full-time driver in this series. And he deserves that they achieved tonight. So I’m really proud. I guess they’ve got Pete over there. And that’s great for Pete too, (crew chief) Pete Rondeau.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ALL THE FIREWORKS GOING ON BETWEEN KEVIN HARVICK AND KYLE BUSCH TONIGHT?

“I was hoping you guys (the media) would get the facts and report on it so I can go on the internet tonight and check it out. I don’t know what happened.”

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU RAN TONIGHT?

“I think we ran pretty good. I wasn’t a top five car. The No. 14 (Tony Stewart) was better than me; he was running fifth there. We were just good enough to stay ahead of everybody, the No. 39 (Ryan Newman) and those guys that were running behind us. We were about a sixth place car and I think a legitimate contender there for that position; and it would have been nice to have gotten that position. We gave up 10 points tonight, so it was kind of tough. I was really proud to hear that they (Regan Smith) won. Pete (Rondeau, crew chief) has done a great job with that team to find the speed that that car has and to make them as competitive. I think a lot of credit goes to Pete. Obviously they’ve got a great young talent in their driver and he is going to get some good credit too for being able to hold off (Carl Edwards) there at the end. Pete deserves this and I guess Regan deserves it just as much. It’s great to see. It’s a good story.”

About Chevrolet: Founded in Detroit in 1911, Chevrolet celebrates its centennial as a global automotive brand with annual sales of about 4.25 million vehicles in more than 140 countries. Chevrolet provides consumers with fuel-efficient, safe and reliable vehicles that deliver high quality, expressive design, spirited performance and value. The Chevrolet portfolio includes iconic performance cars such as Corvette and Camaro; dependable, long-lasting pickups and SUVs such as Silverado and Suburban; and award-winning passenger cars and crossovers such as Spark, Cruze, Malibu, Equinox and Traverse. Chevrolet also offers “gas-friendly to gas-free” solutions including Cruze Eco and Volt. Cruze Eco offers 42 mpg highway while Volt offers 35 miles of electric, gasoline-free driving and an additional 344 miles of extended range. Most new Chevrolet models offer OnStar safety, security and convenience technologies including OnStar Hands-Free Calling, Automatic Crash Response and Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. More information regarding Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

- Team Chevy, Press Release

Regan Smith climbs out of the No.78 Furniture Row Chevrolet after winning the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway - Photo Credit:Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 7, 2011) –

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. Moments later, tempers flared between drivers Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick and their crews in the aftermath of a wild wreck that brought out the final caution of the race.

“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, withpolesitter 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.

“This is no knock against Talladega at all, but I would trade in a lot of Talladega wins for one win in the Southern 500,” said Smith, who got enough of a push from Keselowski on the final restart to clear Edwards’ car. “This race is so special and so meaningful. We were standing there looking at the names and the faces on the trophy, and you just look at it, and you think, ‘My face is going to be there right next to these guys, and it’ll be there forever.’ ”

After a final round of green-flag pit stops, Edwards, the Sprint Cup points leader, passed Kahne for the lead on Lap 341 of the scheduled 367-lap race as the cars sped into Turn 1. Edwards was comfortably in frontwhen 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. The previous caution, however, was only a prelude to a wild three-widewreck involving Clint Bowyer, Harvick and 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.

Bowyer sustained the most damage as he hit the inside wall nose first. But as Busch and Harvick continued down the track, the two made contact again, with Busch spinning Harvick’s car. After the race, Harvick confronted Busch on pit road and appeared to take a swing at Busch while he still was in his car. Later, while Smith was celebrating in victory lane, the crews fromeach team confronted each other.

Tempering the disappointment of finishing second for Edwards was his happiness for Smith, with whom he had established a friendship during their tenure with team owner Mike Mittler in 2002.

“I was driving Mike’s truck,” Edwards said. “I had run I think seven races and I couldn’t run any more and still hold the rookie eligibility for the next year, so Mike hired Regan to drive at Phoenix. I was kind of heartbroken. I was a racecar driver. I didn’t want to go work on that truck while somebody else was driving it.

“I went there and I felt kind of honored when it was all over, to have worked with him and met his family. They’re really good people. I just decided, all right, I’m going to go ahead and work, swallow my pride. I’m glad I did, because I got to know Regan a little bit better and he’s a good guy.

“He could have treated me any way and he treated me like gold then, so I got a lot of respect for him.”

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 thepits on Lap 205. A caution for Jimmie Johnson’s spin on the frontstretch trapped Busch a lap down. Busch 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 on Lap 280 for debris on the backstretch. He finished 11th.

- By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service via Darlington Raceway, Press Release

Dodge Motorsports

BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished Third

“A nice comeback for this Miller Lite Dodge tonight. We played the strategy card tonight. That was our only shot. It all worked out. We had a shot late in the race and that’s cool. The last restart, I was just trying to stay in my own lane and stay with Regan (Smith). What a crazy finish. I’m happy with the result, but not happy with the way we got it. We want to earn them because we have fast race cars. We’ve got some work to do to make our cars better.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT LAST RESTART? “I knew that I could time a run on that last restart and give Regan a good push. Carl (Edwards) was really fast behind me. I ended up giving him (Regan) a huge push into Turn 1 and we hooked up and set sail. I’m really happy for Regan. I wanted to make sure that if I couldn’t win, he did. A win for the underdogs tonight, that’s for sure.

“We got up front and had a great finish. The bottom line is that we need to make our cars faster. We really have been struggling and probably are a 15-to-20th-place car lately. We just made the right pit call today to be up front at the end. We have a lot of work to do. This is a great finish.”

THE DECISION TO STAY OUT ON OLD TIRES, WAS THAT YOUR DECISION OR PAUL’S? “I kind of was yelling at Paul all day and by the end, he told me to do what I wanted to do. I saw everyone pitting and kind of figured that they would wreck on one of the restarts. I thought that it would come down to a green-white-checkered and it did. We caught a good break there. There’s no guarantees that it will happen. I was able to hold off the 4 car and everybody but the 99 at the end.”

PAUL WOLFE (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T)
“It was a great night for as tough a season that it’s been. We didn’t have the greatest car, but Brad hung in there a drove a great race. We kept working on the Miller Lite Dodge and pit strategy just worked out for us.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DECISION NOT TO PIT ON THE LATE CAUTION? “Brad and I talked about it and we knew track position was everything, so we gambled and it paid off.”

WERE YOU CONFIDENT THAT YOUR TIRES WERE GOING TO HOLD UP? “I wasn’t too concerned. Brad took care of his stuff all night and ran a great race. We got a bit lucky that a green-white-checkered came out. I knew we could hold on for two laps.”

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 27th
“It’s just been a long string of tough races. The “Lady in Black” got us. We unloaded a really fast Shell/Pennzoil Dodge on Friday – a top-three car in practice. We may have sealed our fate when we cut a tire in practice and put our primary car in the Turn 1 wall. We were super tight with the back-up car to start the race and we never could loosen the car up. We threw everything at it – track bar, wedge, shims – you name it, Steve (Addington, crew chief) tried it. This place is tough enough with a good race car, when your setup is off, it’s just a nightmare.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports,