page_title: Regan Smith
section_title: 2011–2013
hierarchical_section_title: Regan Smith / NASCAR / 2011–2013
caption_attribution_description: Regan Smith during the 2013 STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 7, 2013.
context_page_description: Regan Lee Smith is an American professional stock car racing driver and a pit reporter for Fox NASCAR. He most recently drove part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro SS for JR Motorsports.
context_section_description: At the 2011 Daytona 500, Smith returned to the No. 78 car. Smith finished seventh after crashing in the final laps while battling for the lead. Although disappointing, he was able to come back and finish seventh in the first top ten finish of his Cup Series career and for Furniture Row Racing.
  On May 7, 2011, at the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Speedway, Smith won his first Sprint Cup race, holding off Carl Edwards at the end. On a late caution, Smith stayed out on older tires while Edwards and most of the lead lap cars pitted for fresh right side tires.  Smith fended off Edwards for two restarts to claim the first cup win of his career at Darlington Raceway. Smith in recalling the Talladega race he lost in 2008 said he was not worried about it anymore, and said the Darlington win meant more to him than what he would have experienced at Talladega. The win was somewhat overshadowed by a post-race altercation between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.  It was only the second time a driver had won his first Sprint Cup race in the Rebel 500, the first being Lake Speed in 1988.
  At the 2011 Brickyard 400, Smith had enough fuel to end with a solid 3rd-place finish by passing Jamie McMurray on the last lap, for his second top five of 2011. His former teammate Paul Menard ended up winning the race. Also a strong run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway proved that Smith was ready for the Sprint Cup Series with another top ten position. At the fall race at Talladega Superspeedway, Smith was accidentally turned by Mark Martin and smashed extremely hard head on into the wall. Smith was able to walk away from the crash uninjured but said the crash was one of his hardest wrecks in his career.
  In 2012 when the Daytona 500 frustrated many fans and NASCAR officials because of a long rain delay on the planned date, a rain delay in the morning, and then the bizarre fire red flag delay caused by Juan Pablo Montoya's crash into a jet dryer in turn 3 on lap 160, Smith told the public he was so happy and excited for the first time in his career to leave Daytona that night. Smith had been involved in a crash on lap 188 involving several other drivers, but was able to continue on the lead lap.
  At the 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race, Smith had gotten through two cautions that resulted in Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart crashing out of the race until he ended up spinning Danica Patrick away from a top ten finish. Patrick crashed head-on and when climbing out of her car, before leaving with officials she thought about tossing her helmet at Smith's car like Stewart had done to Matt Kenseth previously in the past caution, but instead vented her anger/fury by wagging her finger at him when he came by to lap her down. After the race Smith maintained that he did not intentionally crash her while Patrick believed he did and both left Bristol without any penalties.
  It was announced on September 24, 2012, that Smith would not be returning to Furniture Row Racing for the 2013 season. He was replaced by Kurt Busch. In his last start for FRR, in the fall race at Talladega, Smith had a fifth-place finish after clearing a 23-car crash in turn 4 on the last lap.
  Smith was set to finish the 2012 season by swapping rides with Busch, with Busch taking over Smith's No. 78 and Smith taking over the unsponsored No. 51 Chevrolet at Phoenix Racing, but Smith was announced on October 11, 2012, as the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the works team's No. 88 Chevrolet for the Charlotte and Kansas Chase races after Earnhardt was diagnosed with a concussion after his testing crash at Kansas Speedway in August and after involvement in the same last lap crash during the Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega on October 7, 2012, so for these two races, Smith was replaced in the No. 51 by A. J. Allmendinger.  Qualifying 26th and performing well during both practice sessions, Smith had a top ten car before the engine failed for the first time on the No. 88 team in the season, and finished the race in the 38th position. In the following race at Kansas, Smith performed well, and managed 
caption: Smith driving the No. 51 during the 2013 STP Gas Booster 500
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