Talladega non-win still hurting Regan Smith
Regan Smith, who has already had more disappointment in his young career than some drivers do in a decade, might be faced with yet more bad news this weekend.
There’s a 70 percent chance of rain on Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, meaning that should qualifying get rained out, Smith and his Furniture Row Racing team would be sent home.
Normally, that might not be such a big deal, but Smith, who was last season’s Sprint Cup rookie of the year, should be returning as the defending race winner.
Last October, as most fans will remember, Smith was first to cross the finish line at Talladega, but he did so after he was forced below the yellow line by Tony Stewart. NASCAR credited Stewart with the victory and penalized Smith for passing below the line, relegating him to an 18th-place finish instead.
Smith has had to put Talladega behind him for a year now, but the implications from that day continue to haunt him. Why?
Because under NASCAR rules, Smith would have made this race if qualifying was rained out thanks to being a 2008 race winner. But since he didn’t win, Smith doesn’t have any safety net if bad weather pops up on Saturday.
This is the same guy who was once promised a full-time ride at Ginn Racing, but then lost it before he ever got his first start thanks to a merger.
Some guys seem to have all the luck. So far in his brief career, Smith hasn’t been one of them.
