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Regan Smith snares Sprint Cup rookie of the year award
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Regan Smith won the NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie of the year.
Todd Warshaw
Getty Images for NASCAR
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – When the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season began, the Raybestos Rookie of the Year class contained some big names: Former Indy 500 winners Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish Jr. and Jacques Villeneuve. But when the season ended, it was a driver with the most common name of all as the winner: Regan Smith.
The Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver wrapped up the rookie title Sunday with a 34th-place finish in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“You know, there were a lot of big names that I was racing against, and you look at the stuff at the beginning of the year, not very many people had me [charted] as one of ‘em that was going to contend for [the] Raybestos Rookie of the Year championship,” Smith said. “So definitely [I] had a little bit of a chip on the shoulder about that and wanted to go out there and prove that there is still a good ol’ stock-car path and NASCAR path to get to this series.
“I feel like we did that to a certain extent. Obviously there were weeks I wanted to run better and there was weeks where we ran good and didn’t get what we deserved or ran good and got what we deserved. All in all, I'm very proud to win the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. You look at the names that are on there and [it's] some good names to be included with. At the end of the day you can’t change that. It’s going to be there forever.”
Franchitti’s Chip Ganassi Racing team was forced to shut down because of sponsorship issues, and Franchitti returned to IndyCars. Villeneuve lost his Bill Davis Racing ride early in the year because of money troubles, too, leaving Smith to battle Hornish.
“Well, we were in control of it for most of the year,” said Smith, who shared or led the rookie standings for 26 of the 36 weeks. “At the end there, Sam really started turning it on towards the end of the season, the way the points thing shook down. I know a lot of the other rookies weren’t in cars and the way the points deal shook up it was kind of awkward this year.
“Sam is a talented race-car driver. There’s been a lot of places that he was extremely quick this year. At the mile-and-a-halves, he’s been quicker than us at a lot of ‘em. We’ve been quicker than him at some of ‘em but I think he’ll work it out and get it figured out next year, definitely. And Penske is a good organization so they’ll put good stuff behind him for sure.”
Smith’s tenure in the Sprint Cup Series is tenuous at best, as the DEI-Chip Ganassi Racing merger might put him out of a ride.
“It’s a big deal being the first driver from DEI to be able to get it, not knowing what I’m doing next year, if I’m going to be part of the Ganassi-DEI thing or not,” Smith said. “At least I’ve got that that I can take to ‘em and let [team owner] Teresa [Earnhardt] put in the trophy room. She gave me a great opportunity this year.”
Mentioned Drivers: Regan Smith
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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Comments
8 responses to "Regan Smith snares Sprint Cup rookie of the year award". Post a Comment.
Andrew Briscoe said:
Nov 16, 2008 at 10:25 PMYou know, I don't think that any of the "Rookie of the Year" candidates really deserve the award. Sure, there are some highlights of this year (Carpentier's pole, Regan's near win), but none of the Rookies stood out. Half the year the "Rookie of the Race" seemed to be outside the top 30. None of the Rookies this year are really deserving of this award. Marcos Ambrose is more deserving, and he raced 1/3 of the races.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportanonymous said:
Nov 17, 2008 at 7:53 AMA lot of good it will do him, DEI/
Report as Abuseganassi will be giving him his pink slip today.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportCallaway said:
Nov 17, 2008 at 4:30 PMHe won't be out of a ride long, getting away from DEI now might be like missing the Titanic when she sailed. The kid has some driving chops and should have spent some time in Busch oops Nationwide before being dropped into the deep end with a rudderless team.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportBecky Deline said:
Nov 17, 2008 at 5:43 PMOf course Smith got Rookie of the Year. Hornish didn't even make the race and the other drivers are not even driving in Cup series anymore.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner Boehmert said:
Nov 17, 2008 at 6:44 PMpoor group this year...i've collected past rookie cars...not even one available for Smith...
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» Confirm Abuse Reported gordon said:
Nov 17, 2008 at 7:30 PMGood for Regan and I hope he lands a ride in one of the top 3 next year.In the end it came down to he and Hornish and the 77 team could not get it done.
Report as AbuseAlso,he had zero dnfs,thats the first time in the history of the Raybestos ROTY award that has been accomplished.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportJozef Colomy said:
Nov 17, 2008 at 9:00 PMWell no other rookie crossed a finish line in first place like Smith did. Whether it counted or not, NASCAR can't give that to Tony Stewart
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» Confirm Abuse ReportHELEN FORD said:
Nov 18, 2008 at 11:53 AMCongratulations and good luck next year....
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