Regan Smith (born September 23, 1983) is a American stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the #92 Ford F-150 for RBR Enterprises.
Starting Out[]
He began his career racing in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2002. He ran two races that year, driving for Mittler Brothersteam. He finished 29th at South Boston and 30th at Phoenix after starting 12th in that race. He also made his BUSCH series debut at Memphis finishing 39th after starting 16th.
He jumped to the Busch Series in 2003 for a full-time ride with Bost Motorsports. Regan had some halfway decent runs with the underfunded team. 15th at Texas, 19th at the spring Darlington race and Gateway, and a 16th in the spring Dover race. However, the underfunded team opted for other drivers halfway through the year, and Regan searched for a job. Regan drove for George deBidart at Pikes Peak, finishing 40th after a Start & Park job. He also drove for the Jack McNally team in the Miami race, finishing 28th.
He continued to drive for the McNally team for various BUSCH races in 2004. He finished 17th at Nashville in the spring, and 19th at Gateway. He drove the #50 Michael Holigan car for three races in mid-Summer, and ended his BUSCH season with James Finch's #1 team at Pikes Peak, finishing a solid 15th. His best career finish in any major NASCAR series, to this date, was at Miami finishing 9th in the #06 John Boy & Billy Chevy for Team MRD.
Best Season Yet[]
Regan began the 2005 season with Dave Fuge's #19 team. However, after finishes of 32nd and 33rd, not to mention sponsorship lack, Regan was dropped. When Glynn Motorsports started their #65 truck team, they turned to Regan. In four races in that car, he had a 20th at Texas and a pair of 22nds at Mansfield and Dover.
He was promoted to the #58 Glynn Motorsports car, full-time, for the rest of the year. Regan put together 7 top-20 finishes in 21 starts for the team, his best being a pair of 15th at Loudon and the June Nashville race. From Dover to Phoenix, Regan put together an amazing streak of qualifying efforts. 6 top-7s in 7 races, and the other being a twelfth. Regan qualified 3rd 3 times in that stretch. However, it wasn't enough to keep Regan's job, as he was booted out for the season finale at Miami.
Meanwhile, Regan was back at MRD for the closing races of the season, finishing 29th, 33rd and 32nd in three late season starts for that team.
New Opportunites Open[]
Regan joined Team Rensi Motorsports' #35 Busch Series team hoping for good success with a top-tier team. However, Rensi struggled deeply in 2006. Smith was only able to muster one top-ten coiming at Charlotte. However, Regan caught the eyes of MBV Motorsports and after testing with the team, it appears as though Smith will join that operation in 2007.
2008-2009[]
Regan Smith was hired by legendary team Dale Earnhardt Inc. for a part-time NASCAR Cup season. Smith had enough races to run for rookie of the year.
Smith clenched his rookie title against Sam Hornish after racing a few times in the chase. At Talladega, Smith passed Tony Stewart for the win but was disqualified when NASCAR found that Smith had passed Stewart under the yellow line.
Smith finished out with a near win, a few top tens and won the 2008 Cup series Rookie of the year. After 2008, in 2009, DEI merged with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Furniture Row Racing[]
After 2009, Smith left Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing to drive the #78 Furniture Row chevy. In 2010 Smith, performed his breakout season of the team, with a few top tens, a few top fives and nearly scoring a spot in the chase.
In 2011, Smith performed so well on the team. Smith won his first NASCAR Cup victory, and this time he got to keep it, in an emotional win at Darlington. Smith said after the race, that he no longer worried about Talladega's 2008 race since the Darlington win meant more than what he would have experienced at Talladega. Smith had pairs of top fives at Indianapolis, and a few others. At Talladega, Smith had a horrific accident when he was tapped by Mark Martin. Smith flew head-on into the wall and flew backwards aflamed. He climbed out mostly unscathed saying that was the hardest hit he's had in a racecar.
In 2012, Smith's career dipped downward, leading FFR to replace him with Kurt Busch in late 2012. Smith was hired by JR Motorsports to drive for the rest of the 2012 NNS season, for a multi year extension, in the #7 JR Motorsports chevy.
JR Motorsports[]
In 2013, at Daytona, Regan Smith nearly won a Nationwide series race at Daytona. Smith got by leader Tony Stewart with 2 laps left. On the final lap, a driver who has a good relationship with Smith, Brad Keselowski tried to make a move but hit Regan Smith who hit the wall head-on. Tony Stewart avoided a pileup to win the race, while Kyle Larson flew into the catchfences.