CUP: Smith Shines in Happy Hour

Sprint Cup

CUP: Smith Shines in Happy Hour

Regan Smith was second in Happy Hour…

Tom Jensen | Posted October 12, 2012 Concord, NC

Regan Smith, driver of the No.88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, practices for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kyle Busch led the final Happy Hour round of practice for tomorrow night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but it was the man in second place who raised some eyebrows.

Busch had a best lap of 188.383 mph in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Toyota, which has been consistently fast so far at the 1.5-mile track. That was tops among the 42 cars setting times in the final pre-race tune up.

The big surprise during the hour-long session, though, was the stellar job turned in by Regan Smith, who is subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr. this week and next in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Earnhardt will miss the next two races because of the after-effects of a concussion suffered at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

Smith looked right at home in the No. 88, as he was second on the Happy Hour board at 188.009 mph.

“We want to do the same stuff this team does every weekend,” said Smith. “… Try to win the race and do him, and the Junior Nation proud. That is what the goal is.”

Second-qualifier Mark Martin finished Happy Hour in third place, with a top lap of 187.905 mph. Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard completed the top five.

Denny Hamlin was sixth, followed by Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Aric Almirola.

Ryan Newman, who had qualified third for the race, lost an engine just six laps into practice and will start the race from the back of the field.

“It started tightening up on him pretty good, so he shut it off and came in,” said crew chief Tony Gibson of his driver. “And there’s something big wrong.”

The BofA 500 is race No. 5 of 10 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Keselowski leads Johnson by 14 points and Hamlin by 23. In the first four Chase races, the Penske Racing driver has two victories, a sixth- and a seventh-place finish.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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