NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Smith Scores Upset Win At Darlington
Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch battle near finish…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted May 07, 2011   Darlington, SC
It was a Southern 500 for the ages.

In a finish as dramatic as any in recent NASCAR history, Regan Smith, who had not scored a top-five run in his career, won the Showtime Southern 500 Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.

Smith, driving for Denver, CO-based Furniture Row Racing, a team struggling to make its way to the top flight of NASCAR racing from its Western base, held off Carl Edwards during a two-lap green-white-checkered finish to put his name among the winners of this grand old race.

“Legends win this race,” a tearful Smith said in victory lane. “I’m not supposed to win this race. I’ve never even had a top five.”

The race ended with a major controversy involving Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Their cars crashed with two laps to go in regulation, sparking the night’s final caution and producing the green-white-checkered overtime period that led to Smith’s victory.

Racing near the front, Harvick and Busch made contact, and Clint Bowyer, Harvick’s teammate, dropped low to attempt to pass them. Instead, Harvick and Bowyer collided, sending Bowyer’s car sliding hard into the inside wall on the frontstretch. Busch hit Harvick’s car again, sending him into a slide in front of traffic.

After the race, Harvick charged toward Busch’s car and lunged at him through the window of the car as Busch drove away. A few minutes later, members of the two crews confronted each other in the garage area.

Busch and Harvick were called to the NASCAR hauler after the race to discuss the final laps.

Smith, 27, was put in position to win the race by a pit call by crew chief Pete Rondeau, one of the mechanics who decided to swim outside the mainstream and locate in Denver with the Furniture Row team. The vast majority of Sprint Cup teams are located in the Charlotte, NC area.

During a caution period with 10 laps remaining, most of the leaders, including Edwards, pitted for tires, but Smith, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart gambled and stayed out.

That left Smith in the lead, and he took the green with five laps to go. That rush ended a lap later with the Harvick-Busch-Bowyer crash, and Smith was able to stay out front through the turmoil and over the two-lap dash for the win.

“Regan is a heck of a guy,” Edwards said. “That’s NASCAR racing. As bad as I feel for losing that race, I’m happy for Regan and his accomplishment.”

Edwards steadily built a lead over the closing 20 laps and appeared to be on his way to scoring his first win in the 500.

Kyle Busch, who blamed the race’s final incident on Harvick, dominated the mid-section of the race but gave up the lead on lap 205 to drop into the pits under green with a loose real wheel.

The problem cost Busch a lap and dropped him to 28th place, leaving Edwards in first place.

The unusual adventures of Juan Pablo Montoya continued into another week as he and five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson tangled early in the race.

The two were racing side by side when they appeared to make slight contact, then Montoya apparently hit Johnson, sending him into a slide and causing the night’s fourth caution.

Over the team radio, Montoya said his brakes locked, and he apologized for hitting Johnson. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus were not impressed.

Johnson regained control of his car and remained on the lead lap.
A piece of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota of Brian Vickers is seen in the garage after an incident during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series SHOWTIME Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. (Photo: Getty Images)

He experienced another valley later in the race, losing control of his car in the heart of turn four and sliding onto the frontstretch, bringing out the sixth caution.

The night was also quite adventurous for Kurt Busch, who has been in the spotlight this weekend because of derogatory remarks he made about leaders of his Penske Racing team during last week’s race at Richmond.

Busch had a slow race from the beginning of the race, and he was lapped by the leader, his brother Kyle, before the halfway point.

Later, Busch was penalized a lap for a pit infraction. Then he lost control of his car and slid through turn four.

An unusual accident occurred on lap 230 as contact was made between the David Ragan and Brian Vickers cars. The right front of Ragan’s Ford hit and ripped into the left side of Vickers’ Toyota, peeling back the sheet metal on Vickers’ car like a can opener.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 29 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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