Consistent Smith Finishes 17th in Dover; Fourth Straight Top-20 Result
DOVER, Del. (Oct. 2, 2011) — Regan Smith brought home another consistent performance, finishing 17th in Sunday’s AAA 400 Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway.
The result for the Furniture Row Racing driver was his fourth straight top-20 finish, the first time he and the single car, Denver, Colo.-based team have strung together four top 20s. The top-20 streak started in Richmond (18th) and was followed in Chicago (17th) and last week in New Hampshire (10th).
“It’s nice to have consistency because this is what we stressed going into the final 10 races,” said Smith. “But we obviously want better and eventually string together top 15s and top 10s. We’re on the right path, but still need to improve. It’s been a fun season because we keep on seeing these improvements and that gives the entire Furniture Row Racing team a morale boost.”
Maneuvering around Dover’s all-concrete Monster Mile is no easy task, but Smith stayed out of trouble as he drove patiently to finish on the lead lap in his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet.
“We got behind today, but with sound pit strategy and being calm, we managed to collectively work through the problems and post a respectable finish at a difficult track,” explained Smith. “We need to keep it up, because right now we’re getting ready for 2012.”
The Dover race winner was Kurt Busch. Rounding out the top-five in order were: Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth.
The next Sprint Cup race is Sunday (Oct. 9) at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.
