Regan Lee Smith (born September 23, 1983) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and a current pit reporter for NASCAR on Fox. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 25 Ram 1500 for Kaulig Racing.
Early career Born to a racing family, Smith began his racing career at the age of four, racing go-karts and microds. Early in his career, he won numerous regional and state championships. In 1995, his family moved from Cato, New York to Mooresville, North Carolina to allow Smith to advance in his racing career. In 1998, Smith joined the World Karting Association, driving for a factory-supported team, and winning the championship that year. Smith also began competing in the Allison Legacy Series in 1998, where he would race for two seasons, winning Rookie of the Year and the championship title in 1999. In 1999, Smith made his series debut in the Hooters Pro Cup Series at USA International Speedway, where he finished last place after crashing 18 laps into the race.
Smith began driving full-time in the Hooters Pro Cup Series in 2000, finishing his first season with five top-ten finishes and a single top-five finish, which came at Myrtle Beach in May. He returned to the series in 2001, starting from the pole at Thompson, Louisville, IRP, and Chemung.
Racing career 2002–2004 Smith began his NASCAR career in 2002, making his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at South Boston in the No. 63 Ford F-150 for MB Motorsports. He qualified 28th but had engine issues mid-race and finished 29th. In October, Smith made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Memphis, driving in the No. 07 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Ed Whitaker. Smith qualified 16th in his Busch debut, but would finish in 39th after a wreck. He made one last start during the 2002 season in the Craftsman Truck Series at Phoenix, again racing for MB Motorsports. Smith qualified 12th for the race, finishing in 30th place after ignition issues ended his race early.
In 2003, Smith joined Bost Motorsports in an attempt to run a full-time season for the team, starting at Rockingham. Despite a lack of sponsorship, Smith had three top twenty finishes and was second place in the Rookie of the Year standings halfway through the season. However, following the July race at Daytona, Bost and Smith parted ways, the team opting to run a rotating door of drivers for the remainder of the season. Smith returned at Pikes Peak, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Innovative Motorsports. He qualified 29th for the race, finishing 40th after having ignition issues. To finish the season, Smith joined Mac Hill Motorsports, driving the No. 56 Chevrolet Monte Carlo at the season finale at Homestead. He finished the race in 28th after qualifying 19th. Smith finished the season 38th in points.
Smith ran a part-time schedule in 2004, running for multiple teams throughout the season. He attempted the season-opener at Daytona with Mac Hill Motorsports but failed to qualify. He made six straight races with the team. At Nazareth, Smith practiced and qualified the No. 38 Dodge Charger for Akins Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne, who was with his Winston Cup team during that time. The following race at Charlotte, Smith would fail to qualify for the race and was released by the team. His best finish for Mac Hill Motorsports came at Nashville Superspeedway, where he finished 17th. Holigan Racing hired Smith for three races. During this time, Smith appeared in a few episodes of The Reality of Speed on SpikeTV, a reality show that followed the team. The team would suspend operations mid-season. Phoenix Racing hired Smith to run the No. 1 Dodge Charger for the race at Pikes Peak, where he qualified 19th and finished in 15th. At Memphis, Smith would again practice and qualify a car for a Nextel Cup Series driver, this time doing so for Greg Biffle's No. 60 Roush Racing Ford.
Smith made a return to the Craftsman Truck Series for the season finale at Homestead, driving the No. 06 Chevrolet Silverado for MRD Motorsports. After qualifying 25th, Smith drove through the field and finished in ninth place, his first top-ten in NASCAR competition.
2005–2007 Smith began the 2005 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 19 Chevrolet for Xpress Motorsports. However, after being caught up in a wreck in the season opener at Daytona, blowing an engine at Fontana, and then failing to qualify for the race at Atlanta, Smith was let go from the team after failing to find sponsorship. Smith was hired soon after by Glynn Motorsports to drive the team's No. 65 Dodge Ram beginning at Mansfield. After moderate success in four races with the team, Smith was moved to Glynn's Busch Series team, replacing a struggling Brent Sherman in the No. 58 Dodge in an attempt to keep the car above 30th in points. Smith found some success during the season, finishing 15th at Nashville, Loudon, and Gateway and qualifying in the top-ten six times. Despite this success, Smith was released by the team before the series finale.
Smith finished the season back in the Craftsman Truck Series, returning to the No. 06 Chevrolet for MRD Motorsports for three races. During this stretch of races, Smith struggled, finishing 29th at Atlanta before wrecking out at Texas and having a mechanical issue at the season finale at Homestead.
In November 2005, Smith signed with Team Rensi Motorsports to run the 2006 Busch Series full-time in the team's No. 35 McDonald's sponsored Ford, replacing Jason Keller. He successfully ran the entire season with the team, finishing the season with one top-ten, a tenth place finish at Charlotte, ending the season 20th in points. In October 2006, Ginn Racing owner Bobby Ginn announced that Smith would begin testing with the team with the goal to move him to the Nextel Cup Series 16-race part-time for the 2007 season, sharing the No. 01 Chevrolet with Mark Martin.
2007–2008: Ginn Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. Smith attempted his first career Cup race at the 2007 Daytona 500, in a fourth car, numbered 39, for Ginn Racing. After qualifying 25th fastest in the field, Smith entered the Gatorade Duels 8th fastest of the drivers not locked in and failed to qualify after finishing 19th in his Duel. During this time, Smith also raced the No. 4 part-time for Ginn Racing in the Busch Series, getting his first top-ten of the season at Fontana.
Smith's Cup debut came at the Food City 500 at Bristol, which was also the debut race of the Car of Tomorrow. Smith qualified 12th for the race, and finished 25th after struggling on pit road. Smith clinched his first top-five of the season in the Busch Series race at Nashville. In July, Ginn Racing released full-time drivers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin midseason and announced that the team had added the rest of the season to Smith's schedule before promoting him to full-time for the 2008 season. However, before Smith could run another race, Ginn Racing merged with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Due to the merge, the No. 14's owner points were transferred to Paul Menard's No. 15, and the No. 14 was shut down, leaving Smith without a ride. Smith finished out the 2007 season in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 47 Chevrolet for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports
In 2008, Smith returned to DEI to drive the No. 01 full-time after Mark Martin moved over to the team's No. 8 car alongside Aric Almirola to replace a departing Dale Earnhardt Jr. Smith was eligible for Rookie of the Year after not reaching the minimum number of starts necessary in 2007. Despite it being announced that Smith was running the entire season, DEI elected to replace him at Watkins Glen and Sonoma with Road course ringer Ron Fellows. In June, Smith joined Morgan-Dollar Motorsports for the Craftsman Truck Series race at Michigan, driving the No. 46. He finished 17th in the race.
At the Talladega race in October, Smith was part of a controversial finish. On the final lap, Smith made a successful last-lap pass on race leader Tony Stewart, crossing the line first. However, after the finish, NASCAR determined that Smith drove below the yellow line onto the apron to make the pass and handed the win to Stewart. Smith was scored 18th, the final car on the lead lap. After the race, Smith claimed that the reason he went below the yellow line was because Stewart had pushed him down there.
Smith finished the season 34th in points, his best finish being 14th at Martinsville and Bristol. He finished first in the Rookie of the Year standings over Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier, Michael McDowell, and Dario Franchitti, beating Hornish by seven points. He also became the first Rookie of the Year winner to finish their rookie season without a DNF.
2009–2012: Furniture Row Racing Following the 2008 season, DEI would merge with Chip Ganassi Racing and become Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. The No. 01 ride was shut down due to the merge and Smith was released by the team. Smith joined Furniture Row Racing for a part-time schedule for the 2009 season. Initially a 12-race deal, Smith attempted a total of 20 races in 2009, failing to qualify twice towards the end of the season. He returned to Furniture Row in 2010, this time to run a full-time schedule. His best finish of the season came at both Fontana and Talladega where he finished 12th place and he ended the season 28th in points.Smith started the 2011 season strong in the Daytona 500. After qualifying fifth, he was running up front less than five laps remaining in the race before getting turned by Kurt Busch and hit by Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman. Despite the damage, Smith finished seventh place, the first top-ten in his Cup career as well as the first top-ten for Furniture Row Racing in team history. The following week at Phoenix, he qualified fifth again before being caught up in a multi-car wreck during the race.
In May, Smith won his first Cup race in the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington, holding off Carl Edwards after staying out on old tires. Smith became the third person to win their first career Cup win at Darlington. In the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Smith saved enough fuel to coast to a third place finish. Smith finished the season with five top-tens, 26th in the overall standings. This was Furniture Row Racing's first Cup Series win, and would ultimately be the only time a driver other than Martin Truex Jr. won with them.
In 2012, Smith again returned to Furniture Row. At Daytona, Smith finished second behind Matt Kenseth in their Gatorade Duel to start sixth in the Daytona 500. The week after at Phoenix, Smith would qualify well again, starting third. In an eventful race at Bristol in August, Smith had an altercation with driver Danica Patrick. In the closing laps of the race, Smith drifted up the track, turning Patrick head-on into the outside wall. After climbing from her car, Patrick approached Smith's car as he was driving past and wagged her finger at him.
On September 24, 2012, Furniture Row Racing announced that they were moving on from Smith and had signed Kurt Busch to drive the No. 78 for the rest of the 2012 season and full-time in 2013. Smith's final race with the team came at Talladega. Phoenix Racing, the team Busch left for Furniture Row, announced that Smith would finish the season out with the team. However, after Hendrick Motorsports announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had been diagnosed with a concussion after wrecking at Talladega, Smith was named as Earnhardt's replacement for two races.
In his two-race stint with Hendrick, Smith qualified in the middle of the pack at Charlotte, climbing all the way to the top-ten before having engine issues. The following week at Kansas, Smith qualified in 39th, but managed to finish in the top-ten, finishing seventh. Smith ran the final races of the season at Phoenix Racing.