Smith Bags Top 10 At Darlington

JR Motorsports concluded Friday night’s VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway with a top-10 finish from Regan Smith who secured a seventh-place finish with the No. 7 Hellmann’s Centennial Chevrolet. Smith made steady improvements from the drop of the green flag, finding himself in ninth by lap 50. The Hellmann’s crew propelled Smith toward the front with a fast pit stop under the next caution that netted four positions. Following the ensuing restart, Smith climbed to third and maintained a spot among the top-five for the next 70 laps. When the field slowed for the race’s final caution, Smith pitted for four tires while a few competitors took two. As a result, Smith lost track position and fell to seventh, maintaining the position to the checkered flag. 

Regan Smith, driver No. 7 Hellmann’s Centennial team
“I felt like we ran better with the Hellmann’s Chevrolet than where we finished tonight. There was some strategy plays at the end that probably cost us a couple spots. We made the right decision from where we were on the racetrack based on the cars that were around us. We weren’t going to gain anything if we had done two tires like some of those guys did. As it turns out, our only other option would have been to stay out and we didn’t think that would work. It could have gone either way.

“Overall, it was a solid night. I was loose at times. I was tight at times. It’s tough to tell your crew chief what you need when you have two different things going on. Greg did a really good job balancing the mix of what we had going on. We’ll take the points lead out of here. Certainly I think we’re in a good situation when we’re disappointed with seventh.”

More news