Headline Details
06.20.2010
Accident Spoils Smith's Road Course Run at Infineon Raceway
SONOMA, Calif. (June 20, 2010) -- A multicar accident which involved Regan Smith left the Furniture Row Racing driver with a 38th-place finish in Sunday's Toyota/SaveMart 350k road race at Infineon Raceway. Smith, who was competing in his first road race in nearly three years, was running in the low 30s when he got collected in the five-car pile-up on Lap 67, which forced NASCAR to red flag the race for more than 20 minutes. Other drivers also collected in the frontstretch melee were Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Sam Hornish Jr. and Max Papis.
Smith's No. 78 machine suffered heavy damage, forcing the Furniture Row crew to make major repairs. Smith did return to action and completed 86 of the 110 laps at the 10-turn, 1.99-mile road circuit.
"Wrong place, wrong time," said a disappointed Smith. "I had no place to go and got wrecked pretty good. Up until that point we were being patient and felt we had a good strategy for the remainder of the race to get a decent finish. But on these road courses it can get crowded, and seeing multicar accidents is quite common. But I still look forward to the next road race (Aug. 8) at Watkins Glen International."
The race winner at Infineon was Jimmie Johnson. Rounding out the top-five in order were: Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon.
The next Sprint Cup race is Sunday (June 27) at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, N.H.
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