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Junior Says: Reagan Smith should have been declared winner
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Published: October 12, 2008
MOORESVILLE - Just 10 miles or so over the river and through the woods on backroads from Lowe's Motor Speedway is the new DEI East, as distinguished from Dale Earnhardt's famous GarageMahal, now DEI West, a few miles over toward the Earnhardt family farm.
Bobby Hutchens, at his new desk, inside this purposely nondescript, highly secretive 200,000-square foot complex, jammed with race cars, engines, a 400-man staff of engineers, metallurgists and good ol' stock-car crew men, punches the "expand" button on his large LCD and points to the clearly defined green-and-yellow paint scraps -- from Tony Stewart's left-rear quarterpanel -- on the right-front bumper of Regan Smith's Talladega Chevy.
That, plus video of the final moments of last Sunday's race at Talladega and the dueling between DEI rookie Smith and Stewart for the controversial win, would seem to make clear the point that NASCAR called the wrong winner at Talladega, that Smith did make the winning move legally, that Stewart did force Smith below the yellow line.
But the argument is being waged not here at DEI anymore -- that race is history, and the call has been made -- but rather by rivals questioning NASCAR's thinking in interpreting the out-of-bounds rule for Talladega and Daytona.
Smith, when bopped by Stewart, should have simply stayed on the gas and held his line -- and caused a major pileup at the front of the pack. That's the argument being made by some drivers.
Let's ask Dale Earnhardt Jr. (who won a race at Talladega a few years ago with a pass clearly below the yellow line, that was a no call by NASCAR).
"It is unclear as to what is exactly ‘being forced below it,' Earnhardt said of the yellow line. "In my opinion, Regan Smith was forced below the line.
"Regan was on the inside of Tony, and he had no other choice than to move away from Tony, and that sends him below the line.
"In my opinion, Regan wins the race.
"I feel Tony did what he had to do. Everyone would have done what Tony did. Everyone would have done what Regan did. Neither one of them were wrong or right.
"What's curious is when are you ‘forced?'
"Show me some video. I want to know what's ‘forced' and what's not.
"I feel like that was being forced. He can't sit there and hold his line -- he's going to wreck Tony and probably wreck himself.
"That's ridiculous to expect someone to be that bullheaded about a situation like that and put everyone in jeopardy, just to not be accused of passing below the line.
"He didn't pull down there and then go by Tony. He was forced down there. That wasn't his choice.
"Regan made a great move to go high and fake Tony high. Then he went under Tony, when there was enough room for his car to be there and race -- and Tony came down and forced him under the line.
"How is that not being forced?"
Coming from a driver who has more than a few Talladega and Daytona wins, that's a pretty clear-cut issue.
"I was in the same situation in 2002 or '03 going into turn three (at Talladega), and I was forced below, and that was declared OK," Earnhardt said. "And this was exactly the same. Exactly the same.
"Regan was actually under Tony and passing on the track there for a split second when Tony came down and they actually touched. And then he was forced onto the apron.
"Maybe it's a good idea to sit down and really go over it -- and have some people that have the guts to stand up and ask some questions.
"If you're in that situation, Regan had two feet up on Tony, and Tony comes down, Regan is forced to the apron, and the checkered is 200 yards away.
"Coming under the checkered flag, this is Regan Smith. If it's a guy who has won seven championships, maybe it's a different discussion.
"But this guy ain't got a job next year, as far as he knows. And he crossed the finish line thinking he might have won a race -- and he ends up going home 18th.
"You can tell him all day long everybody in the garage knows who won that race, and try to make him feel better. But it don't help. It's just tough, really tough."
But for Hutchens, the 20-year engineering boss at Richard Childress', now down heading the reformatting of DEI, two months into it, that's history. It's good PR, actually, for the job at hand, which is finding a sponsor for Smith's team for next season so DEI can keep the promising rookie. And Hutchens also has to find a new driver and sponsor to fill Paul Menard's spot on the team, with Menard leaving at the end of the season. Veteran Martin Truex Jr., with Bass Pro Shops, is signed for another year. But teammate Aric Almirola is on the sponsorship hot seat, as well as Smith.
It looks like an uphill battle for DEI and Hutchens, but it also looks like things are turning around.
Hutchens' move from Childress' Winston-Salem shops down here wasn't expected when it came in late August. "Richard and Teresa (Earnhardt) talked to me about coming over here and trying to help them sort out things. They didn't really have anybody in this position. My title is vice president of competition, but it's broader than just that.
"When I walked in and saw all the equipment and tools they have, and the people, and the racers, it's all here to compete and win races, and hopefully compete for a championship.
"It's going to be a challenge to put all that together. But that's what I look forward to.
"We will have to have four teams to be able to compete with the Rick Hendricks and Jack Roushes and Joe Gibbs and Childress cars. Two cars would be hard to do that with. Three cars would be hard to do that with.
"We've got to have four, to gain that technology, to gain the advantages in efficiencies."
Hutchens has been praising Smith even before Talladega for some remarkable work his rookie season -- first, keeping his team in the top 35 in points, to guarantee starting spots, and, second, to avoid ticking off rivals and causing crashes. Smith drives clean, hard, and is getting the job done.
"That affects your race weekend, if you're worried about just getting in the race," Hutchens said. "Nobody has really given our four guys credit for keeping their cars in the top 35.
"And Regan's situation has been particularly tough: they've changed crew chiefs a couple times, they've changed crews. And he knew all along that if he fell out of the top 35, he might not have a ride.
"After all he's done for us, it would be a tragedy for him not to be back in this car -- in a DEI car -- next year."
So where is the new sponsorship?
"One of the biggest accomplishments is that you don't hear veteran drivers getting out of their cars going, ‘Regan caused that' or, ‘Regan was in my way' or, ‘Regan didn't know what he was doing out there,' like you have with a lot of these other rookies.
"He's not caused any situations, and he's not wrecked any cars this year on his own...
"He might have had one wreck where he blew a tire out. But he's not torn up any equipment.
"And he's done everything the company has asked of him.
"He's impressed me a lot since I came over here."
But re-signing Smith and picking up a new sponsor aren't Hutchens' only jobs. The big one is to ensure the equipment is fast and solid, and it's been that way the past several weeks.
The biggest job, though, Hutchens said is just providing "Some TLC."
Morale has been down at DEI, and Hutchens has been working on the rebound.
"The biggest thing right now is moral support," Hutchens said. "They've got an awesome team here. DEI, as a company, has a lot of good people. They've got a lot of racers in the company.
"And they've got a lot of really nice race cars -- competitive race cars.
"So I've got a short-term plan and a long-term plan: We've started working harder in the seven-post (race simulation) and chassis area. We're focusing our engineering efforts toward making our cars fast.
"But the biggest thing is just having somebody here the guys can talk to and say, ‘Hey, my car is not driving well,' or, ‘I don't like this, but I do like that.'
"So we have a meeting now every Monday -- the four drivers, four crew chiefs and me, and that's been a bigger part of what we've tried to accomplish in the eight weeks I've been here than anything -- the communication thing.
"Once they sit down in a room together, they realize they all have the same problems. And how we solve those problems is on my shoulders.
"There are a lot of things that are just awesome with this company. Our biggest issue is trying to find sponsors right now, that's our No. 1 goal, and hopefully keeping Regan here. He's done a great job for our company.
"It would have been pretty neat for our sport last week for him to have that W."
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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