He moved high to throw a block on Brad Keselowski and it backfired badly. The desperate attempt to preserve the win triggered a 12-car accident, Kyle Larson's car sailed into the fence and debris from the wreck injured nearly 30 fans.
It was a racing accident, nobody's fault. But Smith was racked with guilt.
So it was sweet redemption Saturday when he nipped Keselowski at the finish line to win the Nationwide Series opener - finally, a year later - at Daytona International Speedway.
"I think it hurt him deeply that the fans were involved in the accident," said Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who along sister, Kelley and Rick Hendrick owns the JR Motorsports Chevrolet that Smith drove to victory.
"I think that he personally and privately (bore) some responsibility for his involvement in the crash, just being in the crash, to have someone in the grandstands get hurt had to affect him tremendously. That was definitely probably one of the toughest things he went through personally as a driver."
Smith said he went to dinner with Earnhardt after the accident and leaned on his boss.
"I'm fortunate that I've got a boss who has been in a lot of different situations in this sport and understands a lot of different things over the years in Dale," Smith said. "He just basically said 'You've got to shake it off, it's racing and no fault of anybody. Circumstances sometimes happen. He offered up a lot of good advice in that situation. It did bother me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't."
Nothing bothered Smith on Saturday.
He beat Keselowski by 0.013 for the second-closest finish at Daytona International Speedway and seventh closest in series history. It was the 300th victory for the Hendrick Motorsports engine shop.
Keselowski said last year's crash-marred finish never entered his mind as he plotted his strategy over the closing laps. Smith and Keselowski raced side-by-side at the front of the pack over the final two overtime laps. They were door-to-door exiting the final turn and Smith edged him at the line.
"I'm not that smart and I've got a terrible memory," Keselowski said of not worrying about a repeat of last year.
Trevor Bayne finished third, followed by Kyle Busch, winner of Friday night's Truck Series race, and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Elliott Sadler.
Brendan Gaughan was sixth and followed by Ty Dillon.
Earnhardt, Jr., who was 11th, ran into the back of Joe Nemechek after the finish. He said he was being pushed by Kyle Larson and traffic slowed too quickly. It caused heavy damage to Nemechek and Ryan Sieg's cars that Earnhardt said he'd pay to repair.
"We were slowing down. I was looking all around trying to figure out where everybody was at," he said. "Totally my fault. Really wasn't paying attention. I hate it for Joe and those guys 'cause they don't need to be tearing up race cars."
NASCAR issued its first drafting penalty of the season 86 laps into race when James Buescher was called for push-drafting Keselowski. Buescher's car seemed to be under the rear of Keselowski's car for several seconds, which violates NASCAR's ban on drafting.
NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said the penalty was called because Buescher appeared to be the aggressor regardless of what the television angle showed.
Keselowski said the penalty "set the tone for the rest of the race as far as what guys were looking at for driving their cars."
WDUN will have live coverage from MRN Radio of Sunday's Daytona 500 beginning at Noon on 102.9 FM and at 1 pm on 550 AM.
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, FL
DRIVE4COPD 300 - Feb. 22, 2014
1. (19) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 121 laps, 47 points, $122,152.
2. (17) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 121, 0, $92,585.
3. (31) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 121, 41, $87,066.
4. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 121, 0, $74,785.
5. (5) Elliott Sadler, Toyota, 121, 39, $70,051.
6. (27) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 87.2, 38, $65,276.
7. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 121, 37, $63,776.
8. (1) Dylan Kwasniewski, Chevrolet, 102.2, 36, $65,601.
9. (29) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 121, 0, $60,851.
10. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 121, 0, $61,001.
11. (16) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 121, 0, $52,195.
12. (24) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 121, 32, $58,026.
13. (25) Mike Wallace, Dodge, 121, 31, $51,345.
14. (6) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 121, 0, $51,020.
15. (26) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 121, 29, $57,576.
16. (14) James Buescher, Toyota, 121, 28, $56,826.
17. (20) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 121, 27, $56,376.
18. (39) Ryan Reed, Ford, 121, 26, $56,251.
19. (3) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 121, 0, $50,070.
20. (12) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 121, 24, $56,701.
21. (34) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 121, 23, $55,876.
22. (11) Blake Koch, Toyota, 121, 22, $55,746.
23. (30) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 121, 21, $55,571.
24. (40) Chad Boat, Chevrolet, 121, 20, $49,240.
25. (10) David Starr, Toyota, 121, 19, $55,796.
26. (22) Scott Lagasse Jr., Toyota, 121, 18, $55,171.
27. (7) Jamie Dick, Chevrolet, 121, 18, $55,071.
28. (9) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 120, 0, $48,765.
29. (33) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 120, 15, $54,871.
30. (37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 120, 14, $55,046.
31. (28) Jason White, Toyota, 119, 13, $54,571.
32. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 119, 12, $54,476.
33. (18) Bobby Gerhart, Chevrolet, 118, 11, $54,426.
34. (38) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 117, 10, $54,371.
35. (13) Eric McClure, Toyota, accident, 115, 9, $54,204.
36. (32) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 114, 0, $48,391.
37. (35) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 114, 7, $48,326.
38. (21) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, engine, 12, 6, $42,059.
39. (15) Harrison Rhodes, Toyota, engine, 8, 5, $40,960.
40. (8) Jeff Green, Toyota, vibration, 3, 4, $40,910.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 148.204 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 2 minutes, 28 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.013 seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 20 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 6 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K.Busch 1-11; J.Dick 12-13; D.Earnhardt Jr. 14-41; K.Busch 42-53; K.Larson 54; K.Busch 55-75; R.Smith 76-109; B.Keselowski 110-120; R.Smith 121.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Busch, 3 times for 44 laps; R.Smith, 2 times for 35 laps; D.Earnhardt Jr., 1 time for 28 laps; B.Keselowski, 1 time for 11 laps; J.Dick, 1 time for 2 laps; K.Larson, 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: 1. R.Smith, 47; 2. T.Bayne, 41; 3. E.Sadler, 39; 4. B.Gaughan, 38; 5. T.Dillon, 37; 6. D.Kwasniewski, 36; 7. J.Nemechek, 32; 8. M.Wallace, 31; 9. C.Elliott, 29; 10. J.Buescher, 28.
Regan Smith (7) nips Brad Keselowski (22) at the line to score the win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. Trevor Bayne (6) finished third. / Photo: Tilton/Getty Images
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