Regan Smith! Winning the Southern 500 over Carl Edwards in a thriller. But another feud erupts -- Kyle Busch vs Kevin Harvick

  Regan Smith finally scores his first big NASCAR tour victory, in the legendary Southern 500 (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   Just after a restart with about six miles to go, Harvick was running sixth, and Busch made a move to pass Harvick, and the two brushed each other. Clint Bowyer, Harvick's teammate, jumped to the inside of the two, making it three-wide off the corner. And the track simply wasn't that wide. Bowyer bounced off Harvick and careened down into the inside wall, bringing out the yellow. Here's the video of that incident and the aftermath: http://bit.ly/kiZwnY
  
  

    A late race three-wide run-in with Kyle Busch sent Kevin Harvick (29) into the wall, and into an angry tizzy (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   That set up the green-white-checkered, with Smith – who lost a dramatic race at Talladega in 2008 to Tony Stewart – and Brad Keselowski side by side, just ahead of Edwards. But Edwards had fresher tires, and Smith in fact spun his tires on the restart, which is usually a race-killer.
   But Keselowski – whether or not because of his own history with Edwards – helped Smith with a bump-push on the restart, and that helped foil Edwards for a moment.
   Smith managed to take a two-car-length lead before Edwards could clear Keselowski.
   However Edwards still figured to have the car and the position to win.
   "When I drove down into turn three the last lap, I really planned on driving right by him," Edwards said. "But his car stuck a lot better than I expected. I was looking for a drag race to the finish line.
   "I definitely under-estimated that last restart. I said 'Don't beat him to the line,' because I knew I'd have an advantage with newer tires."
  

  

  
And that Harvick-Busch run-in sent Clint Bowyer hard into the inside wall (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   Smith, whose team runs out of Denver, Colorado, amazingly enough, is in his second season with the operation, reorganized this season with Joe Garone the team manager and Pete Rondeau as crew chief.
   "There have been so many ups and downs in my career, so many times I've said 'What's my next move?'" Smith said. "At the end of 2008 I didn't have a ride. But then I got this one, and they've stayed behind me. At times last year I was half-afraid they'd fire me, but they stuck with me.
    "Really, when I walked to the car before this race I really thought I could win this race. I've thought that at every race this year."
   In fact Smith, Garone and Rondeau have been one of the big stories this season, though not played out in the media as much as it should have been. They have been running top-10 nearly every week, though dogged by bad luck.
   Rondeau, once Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, declined to call this win vindication, but it certainly was, as big a change as Rondeau has made with Smith. One of the big changes has been Smith, mentally. Until this year, he was pressing too hard.
    Now he says he's more comfortable with things, and more confident....even if he was a 500-to-1 pick in Las Vegas for this race. "To win this race, to beat Carl Edwards, it's a Cinderella story," Smith said. "I never thought I might get that Talladega 'win' back, but this means so much more than even that win would have. Now everybody can notice how well we've been doing."
  
  

    An angry Kevin Harvick, on the run to the NASCAR hauler, after a run-in with Kyle Busch took him out of contention (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   Edwards went over to Smith's car after the race and congratulated him, a magnanimous move: "You've got to congratulate Regan, because this is a big deal, and I told him that.
       "Regan is a heck of a guy. And as upset as I am to have lost that race, Regan is as good as any driver out there, and it was just a matter of time before they put a whole race together. All of us may have underestimated them. But no longer."
   Edwards was just one of several drivers who made the unusual move to go to victory lane to give Smith a pat on the back.
   However, the Harvick-Busch flap will certainly keep everyone's attention too the next few days...particularly with next week's Charlotte All-Star no-points race coming up.
   This Harvick-Busch incident didn't end on the track. After the race, as they drove toward pit road, Harvick blocked Busch's car, triggering another incident. Busch tried to push Harvick's car out of the way, in a move that some saw as not only ill-advised but dangerous. Harvick got out of his car and went to Busch's car – the safety net was down -- and threw a punch. Busch drove off.
   That brouhaha drew both men a call to the NASCAR hauler to discuss things.
     Harvick, when he emerged from the brief talks, offered little:
   "Obviously we were racing hard and doing what we had to do there at the end, and things happen.
   "That's it. What do you do? That's racing, I guess."
    And what was discussed?
    "Not much.
    "I don't have anything really to tell you other than not much."
    So it's over?
    "You saw the end," Harvick replied.
    And Busch?
   "It was tight racing after the restart," Busch said. "Harvick is up there on the top, a little bit loose, and I had a run, and I gave him room. He kind of came off the wall."
    Busch said the TV replay he saw offered "a bad angle."
   And he gave his version: "He (Harvick) lifted early to let me go into turn three, and I thought it was all good. Then he drives into the back of me. He made my car loose all the way through the exit (turn four), and made a run for those guys to get back on my inside.
   "Clint wrecked bouncing off Harvick.
   "It was just uncalled for, and just unacceptable racing. It's the last couple of laps, but I gave him room off two, and I didn't get the room (in return).
   "(We) came off turn two...and I was on his inside, and under the white line, trying to give him room, and we made contact off two, and as we raced down the backstretch we touched again. Getting into turn three Harvick lifted early, and then he throttled back up, or let off the brake or something, and hit me getting into turn three, and pushed me through the corner where I got loose....
   "I was really slow off the corner, where Harvick and Bowyer got back to inside at the exit. As we came off the corner all three of us made contact."
   And after the race?
   Busch: "I was just cooling down, and talking on the radio, and I see the Harvick car come up flying up on my inside through three and four.
   "Instead of going to pit road I thought he was going to force me into the inside of the pit road wall. So I gave myself a bit of room, and turned up like I would for another cool down lap. And he followed me.
   "When he pulled up next to me, I tried to back up. I put my car in reverse, and I blew reverse out of the transmission. So I had to pull forward and do a U-turn to get back to pit road.
   "I was just trying to get away from the situation with Harvick. Unfortunately he got to pit road before me. I knew if I tried to turn left or right he was going to run into me, or block me, or something. I just stayed behind him; I was just going to sit there, and let him cool his head....
   "Instead of that, he wanted to get out of his car I guess and wanted to fight. I knew that wasn't going to be a good situation.
   "My choices were limited. I was either going to get punched in the face, and then wait for Harvick to get back in his car...or just drive through his car and push it out of the way...
   "I made a judgment call, and it wasn't one of the best choices I had, but I pushed his car out of the way. Unfortunately there were men walking down pit road. I hate that somebody could have gotten hurt, but I was just trying to get away from it and back to my hauler."
    NASCAR officials themselves had no immediate comment on the incident or any penalties they might consider.

     A beautiful night in Darlington, S.C., and a lot of hot action on the track during the Southern 500. Might make a good race track for the championship playoffs, eh? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   NASCAR has been trying, in vain it would appear, to handle a long-simmering dispute between Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman. Apparently Newman threw a punch at Montoya in the NASCAR hauler during a brief Friday meeting, though no one would confirm that. NASCAR would only say 'things didn't go as well as expected.'
   So what to expect NASCAR to be able to do with Harvick and Busch, who have had their share of run-ins, is also uncertain.
   One reason for the anger Harvick and Busch displayed was that both men had very good shots at winning. Busch dominated the first half of the race until a loose rear wheel forced him to pit road under green. That opened the door to his rivals, and the race quickly turned into an Edwards-Kasey Kahne battle over the final 30 miles.
    Then with 10 miles to go the yellow came out for Jeff Burton's blown engine.
    Surprisingly perhaps most of the 18 men on the lead lap pitted for new tires. Smith, Keselowki and Tony Stewart did not pit. Moments after that restart Harvick, Bowyer and Busch all crashed, bringing out the final yellow.
   "I didn't really contemplate staying out," Edwards said. "I thought about it, but I thought new tires would be such an advantage.
   "If I had more than a lap to work Regan over, I think we would have
run right by him. But we didn't get it.  It turned into a green-white-checkered and I was surprised."
   Edwards, who carries the Sprint Cup tour lead to Dover, Del., this week, figured he was in just the right spot for the final restart with two to go:

   "On the restart he spun the tires a little bit, and I thought 'All right, I'm not going to beat him to the line, but I've got a good enough car with fresh tires and  I can beat him.'
   "But Brad hooked on his rear bumper and they took off, and I thought 'Oh, man, I'm in trouble now.'"
   Smith, who at Talladega in 2008 finished first only to have NASCAR rule he went below the yellow line in passing Stewart, has had mixed emotions about so many things since then...until this season. Now he's shown a quantum leap in maturity and confidence.
   Did he see the Busch-Harvick melee?
   "I don't have a clue what happened behind me…other than Carl Edwards," Smith said with a laugh.
   "What I'm so proud of is what we've done with this team from Colorado. You have to enjoy the ups when you get them, and I'm smart enough to know that."
    And Edwards' take on the Busch-Harvick and Montoya-Newman controversies:
   "I haven't really paid much attention to the details of everything going on, but that's the passion of the sport.  I've been involved in my fair share of that stuff…and I'll just sit back and watch like everybody else and see what happens.
     "It is nice to just go out and race and to be upset after the race for finishing second and not being in an altercation with someone. But this is racing, and you're going to have stuff like that. All of us know that can happen at any time, and we're prepared."

                                       
  
  
   Results of Saturday's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
 
  

    Regan Smith (C) gets congratulations from Greg Biffle (3M) and Brad Keselowski (L) (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)