Smith Qualifies 6th in Bristol

March 16, 2012

Regan Smith notched his third top-10 qualifying effort of the young season with a strong performance Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. He will start sixth (outside Row 3) in Sunday's Food City 500 Sprint Cup race.

Smith's No. 78 Furniture Row/CSX Play if Safe Chevrolet covered the half-mile, high-banked oval in 15.373 seconds at 124.816 miles per hour.

"We had a strong race car all day," said Smith, who was seventh fastest in practice. "We took a shot at the pole, but came up a few ticks short. The car did get a little loose in turns three and four. But we gave it our best effort and the end result is that our Furniture Row/CSX Play it Safe Chevrolet will have a good starting position for Sunday. We've had some decent finishes in the first three races, but it's time that we start hitting our stride."

Greg Biffle captured the pole with a time and speed of 15.324 at 125.215. Rounding out the top-five in order were: AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski.

The Food City 500 will be televised on FOX, beginning with a 30-minute prerace show at 10:30 a.m. MT.

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