Smith Qualifies 5th in Michigan

June 18, 2011

Regan Smith regained the No. 1 season starting average after posting a fifth-place qualifying effort for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.

In Saturday's time trials, Smith's No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet lapped the two-mile oval in 38.378 seconds at 187.607 miles per hour.

It will be the eighth time in 15 races this season that Smith will start in the top-five. His Sprint Cup leading qualifying average is 9.226.

"It was a good qualifying effort," stated Smith. "We had some work to do on the car yesterday after practice and the right adjustments were made. I left a little bit out there, I didn't come through turn four the way I wanted to -- we lost some time there. But overall it was another strong qualifying run for our Furniture Row Chevrolet."

The pole winner was Kurt Busch (188.699 mph). Rounding out the top-five in order were: David Reutimann, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Smith.

Sunday's Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 will be televised on TNT, beginning with a 60-minute prerace show at 10 a.m. MT.

###