Smith Qualifies 28th in Daytona

July 1, 2011

Regan Smith will start 28th in Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway.

In Friday afternoon's time trials, Smith's No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet lapped the 2.5-mile oval in 50.041 seconds at 179.853 miles per hour.

Smith, who led the Sprint Cup Series in qualifying with an average of 10.188 entering the Daytona race, was not fazed with his starting position for the 160-lap, 400-mile event.

"We only had 45 minutes of practice yesterday and our concentration was in race trim," said Smith. "We feel good about our Furniture Row Chevrolet. When it comes to working the draft tomorrow night we know that our car will be good at pushing and being pushed. With that said I am confident that we'll hook up with good partners throughout the race. The key is to make sure you're with the right partner during the closing laps of the race."

The pole winner was Mark Martin (182.065 mph). Rounding out the top-five in order were: Trevor Bayne, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon and David Ragan.

Saturday night's race will be televised on TNT, beginning with a 60-minute prerace show at 4:30 p.m. MT.

###