Smith Qualifies 14th at Indy

July 28, 2012

Regan Smith will start 14th in Sunday's Brickyard 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In Saturday afternoon's qualifying session, Smith's Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet, which is paying tribute to the Aurora, Colo. shooting victims, covered the famed 2.5-mile oval in 49.869 seconds at 180.473 miles per hour.

Smith started the day with an average first practice session, but came back strong in the final session. He is looking forward to starting his first race with Furniture Row Racing's new crew chief Todd Berrier.

"We had a solid qualifying run, but it wasn't picture perfect," said Smith. "I didn't get everything in Turn 4. But we were much better in qualifying than our first practice. What has me feeling pumped about tomorrow is how our Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet performed during the second practice session in race trim conditions. Todd (Berrier) and the guys did a good job and we're all excited about tomorrow."

Smith, who finished third in last year's Brickyard 400, said it's been an honor driving the Aurora, Colo. tribute car.

"It's been both an emotional and humbling experience driving the car with the names of the 12 victims who were killed in last week's shooting," stated Smith. "We're going to do everything we can to make everyone affected by the tragedy proud of their race car. And I want to give a special shout out to the heroes who risked their lives to save others."

The pole winner was Denny Hamlin. Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.

Sunday's race will be televised on ESPN, beginning with a 60-minute prerace show at 10 a.m. MT (noon ET).