What We Should Be Talking About After Darlington

As usual, the Darlington Raceway provided amazing racing. It is genuinely one of the best races of the year. The finish also provided fireworks. I understand that everyone wants to discuss the latest chapter in the Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch rivalry. I, too, enjoy controversy. However, it would not be appropriate to overlook the Regan Smith victory.

Regan Smith drives for Furniture Row Racing, a one-team operation that hails from Denver, Colorado. Pundits believe that if you operate out of the Charlotte region, you cannot succeed in NASCAR. They also believe that it is virtually impossible for a one-car team to win in NASCAR. Both theories were crushed on Saturday night.

While Smith did not have the fastest car on the track, his performance was solid, as he was running in 10th position when he opted the remain on the track and gamble for the win. He held off Carl Edwards following a green-white-checker restart en route to his first career win.

Two and a half years ago at Talladega, Smith appeared to win his first career race. Driving for DEI at the time, he made a late-race move to pass Tony Stewart for the win. NASCAR officials deemed Smith's pass illegal, as he went below the yellow line. Therefore, Stewart won another race, Smith remained winless. DEI merged with Chip Ganassi's organization, and Smith was not included in the plans. He landed a ride with the upstart Furniture Row Racing team, which competed in a partial schedule in 2009. They have steadily improved over the last two years, especially in qualifying.

Smith was fast enough to make the gamble work on Saturday, and that is what we should be talking about first. After we acknowledge Smith's triumph, then we can move on to the feuding drivers.