Regan Smith And The Forgotten Revenge Arc

Regan Smith has had it tough in his career, and that’s understating it from starting his Cup career with Ginn Racing, a team that turned out to be a scam. His first career win was robbed from under him because NASCAR didn’t understand its own rules. To have the team he built up get their first-ever win at Darlington, and to get rid of a Cup Champion who happened to be on the market.

And while later in his career he did find success and stability in the Xfinity Series with the JRM No. 7, he could never get that title, even though he was always one of the best drivers in the series year in and year out. This would frustrate a lot of people, but Regan Smith was never known as one of NASCAR’s most aggressive drivers, but was known for being one of its coolest heads.

2015: When Smith Finally Got His Revenge Arc

With Regan Smith’s biggest enemies being the whole RCR team. He’d even already had a problem with Ty Dillon, whom he had confronted about the way he raced him the previous year at Bristol, Tennessee.

The two yelled at each other on pit road, and the JRM driver accused Ty on national TV of running him into the fence multiple times. Ty responded by saying he was trying to do all he could for his team in a tight championship fight. And that it was Bristol, and that’s the nature of the beast there. But for a while, it seemed like that was all the two had for each other.

Then the 2015 race at the Glen happened. Heading into the New York state weekend, Regan found himself one spot below Ty Dillon in points, Ty being in third and Regan Smith in fourth, with not a lot to separate the two. So they both fully knew the stakes as they both took the restart on lap 40 with Regan Smith right in front of Ty Dillon.

But that didn’t stop Ty in the three from making it in three wide into turn one. Which led to contact that spun Regan Smith’s seven around like a top and forced it from almost in the lead to all the way back at the back of the grid.

That didn’t stop him from using his fast JRM Chevy to move up the field and get those spots back, but that’s when another RCR car gave him more trouble. As Ty Dillon’s teammate, Brendan Gaughan already made a mistake that saw him move out of the groove. This gave Regan Smith a massive gap to pass Gaughan.

Now, either because of desperation or because Gaughan wasn’t paying attention, he made a massive mistake that ruined Smith’s day. As he came down the race track like Smith wasn’t there and slammed into his door, causing the 7 to spin for the second time, it was because of an RCR Chevy.

This was the straw that broke Regan Smith’s patience, and after the race, he would go after both perpetrators. It started calmly enough, with Smith yelling at Gaughan through his car window, and it ended there.

The Highly Controversial Clash With Ty Dillon

Smith then went after Ty Dillon in what would be a way more memorable and heated clash, which is what this race is best remembered for. As TV cameras suddenly cut to the two, they were separated only by two NASCAR officials. And even then, they were still trying to grab each other. Regan Smith even knocked Ty’s cap off with full psycho eyes.

Ty even admitted fault for the first incident and said he would talk to him and apologize. But that Regan Smith came over there to fight him, TV cameras showing Smith grabbing Ty’s collar before he could even say anything.

But to give the other side of the story, Smith did say Ty dumped other cars and said it was easy for him to take responsibility since he didn’t get a scratch on his car, so he didn’t have to worry about payback. He also made his disappointment clear. Saying he might’ve lost the title today, but that Ty Dillon did too. There was no way he was going to let him win that title after what he did.

Regan Smith’s Bump and Run To Win at Mid-Ohio

Expect Regan Smith never really gave up his title hopes, or didn’t care anymore, and decided if this was the way people were racing, he’d get in on the fun too. The race directly after the Glen was another road course in the middle of Ohio, hence the name Mid-Ohio. Meaning another week of close contact, one groove racing.

Things were calm for Regan Smith and his 7 team until the very end, when he played dirty to win. On the last lap, Smith was second with the leader, a Canadian by the name of Alex Tagliani, who had never won a NASCAR race before. But it’s been a year since Regan Smith’s last win, and after last week, he didn’t care what it took.

So, on the final corner after having Tagliani right in front of him for laps now, he decided he’d move him out of the way to take a long overdue victory. Looking like he should’ve been driving a black three instead of a purple seven car that day.

How Wrecks Impacted Smith’s Future On-Track Performances

Smith mentioned how often he’d been wrecked at road courses to justify the move. And said they were going to celebrate hard tonight, taking pride in the move. This didn’t calm down the hot-headed Canadian. It had the opposite effect.

Saying if he knew he would do that, he would’ve pushed him off instead of passing him clean. Saying he only raced him like that because he only does road courses, so he wasn’t going to be there next week to pay him back.

But of course, he didn’t know he was going to do that. Nobody knew he was going to do that. Regan Smith was one of the most clean-cut guys in the sport and still was even after this bizarre two-week stretch. Where he angered three guys, fought one, and won a race of a last-lap bump-and-run.

Kyle Busch, it’d be par for the course with him, Tony Stewart, sure, Kevin Harvick, sure, but Regan Smith? It’s as bizarre to look back on as it was to experience, but that was Regan Smith’s vengeance arc. Thanks a bunch for reading!