Richert sees much success in the future for Smith, DEI

Stability and a sharp vision for the future drove veteran NASCAR crew chief Doug Richert to a position with Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2008, completing a circle that began when Richert was Earnhardt's championship-winning chief mechanic in 1980, at age 20.

This season, Richert will contend for Sprint Cup rookie of the year with driver Regan Smith as one element in DEI's four-team ensemble that will operate out of a facility gained when DEI merged last season with Ginn Racing.

Autostock

Regan Smith

Richert, who two years ago worked at Roush Fenway Racing's five-team Cup operation, had his eyes opened when he walked into DEI's massive 180,000 square-foot facility in Mooresville, N.C., after he was hired early in December.

"Obviously, the thing that slaps you in the face is how much room there is in that building that we're all in, now," Richert said just after Christmas. "All four of the Cup cars are in that building they purchased from [Bobby] Ginn -- and that is a huge building -- you could put 15 trucks inside the parking area, if you wanted to.

"It's neat because everything is located under roof. The seven-post is already in and you've got all your tools there to do your job, and they really don't lack anything."

Young driving hopeful Smith, 24, who drove a hodgepodge schedule of 34 races across NASCAR's three national series last season, is equally thrilled to be looking at a consistent program of Sprint Cup races in DEI's No. 01 Chevrolet, tuned by Richert and its veteran crew.

"Number one, to get an opportunity to do a full-time season is going to be really good, coming off the part-time deal I did last year," Smith said. "Not being in the car all the time was tough, and so was working with different groups of guys depending on if I was running the Busch car [17 races], the Cup car [seven times] or the truck [10 races].

"So it's going to be good to work the whole season with the same group of guys, and when you throw in the fact that Doug's going to be over there to be my crew chief -- his experience is going to help me a ton."

Since the end of the 2007 season, Smith said he's been to no less than three tests with DEI's R&D team, led by veteran engineer Kevin Buskirk. Shortly after he was hired by DEI, Richert hopped on the plane to accompany the test team to Nashville.

"He seems like he's got a real good feel for the car," Richert said of Smith's feedback after chassis changes. "If he says that it was a little tight or it had a little more wheel in it on exit or entry or whatever, it would back it up on the [telemetry] data."

Smith was also buoyed by the limited experience.

"It seems like communication is not going to be a problem at all," he said of working with Richert. "He's got a good demeanor on the radio and I'm really looking forward to it."

The experience has got Richert keyed up for the upcoming busy month of testing, which begins Jan. 14 with his team's three-day session at Daytona International Speedway prepping for Speedweeks 2008; followed at month's end by a pair of two-day tests from Jan. 28-31 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and California Speedway.

"We've already got a baseline for what he likes that will be our starting point for the Vegas and California trip," Richert said. "With the way the DEI cars ran at Phoenix, we've got a good starting point for there."

With Smith he faces a task of competing for Sprint Cup rookie of the year in one of the most notable classes of rookies in series history, including open-wheel standouts Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr. -- all Indianapolis 500 winners -- as well as Patrick Carpentier.

"Rookie of the year pretty much comes as a reward of your success," Richert said. "If you go out and just do your best in every race, that's when you get your points and get rewarded for highest finishing rookie and so on.

"But as far as going up against all those guys, if you look at 'em, Regan's got a lot more experience in this style car than any of those guys, so I think experience-wise he's got a little leg up on 'em -- which doesn't mean those guys aren't going to run good and continue to get better by the end of the year."

"You can't put any special emphasis on those [rookie] points," Smith said. "If we're beating those guys every week, which is our goal when it comes to the rookie thing, then we'll get the rookie of the year title -- and that's one of our biggest goals together, to win the rookie of the year -- because it is a big deal.

"I think that will be a great show for the fans, but we also have to focus on the overall points and getting into the top 12 by the end of the year, to make the Chase [for the Sprint Cup]." (Continued)