With new crew chief, JR Motorsports driver looks to defend 2014 Daytona win
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As last year’s runner-up in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, Regan Smith has only one possible spot to move up the pecking order in the season-long standings. He’ll make that effort by working with new crew chief Jason Burdett, starting a communication process that is more personal than one might think.
“We go to the movies, we go to dinner … no, I’m just messing with you,” Smith said during a playful moment at last week’s NASCAR Media Day. “We skip through the park together. In all seriousness, we’ve spent quite a bit of time together just at the shop.”
The imagery, which could’ve been plucked from an online dating commercial, doesn’t quite capture the early semblances of team chemistry for the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet group. But at the same time, Smith said the getting-to-know-you phase has been an important step in moving forward.
“I think the season holds some change,” Smith said. “New crew chief, some new guys coming in. We kept most of our team intact other than the crew chief position, so that’s going to be a good thing. I think it holds a strong year and a solid year that needs to be stronger than last year was. That means only one position that we can go from where we were.”
The 31-year-old veteran’s journey begins with Saturday’s season-opening Alert Today Florida 300 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1) at Daytona International Speedway, where Smith is the defending race winner. It marks his third year with JRM, which ran 1-2 in the final XFINITY standings last season, with rookie Chase Elliott hoisting the series title.
The opening win wound up being the No. 7 team’s only victory in 2014, prompting JR Motorsports to shuffle the crew chief order, replacing Ryan Pemberton with Burdett, who boasts a history of working on championship-level Sprint Cup Series teams. Though the NASCAR-mandated ban on testing has limited some of the time it takes for a team to become a more cohesive group, Smith said he has little concern about putting the pairing into action for the 33-race long haul.
“Our relationship was good before he came to work there, but it’s gotten better since he’s come to JR Motorsports,” Smith said. “The more I’ve been around him and seen how he acts with the guys, how he handles the guys, how the guys act with him — it’s gotten me more and more excited about getting down here and just getting everything started.”
Without testing, Smith has had plenty of off-track developments to keep him busy in the offseason. His wife, Megan, is expecting the couple’s first child — a boy — any day now. For a man who finds comfort driving cars at rapid rate of speed, Smith described the couple’s experience at a birthing class with one word — “terrifying.”
“I walked out of there, and I’m not going to lie, I got a beer almost immediately,” Smith said. “Outside of that, it was good.”
The other major life adventure of the offseason involved driving of a different sort, a nearly 1,600-mile road trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving with his team boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr. After forging through the night, rain and fog to help move a truck to Smith’s Rocky Mountain home, it left Smith with a better appreciation for their relationship — not to mention a better impersonation of Earnhardt’s trademark North Carolina twang.
“I feel like we know quite a bit about each other, just as friends,” Smith said. “Yeah, he’s a boss, but he’s a friend, too. Fortunate to have that situation.”
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