Regan Smith’s return to Talladega Superspeedway for this weekend’s Sprint Cup race will be in the #78 National Day of Prayer Chevy for Furniture Row Racing. This is the fourth straight year at the Talladega spring race that the Denver, Colo.-based Furniture Row company is donating space on the car to National Day of Prayer, an annual observance established by Congress and held on the first Thursday in May. “It’s hard not to think about that last lap,” said Smith, who led the field to the checkered flag in the October Talladega race, but saw victory taken away when NASCAR ruled that he passed Tony Stewart on the final lap below the out-of-bounds yellow line. The penalty relegated Smith to an 18th-place finish in his Dale Earnhardt Inc. entry. “I was being blocked and it was either passing Stewart or crashing the field,” explained Smith. “I felt I made the proper move and won the race.” With Furniture Row Racing running a limited schedule in 2009, the Talladega race will be Smiths fifth Cup event of the season. He has qualified in the previous four races he entered with a best starting position of ninth, which was at last weeks event in Phoenix.(FRR PR)(4-22-2009)
