The 2011 Showtime Southern 500 is not most remembered for its winner; instead, most recall the Darlington Raceway showdown as the epicenter of long-boiling tensions between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.

But Furniture Row Racing (now extinct) driver Regan Smith, in his 105th career start, surprised many by capturing his first career NASCAR Cup Series checkered flag past the likes of Busch and company, proving a popular and unexpected winner in the process.

The 2025 Cup Series will start its playoffs at Darlington this weekend after a breakneck Coke Zero Sugar 400 that saw the 16-team field codified.

Smith almost won earlier in 2011 at Talladega but lost out to veteran driver Tony Stewart on a technicality (despite finishing first).

“Winning here means more to me than that [Talladega] win ever could’ve meant,” Smith admitted post-race. “I don’t think I’ll go to bed tonight thinking about Talladega, that’s for sure.”

“I’m not supposed to win this race. I’ve never even had a top-five. I guess in this series, it just shows anyone can win,” he continued. Smith would never win another Cup Series race.

Across 224 career starts, he recorded 14 top-10 finishes and posted a season-best 24th place showing in 2012. In 2013, he was named the circuit’s most popular driver.

Busch and Harvick bumped each other throughout the race, but tension escalated after Busch completed turning Harvick around towards the end.

Afterwards, Harvick exited his car on pit road, approached Busch’s car, and attempted to hit him. “I recall my shoulder still hurting because as I went in to punch him in the head, he decided to take off in his car,” Harvick recalled in 2024 on his podcast. “He knew he was going to get punched in the head.”

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Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing at the time, was less enthused. “Just uncalled for. Just unacceptable racing,” he said. “You know, it’s in the last couple of laps, but I gave him room off of two, I didn’t get the room. Just real unfortunate. I hate we tore up a few good cars there.”

Harvick admitted he spoke with Joe Gibbs later that evening. “Joe actually wrote me a letter after that meeting of just, ‘Hey, this, this and this,'” he added.