Regan Smith tries to work under Jamie McMurray last spring.

Martinsville Speedway was the first Sprint Cup track Regan Smith raced on, albeit in a racer much different from the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars he runs these days.

 And after the way his weekend finished in Talladega, he’ll probably be glad to be back to familiar, friendly turf for the TUMS QuikPak 500 at Martinsville on October 19.

 Smith, a Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate, thought he had picked up his first NASCAR Sprint Cup win when he shot past the low side of Tony Stewart at the start-finish line on the final lap of the Amp Energy 500 Sunday. But NASCAR ruled Smith had gone below the yellow out-of-bounds stripe to make the pass, giving Stewart the win and relegating the young driver to 18th.

 “I’m looking forward to getting  back to Martinsville,” said Smith. “I did well there the first trip this year and we’ve gotten better.”

 Smith has two Sprint Cup starts at Martinsville Speedway, one in the spring of 2007, one in the spring of 2008. In his first trip to the tricky half-mile oval he started 36 and finished 26 in the DEI Chevrolet while this past spring he started 33 and finished a very respectable 14th.
 And while those are his only two Cup starts at Martinsville, he got an early start on the historic speedway.

 “Martinsville was the very first big-time track I raced at,” recalled the 25-year-old Smith. “I ran the Allison Legacy cars there when I was maybe 14 or 15. I started on the pole and finished third.”

 It was those early days in karting and in the Legacy cars that left Smith comfortable on short tracks.

 “I feel like anytime we come to a short track we have an edge,” Smith explained. “That’s just the opposite from last year when it was the bigger tracks that I did a little better on. I think the short tracks are where I’m most competitive on now.”

 He certainly won’t back down from any of the rough-house action normally produced at Martinsville.

 “Everybody dishes it out at Martinsville. Most of it is unintentional, it’s just part of racing there,” said Smith. “All the beating and banging and stuff there is great. I got hit so hard a couple of times in the spring, I had to pull my visor back down. It had gotten knocked up on my helmet.”

 And despite the disappointment of not picking up his first Sprint Cup win Sunday, Smith remains excited about his lead in the rookie-of-the-year chase. He leads Sam Hornish by three points and Patrick Carpentier by seven.

 “I think the rookie race is a big deal to me and Sam and Patrick,” said Smith. “We’re all focused on it. Neither of us has had the season we had hoped for, but having that trophy on the mantle at the end of the year would be pretty cool.”

Tickets for the TUMS QuikPak 500, the sixth race in the Chase For The Sprint Cup, are on sale and may be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX or online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com.

 Tickets for the Kroger 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on October 18 are also on sale and also may be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX or online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com.