A couple of years ago, Casey Smith was one of the brightest up-and-coming drivers in the country.  In fact, Smith still is an up-and-coming driver, but somewhat fell off of the map when the ASA National Tour folded.

Since then, Smith has been looking for a niche to get back into the limelight.  He raced a few NASCAR Southeast Series events.  He’s also run some Super Late Model and USRA races around the Texas area.

Smith has been a little quiet as of the last few months, but he is making noise once again after finishing an impressive fourth on Sunday in the Rattler 250.  Smith had a race-winning car all night long and even led for 17 laps just past halfway.

“It’s one of the best cars I’ve had in a long time,” said Smith.  “I’ve always run well here.  I like this track a lot. We got here and people said it was bad on traction.  And man, it really is.  It is worse than Pensacola I think.  I love slick racetracks like this though, so I think that is why we ran so well.”

Once Smith got the lead, he came in to pit with the rest of the leaders.  Unfortunately, several drivers stayed out, putting Smith and the rest of the guys that came in to pit mid-pack on the restart.  The ensuing restart saw a lot of beating and banging, which eventually took its toll on Smith’s #99.

“I thought we were going to win it,” added Smith.  “The caution fell too early to get tires, but everyone came in to get tires so we did too.  A couple didn’t and it paid off for them.  We tightened it up a little too much.”

“After the deal when I was in the middle, three-wide, someone took a hard right into my left front.  It knocked the toe around and probably messed up the caster and camber a little bit.   It was rough out there and after that, the car just wasn’t as good as it was earlier.