Pete Rondeau Guides Regan Smith to First
Win at Darlington
The #78 Furniture Row Team in Victory Lane. Getty
Images photo
By George Campbell
Maine native and former Busch North Series racer Pete
Rondeau won his first race as crew chief for Furniture Row Motorsports over
the weekend. The win came at one of NASCAR’s most historic tracks, 62 year
old Darlington Raceway, in Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500.
Rondeau guided driver Regan Smith to his first NASCAR
Sprint Cup win with his late race call not to pit under a caution, which
gave the young team the lead on lap 360.
Despite the older tires, the 27 year old Smith would not
be denied in the final 11 laps. Smith held of the charges of some of the
sports top drivers, including runner up Carl Edwards in a
‘green-white-checker’ finish, which is NASCAR’s version of overtime.
He crossed the line .196th of a second ahead of Edwards.
“Carl was on the outside and he had fresh tires or
fresher tires than I did. I spun them real bad on the first one (restart,
Lap 360) and I just backed it up a notch on the second restart and went with
it. It stuck and I held it wide open in (turns) one and two on the first lap
and tried to hold it wide open in (turns) three and four also. The car was
good when I got in clean air. I can't be more proud of this team,” Regan
said.
Rondeau made the gutsy decision to stay out, while
running in the top six.
“Pete made a great pit call -- that won the race for
us,” Smith said after the race.
Rondeau said, "It's a split-second decision. Sometimes you make out
well with it and sometimes you don't. I was leaning one way and said, 'what
the heck, we'll ask Regan where he's headed. He said we're both on the same
page.' ”
The rest was history.
Rondeau, from Saco, Maine, grew up near Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in
Scarborough, Maine where he spent many nights racing. He also spent parts of
four seasons on the NASCAR Busch North Series in the mid 1990’s.
He ran seven races in both 1996 and 1997, with 1997
being his best season as a NASCAR driver. He qualified in the top ten in
four of those seven starts that year, and finished on the lead lap in four
races that year too. He also had top ten finishes at Thunder Road and Beech
Ridge that year, and only finished outside the top twenty once.
In 1998 he joined Jasper Motorsports as a crewmember in
the Sprint Cup Series, where he worked until 2001, when he joined Dale
Earnhardt Incorporated. He went on to be crew chief for Michael Waltrip in
2004, before assuming that role for Dale Earhnardt Jr. in 2005. He finished
third with Dale Jr. at Daytona that year, but left the team mid season.
He spent the remainder of 2005 with Petty Motorsports,
where he stayed until the end of the 2009 season, when he became crew chief
for the #78 Furniture Row team.
After Saturday night’s win, Rondeau’s Facebook page
has been lit up by his many friends. Dozens of people left him
congratulations messages, from old friends back in Maine to former Busch
North Competitors and many other friends.
Siruis radio show host Dave Moody posted, “It's
been a long road from that #5 Super Late Model at Beech Ridge, but well
worth the effort. Great job, Pete!”
On Sunday
night Pete posted this to his facebook page:
“Thanks to all of my friends here on FB. It was an amazing night! A lot of
my friends and family have had a big part in the big things that have
happened in my life. So I thank all of you. Mom and dad thank you!”
Congratulations
to Pete from all of us at North East Racing News and Busch North Scene.
By the way, by virtue of the win, Smith automatically
qualifies for the May 21st Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The team celebrates on pit road. Getty Images
Check out Busch North Scene: A Ten Year
Retrospective
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