DAYTONA BEACH -- This certainly wasn't one of my finest moments in a long, distinguished journalism career, but it's better to be honest than to pretend otherwise: Fresh off his thrilling victory in the Nationwide race earlier today at Daytona International Speedway, I asked Regan Smith how he liked his chances for a repeat in Sunday's Daytona 500 as one of 43 drivers in the field.
Then I felt like the gal in the TV commercial for Southwest Airlines where she opens a medicine cabinet in the bathroom, lifts an item, puts it back and the whole thing inside collapses. Then there's the refrain: Wanna get away? Except there was no place to go. But Smith was a good sport about it.
After he left the podium with his crew chief Robert Pemberton, I shook hands with him and offered a heartfelt apology, saying it wasn't my intention to embarrass him or myself. "Don't worry about it," he said, squeezing my hand. "Everyone makes mistakes. It didn't bother me at all."
And I think Regan was being genuine. After all, he won at Daytona, and he was just as enthusiastic when he stepped off the media platform as he was when he came in from Victory Circle.
After awhile with the assortment of races, circuits, practices, etc, the names all seem to run together unless you are someone like Dale Earnhardt, Jr. or Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart.
Unless you are Danica Patrick or Jimmie Johnson or Kevin Harvick. That's six right there. Six from 43 equals 37.
So let's see how many others I can name from the starting grid without looking at the list: Unless you are Ryan Newman or Carl Edwards or Denny Hamlin.
Unless you are Brad Kezelowski or Kurt Busch or Kyle Busch.
Unless you are Terry Labonte or Bobby Labonte or Jamie McMurray. Subtract nine more from 37 and you get 28.
Twenty-eight more drivers. And how could I forget pole sitter Austin Dillon or Martin Truex, Jr. on the outside front row. And how about two-time Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth? Three from 28 and we're left with 25 drivers.
Keep trying, Henry. Your loyal readers are counting on you? Well, there's Kasey Kahne, Casey Mears and Greg Biffle. There's Trevor Bayne, Brian Vickers and Michael Waltrip. How can we forget Waltrip, the 2001 Daytona 500 winner? Now we're down to 19 drivers.
There's Joey Lagano and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. I remember Stenhouse because he's supposedly the love interest of Danica Patrick. Well, that brings us down to 17 drivers.
And that's where it ends. I can't name the rest, but I could have sworn Regan Smith was on the list.
So let me look at the starting grid and put an end to this by listing the others: Marcos Ambrose, Paul Menard, Josh Wise, Brian Scott, Eric Almiroa, AJ Allmendinger, Kyle Larson, David Gilliland, Landon Cassill, Clint Boyer, Cole Whitt, Alex Bowman, Michael Annett, Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman.
And last, literally, the 43rd entrant in the 2014 Daytona 500? David Ragan. And there's the rub: Regan Smith and David Ragan. That's where I screwed up.
Ragan vs. Regan.
Well, I'm not going to beat myself up any more over it. If Regan Smith was OK with an honest mistake, then I should be, too.
After all, it's not as if I mixed up Jeff Gordon with the "Intimidator," Dale Earnhardt, right?
Still, here I am, an award-winning reporter and I got it wrong. It's not the first time and it won't be the last. Just in case, I'll have the list in front of me for the press conference after the Daytona 500.
Bonus for staying with this write-up:
About the Writer:
Henry Frederick is the most decorated journalist in greater Daytona Beach-Orlando with dozens of journalism-industry awards dating back to the mid-1990s, including the prestigious James K. Batten Award for Outstanding Public Service for a weeklong series on live in impoverished Spring Hill. He's also the top award winner the last two years in the Florida Press Club statewide journalism competition for nine stories, three blogs and top internet website.