CONCORD, N.C. -- Regan Smith gets a faraway look in his eyes when he talks about it, as if he can almost envision the moment in all its delicious detail. Coasting around the racetrack and into Victory Lane, embracing crewmen with whom he's shared so much struggle, standing amid all that fluttering confetti and sprayed champagne. And then taking that big Talladega Superspeedway trophy back to Dale Earnhardt Inc. headquarters, and placing it alongside all the others the company has accumulated throughout the years.

It's that last part that gets to him.

"I said it standing at the back of the NASCAR hauler, and I had to walk away after I said it, because I was having a tough time with the whole situation there," Smith said at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "It hurt me more not to be able to bring a trophy back to DEI, and to take it back to the shop, the trophy room, whatever you want to call it, where we have all the trophies displayed, and say yes, I helped add something to the legacy of this company. That hurt me more than losing the race and getting put back to 18th, losing the rookie points, all the things that happened with the whole situation. That was the one thing I cared more about than anything."

Those dreams evaporated in the aftermath of Sunday's event, when NASCAR officials ruled that Smith had passed Tony Stewart below the yellow out-of-bounds line at the bottom of the racetrack, voiding what would have been a first career Sprint Cup victory for the 25-year-old native of Cato, N.Y. Stewart was declared the winner, Smith was sent to the back of the lead lap -- 18th place -- and the controversy over who really won has followed the circuit from the hills of northern Alabama to the North Carolina piedmont.

For Smith and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. race team, a once-great organization trying to climb back to prominence, the days since have been bittersweet ones. There have been plenty of pats on the back from fans and competitors alike, congratulations from those who believe the No. 01 car should have been the winner. There's the pride in seeing two DEI cars, those of Smith and Paul Menard, run at the front for much of Sunday, extending a string of promising performances for the team. There's the hope that Smith and DEI have shown enough that a corporate sponsor will jump on board to fund the operation for all of next season.

But oh, the curiosity over what might have been had NASCAR let the result on the racetrack stand. For Smith, there are constant reminders. Even Friday at Charlotte, the Talladega finish nearly a week behind them, a crewman on the No. 01 remarked to the driver that a victory would have qualified them for the annual All-Star exhibition.

"I got pissed off all over again about it," Smith said. "You definitely think about what it would have meant for your career. I would like to believe that's not the only time I'm going to be in position to win a race. Unfortunately, the way this sport is, you never know. You might never get another opportunity like that. I've heard guys who have won 70 races say that, I enjoy this one just as much as the first, because you never know when it's your last one. But I'm confident enough in my ability that I'm going to be in that position again. Maybe it's this week, maybe it's a year from now, maybe it's two months from now, I don't know when. But I'm confident enough that I'm going to get an opportunity to do that again."

Yet Sunday, because of the venue and DEI's history there, would have meant so much more. Smith is a driver who grew up idolizing Dale Earnhardt, who won at Talladega a record 10 times. He grew up a fan of Davey Allison, an Alabama native who won his first race as a rookie on the big 2.66-mile track. He drives for DEI, an operation that made its name by winning on restrictor-plate tracks, because its founder wanted it that way. Sure, it would have been a breakthrough victory for a rookie, and it would have ended a team's 53-race winless streak. But the sheer significance would have dwarfed it all. (Continued)