Kyle Larson to miss Martinsville; Regan Smith to fill in

One day after fainting, Kyle Larson will miss Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway.

Chip Ganassi Racing named Regan Smith to drive Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet in the STP 500.

Larson was at a fan autograph session Saturday afternoon when he fainted. Awake and alert, he was transported to a Martinsville area hospital for further evaluation. After being advised to see a neurologist, Larson was then taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. where he remained Sunday for additional testing.

“Although all tests came back negative and Larson feels completely fine, the doctors felt he should be held for more testing today,” Ganassi Racing said in a statement Sunday morning. “Subsequently, Larson will be unable to race today in the STP 500 in Martinsville.”

Larson, 22, is considered one of NASCAR’s rising stars. On the strength of three second-place finishes and 17 top-10s, he was named the 2014 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year. Through five races this season, Larson has two top-10s and is 18th in points.

Smith competes full-time in the Xfinity Series, but has extensive Sprint Cup experience with 175 career starts. In recent years he has become the go-to when teams needed a last-minute fill-in. Since 2012, Smith has substituted for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch, who was suspended for the first three races of this season. Smith finished 16th (twice) and 17th driving Busch’s car.

“These situations they aren’t easy,” Smith said. “You are hopping in somebody else’s car and then somebody else’s set-up, somebody else’s team, somebody else’s guys and trying to plug yourself in as best you can.

“Every place is different and every place has different operations, every crew chief talks different, every spotter talks different, so it is difficult. But it is still a race car, it still has a steering wheel and it still has gas pedals. We still do the same stuff with it, so you can work around a lot of that.”

Although tests Saturday revealed nothing wrong with Larson, who planned to race at Martinsville despite the fainting spell, Ganassi officials reached out to Smith as a contingency. He visited the Ganassi shop Saturday night to be fitted for a seat and awoke early Sunday morning to a text message saying Larson was out.

Smith spent Sunday morning acclimating himself to his new team and communicating with crew chief Chris Heroy about the car. Ganassi driver Jamie McMurray also spent time with Smith reviewing tire wear and the track, which Smith hasn’t raced on in two years.

Larson had qualified seventh, but due to the driver change Smith will have to drop to the rear of the 43-car field. That presents a significant challenge on a half-mile track where it’s easy to fall a lap down.

“I think one of our struggles is going to be trying to stay on the lead lap early on,” Smith said. “If we can do that and maybe find a position where we are able to get some track position throughout the course of the event then great, we will take advantage of those when we can.”