past caution, but instead vented her anger/fury by wagging her finger at him when he came by to lap her down. After the race Smith maintained that he did not intentionally crash her while Patrick believed he did and both left Bristol without any penalties. It was announced on September 24, 2012, that Smith would not be returning to Furniture Row Racing for the 2013 season. He was replaced by Kurt Busch. In his last start for FRR, in the fall race at Talladega, Smith had a fifth-place finish after clearing a 23-car crash in turn 4 on the last lap. Smith was set to finish the 2012 season by swapping rides with Busch, with Busch taking over Smith's No. 78 and Smith taking over the unsponsored No. 51 Chevrolet at Phoenix Racing, but Smith was announced on October 11, 2012, as the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the works team's No. 88 Chevrolet for the Charlotte and Kansas Chase races after Earnhardt was diagnosed with a concussion after his testing crash at Kansas Speedway in August and after involvement in the same last lap crash during the Good Sam Club 500 at Talladega on October 7, 2012, so for these two races, Smith was replaced in the No. 51 by A. J. Allmendinger. Qualifying 26th and performing well during both practice sessions, Smith had a top ten car before the engine failed for the first time on the No. 88 team in the season, and finished the race in the 38th position. In the following race at Kansas, Smith performed well, and managed to muster a top ten finish. Earnhardt returned to the 88 at Martinsville. Allmendinger would drive the No. 51 at Martinsville and Texas, while Smith drove the car at Phoenix and Homestead. On November 17, Smith won the Ford EcoBoost 300 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driving the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevy for JR Motorsports. It is his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series win in his first and only start of 2012. Prior to the win at Homestead Miami, his last start came in 2007. For 2013, Smith returned to the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 7 for JR Motorsports. On the final lap at the season-opening DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona, Smith was leading while heading into the final turn, but when he attempted to block Brad Keselowski, but then spun up the track,