Kevin Rutherford - Articles on Frontstretch
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Executive Editor at Frontstretch

Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.

At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.

Uncertain Times Await for Suddenly-Replaced Regan Smith

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Hearing the news of Kurt Busch’s arrival at Furniture Row Racing next season might cause one to recall the path that the team has traveled to get to 2013 — from Jerry Robertson to a former Cup champ. But, aside from the fanfare of a superstar driver’s big announcement, it also elicits a worthwhile question: what happens to Regan Smith?

Smith, who’s been within the NASCAR ranks since 2002, came to Furniture Row, a Denver, Colo.-based, single-car organization, in 2009, when the team was running on a part-time basis after failing to qualify for multiple races from 2006-2008. After switching back to full-time status in 2010, Smith and the No. 78 team scored a popular victory in the 2011 Southern 500 at Darlington. Just this past off-season, Smith moved to Colorado to be closer to the rest of the organization, expecting his future to lie with the Denver-based race team.

The Best (and Worst) NASCAR Helmet Throws

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So, it happened again.

No, I’m not talking particularly about the amount of accidents and subsequent cautions in last weekend’s Bristol night races for the Cup and Nationwide series, though I will say they certainly spiced up the action and definitely lead to what I’m going to talk about.

Just a few weeks after Todd Bodine’s helmet toss (and miss) at Nelson Piquet, Jr. to express his displeasure at their Pocono incident, Tony Stewart hurled his in Matt Kenseth’s general direction during the Bristol Cup race — with a direct hit squarely on Kenseth’s hood.