My daily driver has progressively been developing a starting problem and yesterday , when leaving work almost refused to start.

It taks many cranks in the morning (for some reason I do not think it is a cold start valve as it is hot here in FL and it has problems starting during the day too).

Yesterday, I cranked and cranked. Finally, it started and the engine was surging initially like crazy. Tach was jumping from 1000 rpm to 5000 rpm. It finally settled down and drove well. But I could smell gas inside the car. No gas smell under the hood though. What could be the problem ?