Darlington Schedule of Events | Darlington Paint Schemes
Historic Darlington Raceway will host a NASCAR doubleheader of racing this Labor Day weekend headlined by Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (5 p.m., MRN).
The storied South Carolina track first hosted the iconic Southern 500 in 1950 when Johnny Mantz won to put his name in the NASCAR history books. There have been 114 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races held at the 1.366-mile track and Sunday’s race is the 25th of the 2018 season.
Adding an additional flair to the weekend’s proceedings will be the now traditional “Throwback Weekend” with cars in both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series sporting paint schemes, colors and designs paying tribute to some of the sport’s most memorable machines from the last 70 years.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Darlington Raceway and the NASCAR industry to celebrate the sport over a seven decade period during our 2018 throwback weekend,” Darlington Raceway President Kerry Tharp said. “We have been era specific the past three years, so we felt it was important to recognize the 70th anniversary of NASCAR with our ‘Seven Decades of NASCAR’ celebration next season and give the teams, sanctioning body and others a wider brush to paint a picture capturing memorable moments we might not have celebrated in year’s past.”
Darlington Driver Averages | Darlington Race Winners
All members of the “Big 3” have previous wins at Darlington. And points leader Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, ranks among the series’ top-three drivers at Darlington in five of the six key loop data statistical categories. His 598 passes there are best among the competition. In 13 starts, he has posted one win (2008) and three top fives and eight top 10s.
Seven-time 2018 winner Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, is second only to Denny Hamlin in top-five finishes at Darlington with five. And he’s on a streak of six top-10 finishes this summer, including victories at Michigan and New Hampshire in the last five weeks. Interestingly, his last win at the “Track Too Tough to Tame” came in his 2014 championship season.
Truex, the 2016 Darlington winner, has a streak of three top-10 finishes at the track. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota has had three finishes of 14th or worse in the season’s last four races, but was running among the top-five when he was crashed out at the series’ last race, in Bristol, two weeks ago.
But with just two races left in the regular season several drivers find themselves in “must win” situations in order to secure a playoff berth among the 16 available after race number 26. Among those in that category is second year driver Daniel Suarez, who is hoping to erase last year’s frustrating 38th place Darlington finish with a trip to Victory Lane Sunday night and with it a playoff spot.
“We’ve had some tough luck the last few weeks but I think we’re running well,” Suarez said. “We just need to put together a whole race and I’d love to have that happen to win at Darlington.”
Entry Lists: Bojangles’ Southern 500 | Sports Clips Haircuts VFW 200
There are three races left in the Xfinity Series regular season and a tight point battle remains intact at the top of the standings. Justin Allgaier’s win at Road America last weekend vaulted him into the series championship standings lead by five points over second-place Christopher Bell and 12-points over third-place Elliott Sadler.
Allgaier believes he has a great deal of momentum on his side as he looks to add another win to his total and pad his point lead in Saturday’s Sports Clips Haircuts VFW 200 (3 p.m., MRN).
“I’m so proud of this team and the season we’re having,” Allgaier said. “To head to Darlington with the points lead is huge and keeping that momentum going is key. This is a tough track, but I’m confident that we’ll have a fast Chevrolet Accessories Camaro and hopefully we can stay out of trouble and be up front at the end.”
