Nascar drivers had a break from competition last week, and they are going to need it as they are at Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles Southern 500. The iconic track, which opened in 1950 as NASCAR’s first superspeedway, is one of the tougher ones on the circuit.
It is a 1.366-mile asphalt oval that has four turns, with the first two banking at 25 degrees and the final two banking at 23 degrees. The nickname for the facility is “The Track to Tough to Tame.”
Kurt Busch knows how difficult Darlington is, and in 21 starts there has never won. He did have a second-place finish in 2003.
“My first race and first stripe – that place chewed me up and spit me out,” Busch said. “I think I wrecked 20 times, kept bouncing off wall. I wore out the tires but kept going. I probably finished 40th my first time there. It really was an eye-opener on how tough NASCAR was going to be.”
Race to the Playoffs
With his victory at Bristol two weeks ago, Busch secured a spot in the Playoffs, which begin in two weeks in Las Vegas. He joins his brother, Kyle, and 10 other drivers. Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson are also assured of a spot in the 16-driver field.
Four of the drivers that are in the best position to advance for the last spots are Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman.
While Harvick is the favorite to win at +250, Hamlin is an interesting pick at +600. He has finished in the top 10 an impressive 10 times out of 12 appearances.
“You know, to be able to run a little bit of a unorthodox line I think helps me at this racetrack,” Hamlin said. “I think really just every time I come back, I learn a little bit more from what I did in the past, and it just refines the way you do things and you get a little bit better and it’s led to success.”
The 37-year-old is winless this year, a rare stat for Hamlin, who has had multiple wins seven times since 2006. His best finish this season has been third at Daytona, Richmond, and Charlotte.
Throwback Weekend Popular with Fans
Those are all iconic tracks, so it figures that Hamlin would have success at Darlington. It is a track he said after winning last year there, he enjoys coming to.
“You know, there’s something about the racetrack that kind of suits my driving style,” Hamlin said. “From the very first time I came here at a test, Tony Stewart was here, and kind of really helped me kind of find my way around this racetrack.”
This weekend is a tribute to the history of the sport, and drivers have new paint jobs to honor those cars and drivers of the past.
David Ragan, who is 30/1 to win, said the course is definitely a glimpse into the past of NASCAR’s early days.
“Darlington is very hard on equipment,” Ragan told USA Today. “It’s fast. It’s hard to handle mentally. Physically, it’s tough because it’s hot. It is a tough weekend. So, if we could have any weekend that’s a throwback for a lot of different reasons, I think Darlington fits for all of them.”