Darlington isn't Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s best track, but he has improved there recently. Credit: Autostock

Chase drivers approach Darlington with caution

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Talladega was supposed to be the wild card. So was Martinsville.

But with two races remaining in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, the real wild card is Darlington Raceway, site of this weekend's Southern 500 -- likely the last Southern 500.

Jimmie Johnson won at Darlington in the spring. Credit: Autostock

Darlington has long been regarded as one of the most difficult tracks on the NASCAR schedule since the track first ran in 1950. Curtis Turner won the pole for that first Southern 500 with a lap of 82.034 mph.

Johnny Mantz came from the 43rd starting position to win the race, and he posted a scintillating average speed of 76.260 mph.

That was about the right speed 54 years ago, but the same track now has laps in excess of 170 mph. That other-worldy jump in speed makes the track difficult enough, but that isn't the sole reason they call Darlington the "Track Too Tough to Tame."

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First, the pavement is as worn as a threadbare coat, and the old surface chews tires so quickly that Dale Earnhardt Jr. swears there are seashells embedded in it.

Grip? Forget it. Tires last about as long as it takes to get up to speed, and then the drivers simply slide around on the verge of losing control.

That wouldn't be so bad, but the groove is about as narrow as the hair on the back of your neck. Running side-by-side in the turns will create a wreck, though drivers often get lucky and make it out of the corner.

No two turns at Darlington are the same, thanks to a stubborn local farmer. The farmer didn't want a pond he owned plowed under, so Darlington officials carved the track so it wouldn't mess up the pond.

That meant what are now Turns 3 and 4 are narrower than Turns 1 and 2. Oh, and the corners in 3 and 4 are banked lower than 1 and 2.

Jeff Gordon

Drivers don't attack this track as much as they try to survive. Old-timers swear the track is a living thing, earning the nickname the "Lady in Black." Respect her, and she'll treat you well. Disrespect her, and she'll slap you.

That's what the four leading contenders in the Chase for the Nextel Cup face this weekend. They have to race the track -- a phrase you'll hear more this weekend than the rest of the season combined -- while still trying to outrun one another.

Well, sort of.

"This track has really been good to me over the years," said Gordon, who has six victories at Darlington. "You have to be patient and respect the track, know when to go -- and when to conserve.

"We're second in the points with only two races left, so we need to be aggressive. The pressure will keep building, and it will become more intense. This is one track where you'd better block all that out. If you don't, this track will bite you in a second."

Each of the four contenders -- leader Kurt Busch, second-place Gordon (minus-41), third-place Earnhardt Jr. (minus-47) and fourth-place Jimmie Johnson (minus-48) -- could come out with the points lead ... or a wrecked racecar.

"This racetrack is definitely different from the other racetracks in the final 10 races," Busch said. "It's a chance to isolate yourself from all the outside circumstances and just to allow yourself to invite your setup to the racetrack and make sure that you race just the racetrack and not the other racecars."

Busch can isolate himself, to a degree, for he does have a cushion, no matter how small it may be. His competitors, however, don't have any room for error.

Kurt Busch

"If they approach it the correct way, they'll understand what they have to do, and that's to race the racetrack," Busch said. "I believe that the way the competitors have been as of late with pit stops being important, with track position being important, all of those elements will take a back seat to racing hard on the racetrack and understanding how you've abused your tires. Just taking care of your tires is going to be the key role to achieve success at Darlington."

Three of the four drivers have won at Darlington, with only Earnhardt Jr. shut out of the winner's circle. His best finish was a fourth in 2002, and he was 10th here in March.

"We've never dominated at Darlington, that's for sure," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I used to hate it, and they gave me a trophy because I said some nasty things about the track surface. Since then, we've been really competitive. We got crashed in the final laps to cost us a top-three finish, and we've been better every time we've gone back.

"The way we've been running, I think we'll be in the mix to get a win or at least a top-five."

"There is no strategy" this weekend, Earnhardt Jr. said, and he'll let "it all hang out" this weekend and next at Homestead-Miami.

Johnson, who won three consecutive races to get himself back in contention, echoed Earnhardt Jr.'s "strategy."

"The best thing this Lowe's team can do is to act and feel like we did three weeks ago, which is to say, 'We don't have a shot at it and we just need to go out there and win races,' because that's worked for us," Johnson said. "When we play offense, we do a lot better job that when we play defense."

That's fine, but at Darlington, the best offense is a good defense.

Or else the Lady will beat you.