Darlington hosting Cup, Busch in May '06

Darlington Raceway's spot on the 2006 NASCAR schedule is signed, sealed and delivered.

Track president Chris Browning said Wednesday that he has signed the sanctioning agreement to hold the Carolina Dodge Dealers 500 on May 13 and sent it on to NASCAR.

Like this year, the race will be run the Saturday night before Mother's Day. Also like 2005, the weekend will feature a Busch series race Friday night.

Browning says when International Speedway Corp., Darlington's owner, gave the track in South Carolina the green flag in July to accept ticket renewals for a 2006 event, "it pretty much told us we'd be back. So this is no surprise."

NASCAR's official stamp is continued good news, meaning stock car racing's original superspeedway still has a place in the sport after 55 years.

That has been in doubt for the last few years, with NASCAR moving races way from its traditional stronghold in the Southeast.

This spring's race ended two years of turbulence for "The Lady in Black." In 2003, it was announced that the traditional Labor Day race would move to California Speedway for the 2004 season. A year ago, NASCAR changed its schedule again, and Darlington lost one of its two events.

Prior to this season, NASCAR had not raced for 19 years on Mother's Day weekend.

But Darlington achieved its first pre-race sellout since the 1997 Southern 500 -- before the track was expanded to its current capacity of 60,000 seats.

Also, the TV coverage on FOX drew a then-record audience for a prime-time race.