 |  | | Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have combined for eight of Hendrick's 11 victories at Darlington. Credit: Autostock |
By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
May 11, 2006
01:59 PM EDT (17:59 GMT)
Darlington may be the Lady in Black, but Rick Hendrick has put an awful lot of bright colors up front recently. The owner of Hendrick Motorsports has made the South Carolina racetrack his own personal sandbox, wracking up 11 wins, 29 top-fives and 51 top-10s since he put his first car on the track in 1984. Two years into Hendrick's ownership, Tim Richmond got the team's first victory at Darlington. And recently it's been a little lopsided in favor of Hendrick cars. Jimmie Johnson swept the races in 2004. Terry Labonte got a victory in 2003. And Jeff Gordon, well, he's won more races there than anybody who'll start Saturday. As we all know, there's only one way to get to Victory Lane. What you didn't know
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14 -- Consecutive Darlington races a Hendrick Motorsports car has led a lap. The last time a Hendrick Chevy did not lead in a race at Darlington was the spring race in 1998, when Dale Jarrett won -- and Jeff Gordon finished second. |
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Driver Rating: Dodge Charger 500
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144.4 -- Greg Biffle, No. 16 Roush Racing Ford. Biffle won last year's Dodge Charger 500 after leading a race-high 176 laps and then passing Ryan Newman with one lap to go. |
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NASCAR's driver rating combines the following categories: wins, finishes, top-15s, average lead-lap running position, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps and lead-lap finish. Statistics based on current and past year at track. Maximum rating: 150 points. Numerology Saturday night's Dodge Charger 500 (6:30 p.m. ET, FOX) will be the 103rd race held at Darlington Raceway but just the second under the lights. The Lady in Black is NASCAR's second-oldest active track and was the first superspeedway. In its 56-year history, Darlington hasn't discriminated as far as manufacturers go. Ten different manufacturers have wins, with Chevrolet's 36 victories being the most. And in last year's race, a Ford, Chevy and Dodge finished 1-2-3.
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1 -- Race this season in which the winner also led the most laps. Tony Stewart led a race-high 288 laps and won at Martinsville. |
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1 -- Darlington race in which Jimmie Johnson did not have a top-10 finish (27th, spring 2003). Johnson has two victories and three top-fives. He has four consecutive top-10s with an average finish of 7.7. |
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2 -- Drivers who ran inside the top 10 the entire race last year at Darlington: Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman. |
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3 -- Drivers who have been ranked in the top 10 at this point in the season for the past five years: Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. |
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4 -- Laps by Greg Biffle in last year's race that were among the five fastest. Biffle's fastest lap was 165.557 mph on Lap 370. |
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6 -- Drivers with an average running position inside the top 10 last year at Darlington: Greg Biffle (2.581), Kasey Kahne (3.103), Ryan Newman (4.265), Jeff Gordon (5.503), Jimmie Johnson (6.070) and Carl Edwards (8.195). |
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6 -- Victories by Jeff Gordon at Darlington, more than any full-time driver. He won five in a seven-race stretch between 1995 and 1998. His sixth victory was in 2002. |
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6.21 -- Average starting position for Darlington winners, with 19 drivers having won from the pole position. The worst starting position by a winner is 43rd (Johnny Mantz, 1950). |
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7.0 -- Average finishing position for Kasey Kahne in three races at Darlington. Kahne has two poles and his worst finish is 13th, his first race there. |
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8.381 -- Average running position of Tony Stewart this season, the only driver to have an average inside the top 10. |
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9 -- Former Darlington winners entered in Saturday night's race: Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin and Mark Martin. |
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9 -- Top-five finishes for Dale Jarrett in the last 17 races at Darlington, although he hasn't had a top-10 in the last five races there. |
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15.029 -- Average finish of the pole winner at Darlington. The last driver to win from the pole was Dale Jarrett in 1997. |
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18 -- Positions Kevin Harvick has improved in the points over the last six races, from 23rd to fifth. |
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36.49 -- Percent of passes made on the frontstretch of last year's race, the most popular place to pass. Turn 1 was the most difficult place to pass, as 13.39 percent of passes were made there. |
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53 -- Career starts for Terry Labonte at Darlington. Labonte will attempt to make his 54th and final start at the track on Saturday. |
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61 -- Number of times Greg Biffle recorded the fastest lap during last year's Dodge Charger 500, more than any other driver. |
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67 -- Passes made last year by Kevin Harvick, with 40.30 percent coming on the frontstretch. Harvick finished 14th. |
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89 -- Winners in the 102 Darlington races who had a top-10 starting spot. Six of the last 12 winners have started outside of the top 10. |
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321 -- Laps led by Jeremy Mayfield, the most by a driver who is winless at Darlington. |
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1,553 -- Laps led by Jeff Gordon, more than twice the amount of Jeff Burton, who is second among full-time drivers with 786 laps led. |
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1950 -- First year a NASCAR race was run at Darlington, marking the first Cup race to be held on a paved surface. There were 75 starters in the race with Johnny Mantz leading 351 laps and getting his only career victory. |
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Starting position is critical at Darlington. But recent history shows that trend is changing, and apparently, several drivers who start in the back are learning how to tame the place that's too tough. And the Lady has been rather rough on front-row starters.
| Taming the Lady |
| Darlington winners since 2000 and polesitter's finish |
| Year |
Winner |
Start |
Polesitter |
Finish |
| 2005 |
Greg Biffle |
3 |
Kasey Kahne |
3 |
| 2004 |
Jimmie Johnson |
4 |
Kurt Busch |
6 |
| 2004 |
Jimmie Johnson |
11 |
Kasey Kahne |
13 |
| 2003 |
Terry Labonte |
3 |
Ryan Newman |
23 |
| 2003 |
Ricky Craven |
31 |
Elliott Sadler |
1 |
| 2002 |
Jeff Gordon |
3 |
Sterling Marlin |
4 |
| 2002 |
Sterling Marlin |
11 |
Ricky Craven |
41 |
| 2001 |
Ward Burton |
37 |
Kurt Busch |
39 |
| 2001 |
Dale Jarrett |
2 |
Jeff Gordon |
40 |
| 2000 |
Bobby Labonte |
37 |
Jeremy Mayfield |
41 |
| 2000 |
Ward Burton |
3 |
Jeff Gordon |
8 |
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