Numbers: Darlington

Lady in Black could help Gordon get into top 12

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
May 8, 2008
11:12 AM EDT

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He's ranked 13th in points, 339 behind leader Kyle Busch but just six back of 12th-place Kasey Kahne. He's on pace to lead fewer laps this season than any other since 2000. And he's still searching for his first win of the season -- providing a glaring zero in the W column that hasn't appeared since his rookie year in 1993.

Yet Jeff Gordon has got to feel good about this weekend.

He's the defending winner, beating Denny Hamlin last year on pit strategy and opting to stay out during the final round of pit stops to lead the final 22 laps -- his only time up front in last year's race. He pulled into Victory Lane with steam spewing like a geyser out of his No. 24 car for his seventh victory at the Track Too Tough to Tame, inching him closer to former tamers David Pearson with 10 wins and Dale Earnhardt with nine.

Quite frankly, Gordon has been the master of Darlington. In 27 starts there, he's led laps in all but five races. He even led one lap in his debut, a 22nd-place finish in a 39-car field.

Following a three-race stinger in 2003 and 2004 when he finished 33rd, 32nd and 41st, Gordon has made podium appearances since: third in the 2004 fall race, second in 2005 and 2006, first in 2007.

So if it's victories Gordon is in search of, Darlington has been the medicine in the past. If it's points, the Lady in Black has provided for both Gordon and his stable mates.

1,401Points scored by Jimmie Johnson in the last 10 Darlington races, ranking him second behind Jeff Gordon's 1,404. Johnson, however, has only started nine of those races.

Hendrick Motorsports

Victories at Darlington

Year	Race	Start	Finish	Driver	Led

1986	Fall	1	1	Tim Richmond	168
1991	Spring	13	1	Ricky Rudd	69
1995	Fall	5	1	Jeff Gordon	54
1996	Spring	2	1	Jeff Gordon	189
1996	Fall	2	1	Jeff Gordon	52
1997	Fall	7	1	Jeff Gordon	116
1998	Fall	5	1	Jeff Gordon	64
2002	Fall	3	1	Jeff Gordon	125
2003	Fall	3	1	Terry Labonte	33
2004	Spring	11	1	Jimmie Johnson	69
2004	Fall	4	1	Jimmie Johnson	124
2007	--	10	1	Jeff Gordon	22

Back in Time

Sept. 4, 1950The first race is run on Darlington Raceway, a Grand National (now Cup Series) event that featured 75 cars on the paved starting grid. Qualifying for the show took more than two weeks, with Curtis Turner claiming the pole in an Oldsmobile; he finished 60th. Johnny Mantz, driving the No. 98 Plymouth, won the race after leading 351 of 400 laps. Ironically, he started 43rd.

10 Key Facts

2Victories at Darlington for Greg Biffle in just seven starts (28.6 percent). He has won two of the last three races at the track. All of his other finishes there have been 10th or worse.

3Richard Childress Racing drivers who are ranked in the top five in the Sprint Cup standings: Jeff Burton (second), Clint Bowyer (fourth) and Kevin Harvick (fifth).

3Drivers ranked in the top 12 in points who have more than two top-five finishes at Darlington: Jeff Burton (8), Jimmie Johnson (5) and Ryan Newman (5).

5Drivers with an average starting position and an average finishing position inside the top 10: Denny Hamlin (6.0, 6.0), Jimmie Johnson (9.7, 6.8), Bill Elliott (10.9, 9.0), Ryan Newman (7.1, 10.7) and Greg Biffle (8.9, 10.7).

5Races in the last eight at Darlington have been won by a Hendrick Motorsports car: Jeff Gordon (fall 2002, 2007), Terry Labonte (fall 2003), Jimmie Johnson (spring 2004, fall 2004). Hendrick leads all teams with 12 victories at Darlington.

22.3Average finish at Darlington for points leader Kyle Busch, the worst among drivers ranked in the top 12. In his three races there, he has finished 23rd, seventh and 37th.

109.4Driver Rating for Kyle Busch, the best in the Cup Series. Dale Earnhardt Jr., whom Busch spun last weekend at Richmond, is ranked second with a Driver Rating of 108.7.

184Laps led by Jeff Gordon this season. Through 10 races last year, he had led 652 laps and had two victories.

249Laps led by Ryan Newman at Darlington, the most among active drivers without a victory at the track. Jeff Gordon leads all active drivers with 1,580 laps led.

$10,000,000Amount of the total package of improvements at Darlington Raceway recently, which include a new racing surface, additional SAFER barriers and a new infield access tunnel.