Drivers still searching for fine line at new Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- More than three decades ago, when Mark Martin was an aggressive young driver in the American Speed Association prone to bending up a little sheet metal, veteran Dick Trickle pulled him aside and offered a little advice. In order to finish first, the Wisconsin short-track legend lectured, first you must finish.

It was wisdom a few drivers could have used during Saturday night's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, which featured a track-record 17 cautions. What began on the fifth lap with a crash involving Max Papis and Scott Speed continued throughout the four-hour event, with cars regularly spinning off Darlington's one-year-old asphalt and into the red-and-white painted wall.

Race Video

• Speed spins, gets into Papis
• Mears gets a stripe and more
• Waltrip in Darlington inferno
• Early leader runs into trouble
• Bowyer bounces off walls
• Kurt Busch gets loose, spins

• Kyle busch finds wall, garage
• Edwards spins after Biffle tap
• Biffle gets loose along, spins
• Earnhardt misses car, hits wall
• Race Rewind: Southern 500
• Player: Darlington Lap-by-Lap

"There are a lot of people [who] eliminated themselves," said Martin, the race winner, whose car not coincidentally barely had a scratch on it. Trickle would have been proud. "You have to watch yourself if you want to survive conditions like were out there [Saturday night]."

Those conditions were unforgiving, as the numerous crashes in practice and qualifying preceding the event suggested they might be. Although Darlington's one-year-old coat of asphalt already is showing a little gray -- thanks to the abrasive, sandy soil that washes over it year-round -- the place still is faster than ever. And as Saturday night will attest, some drivers proved better able to handle that speed than others. Throw in an infamously narrow racing groove, a new Sprint Cup car, and plenty of lapped traffic, and NASCAR's ultimate test unveiled a whole new host of challenges.

"This is so tough. The speeds are so high. Track position is everything," said Jimmie Johnson, who finished second. "Lapped cars, even if they want to get out of the way, they can't, there's no room to. They get frustrated and probably warned by NASCAR for going too slow. They quit laying over. Every position that you go for out there, you've just got to gouge and bang and run people over and fight with each other and run into each other under caution. It was absolutely out of control out there. It's just because of the fast speeds on such a narrow track and this big, boxy car, you can't go anywhere."

The old Darlington, which featured a track-eating surface that necessitated a four-tire change at every caution, now is a thing of the past, and not all of the old rules apply. Drivers still are trying to figure out the new surface, fast enough that Matt Kenseth set a track record in pole qualifying on Friday.

"[Saturday night] was a very frustrating night for many, many other drivers including myself," Martin said. "My car felt like I was trying to race on ice. I didn't have the option to slide the car. And I like sliding the car. I like making the car do things by pitching it and slipping it and all that stuff. But if you slip this thing, you're going get a piece of that wall."

"It was edgy. It was definitely a handful," added Jeff Gordon, who finished fifth to hold onto the points lead by 29 over Tony Stewart.

"This is not old Darlington. This is the new Darlington with the new surface and new tire. Goodyear needs to soften this tire up a little bit. It's a little bit too hard. It's just a one-groove race track out there, but it's challenging in so many ways. It's still exciting. And when you have a one-groove race track like that, you know pit strategy is going to be key. It's kind of cool when it does play out that way."

Darlington always has been a sensitive, delicate place where a little wiggle in the wrong direction can send a car hurtling into the wall. Saturday night, even championship-caliber drivers like Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle broke loose while running all by themselves. Lapped traffic only made the situation more challenging.

"We're running so fast here. It's such a narrow place. Lap cars were absolutely miserable [Saturday night]. If these guys that were a lap down would race that hard before they get a lap down, it would be great. You got guys that get on that inside line, it's hard enough just to run single-wide right here let alone two-wide, especially with the entries and exits the way they are. It just makes it difficult," said Stewart, who finished third.

"Anytime they re-pave a place, it's got a lot of grip. This place will season in just like any other place that has been re-paved, it will get slick again. In the meantime, when it's got a lot of grip, everybody's fast. Everybody's cars feel good when the surface is fresh like this. That's why you saw track position like you saw [Saturday night], but at the same time that's why you see a lot of cautions, because we're running so fast around here ... it's a wrestling match for 367 laps. It doesn't mean we need to put restrictor plates on, change anything. Don't write that in your stories. Time is all it needs. Everything's fine."

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• Mark Martin | Jimmie Johnson | Tony Stewart