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They’ll trot out their throwback paint schemes and throwback uniforms this week when NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams travel to Darlington Raceway for Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR).
It’s a nod to NASCAR’s past draped around today’s technology. But strip it all away and some things remain unchanged. The 1.366-mile track continues to be the most difficult to master of any on the circuit, and the Southern 500 is still one of stock-car racing’s crown jewel events.
“To me, it’s a real race,” defending race winner Carl Edwards said. “There is no better film to watch than the old races at Darlington. Watching (David) Pearson and those guys sliding under each other, slide-jobbing each other lap after lap in all those races. There’s just something special about it.”
Pearson, a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, won a record 10 times at Darlington. If anyone ever came close to understanding what was required to endure 500 miles on a treacherous layout once dubbed “The Lady in Black,” it was the Spartanburg, South Carolina driver.
The circuit is oddly shaped, like an egg rather than an oval, and the asphalt while not worn still takes its toll on tires. Contact with the outside wall is considered a rite of passage and they even have a name for it — the Darlington stripe.
You don’t beat Darlington; you simply try to survive it.
Edwards did just that last year, sprinting away from Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin on a restart with eight laps remaining to earn the victory.
Twice a runner-up at Darlington, Edwards said the win was memorable for two reasons. One because it was another victory, at the time the 25th of the Missouri native’s career.
Second, he said, “it’s the Southern 500. And that in itself, it’s probably next to the Coke 600 — those two together were both the biggest wins of my career.
“For me, that race was really a hard-fought battle; at one point we were I believe two laps down. We fought back. We didn’t quit and we made it back to the front.
“So it wasn’t an easy win; it was a really special win.
“I really like the place; I like how it races. It’s a really mentally and physically exhausting track so I like the challenge. … I think I can speak for all the drivers in saying yeah, it’s one of the biggest events of the year.”
Edwards’ No. 19 Toyota will feature an orange and white throwback paint scheme in honor of three-time Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart this weekend. Stewart won two of his three titles while at JGR; he is retiring from Sprint Cup competition at year’s end.
“It will be cool to do that for Tony’s last year,” Edwards said. “I’ve got my helmet ready to throw and everything.”
The throwback program is in its second year. Edwards got a taste of it much earlier. Eight years earlier in fact. With none other than Pearson.
“We did this media day at Darlington (in 2008),” Edwards said. “I went and picked up Pearson at his local airport, flew over to the race track and I remember taking the metal picture — ‘Don’t ever forget this moment.’ “
Edwards, then with Roush Fenway Racing, was making laps in his No. 99 Ford.
“Driving through Turns 1 and 2, just kind of goofing off slow,” he said. “… I look over and here’s Pearson in the 21 Wood Brothers (’71 Mercury) with his arm out the window beside me, just smiling. ‘Man, I’m at Darlington with Pearson in that car.’ That’s like being a part of history for a moment. That was really cool.”
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