Posted on by Staff Report

The starting lineup for Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) has been set.

Brad Keselowski will start on the pole and be joined by Alex Bowman on the front row to lead the field to green for the 293-lap, 400-mile race — the sport’s first since March 8 at Phoenix Raceway due to the COVID-19 stoppage.

The lineup for the race was determined by live draw and aired on FS1’s “Race Hub.” The parameters for the live draw were as follows:

  • Positions 1-12 determined by a random draw from charter teams in those positions in team owner points
  • Positions 13-24: Random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points
  • Positions 25-36: Random draw among charter teams in those positions in owner points
  • Positions 37-40 will be filled out by open, non-chartered teams in order of owner points

RELATED: Entry list for Darlington | Stage lengths for Darlington and Charlotte

Here is a look at the full lineup:

Starting spot Driver Car # Team
1 Brad Keselowski 2 Team Penske
2 Alex Bowman 88 Hendrick Motorsports
3 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
4 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
5 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
6 Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
7 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
8 Jimmie Johnson 48 Hendrick Motorsports
9 Joey Logano 22 Team Penske
10 Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
11 Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports
12 Matt Kenseth 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
13 Clint Bowyer 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
14 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
15 Martin Truex Jr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
16 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
17 Bubba Wallace 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
18 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
19 Corey LaJoie 32 Go Fas Racing
20 Erik Jones 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
21 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
22 Kurt Busch 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
23 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
24 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
25 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
26 Garrett Smithley 53 Rick Ware Racing
27 Quin Houff 00 Starcom Racing
28 Christopher Bell 95 Leavine Family Racing
29 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
30 JJ Yeley 27 Rick Ware Racing
31 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
32 Joey Gase 51 Petty Ware Racing
33 Ty Dillon 13 Germain Racing
34 John Hunter Nemechek 38 Front Row Motorsports
35 Brennan Poole 15 Premium Motorsports
36 Reed Sorenson 77 Spire Motorsports
37 Daniel Suarez 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing
38 Timmy Hill 66 MBM Motorsports
39 BJ McLeod 78 BJ McLeod Motorsports
40 Josh Bilicki 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing

 

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

Matt Kenseth was able to enjoy one year of retirement before he decided it was a perfect time to get back in the saddle, again.

But, boy, did he live it up.

Kenseth spent the better part of 2019 traveling around the country with his wife, Katie, and four children, visiting his home state of Wisconsin, as well as various beaches and mountains in what he described as “probably the best summer of my life.”

Once fall approached, it was off to Berlin, Germany, where he and Katie competed in a marathon and stayed an extra week to tour parts of Europe.

RELATED: Kenseth tapped for No. 42 ride

But the complexion of the remainder of 2020 is going to be drastically different after it was announced Monday that he would come out of retirement, replacing Kyle Larson as the driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing once the season resumes.

Was he surprised he got the call? A little bit.

“I knew they needed a driver, but I didn’t think I’d be on the list since I hadn’t been around for a while,” Kenseth told NASCAR.com. “I thought about it for a little bit and came up with a bunch of questions and called him back. Katie and I spent a lot of time kind of talking about it and learning as much as I could about it. Really, it just happened kind of fast.”

But is he ready to showcase his veteran talents once again? Now more than ever, especially since this isn’t his first go-around when it comes to getting up from the rocking chair.

After Kenseth and Joe Gibbs Racing parted ways, it was Roush Fenway Racing that reached out to him about a part-time opportunity to race the No. 6 Ford alongside Trevor Bayne in 2018 with the hopes that he could get the team back on a competitive track.

“I expect it to be different,” Kenseth said. “It was a really good experience for me to go back and do that. It was a challenge that I really wanted at the time for a lot of different reasons. It’s a bit different because I didn’t jump in and run the whole season there, it was kind of part-time.”

This time around, Kenseth won’t have the same rapport he did with Jack Roush, admitting he didn’t know team owner Chip Ganassi that well before the deal was put together. But it’s Ganassi’s style and performance of the No. 42 team over the past handful of seasons that sparked Kenseth’s interest when he received the initial phone call from managing director Max Jones.

“Chip always strikes me as one of the guys that, you know, when you’re on his team, I think he’s going to be great and when you’re not on his team, you’re maybe the enemy,” Kenseth said. “I’m really looking forward to getting to know him better and working with him. I’ve talked to him for a few times on the phone now. He’s really excited. I’m really excited.”

Kenseth goes into this new adventure with optimism and confidence. He likes what he’s seen out of crew chief Chad Johnston, the No. 42 team made the Round of 8 in last season’s playoffs, and he feels he’s in the best shape of his life. He also gets the chance to link up with Kurt Busch once more after previous years together at Roush.

“Kurt’s a great teammate. He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Kenseth said. “I’ve always enjoyed working with him. Looking forward to working with him again.”

MORE: Matt Kenseth through the years

But what drives him personally to strap on the helmet once again? What is there left to prove for the 48-year-old NASCAR Cup Series champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner?

“You don’t always get those opportunities,” Kenseth said. “I really don’t feel like I have anything to prove necessarily. Unfinished business might not be the right word either, but there’s certainly some things that I still want to do that maybe I haven’t done just for myself. I can’t really give you a particular list, but there’s certainly some things that I’d like to go back and do.

“I’d like to go back and be competitive and maybe win another race or win some races. … I’m looking forward to going and working as hard as I possibly can at it. Hopefully being able to contribute and have some success and be competitive again. It’d be fun to know that I can do that.”

Posted on by Terrin Waack

Ryan Newman doesn’t recall much, if anything, from the Daytona 500.

He obviously knows he was involved in a last-lap wreck while battling for the lead. He has seen the replay videos.

Other than that, most of the season-opening race is still missing from Newman’s memory. When the time is right, he’ll watch it over from start to finish.

“That’s the part, for me, that makes me feel how special it really was – the miracle part of it,” Newman said Thursday in a Zoom teleconference. “Because I don’t remember anything about being in the hospital. I couldn’t tell you who came to visit me. I couldn’t tell you who was in the room. But I do remember putting my arms around my daughter’s chests and walking out and holding their hands as I did that. And that tells me that God was involved, that tells me that I was blessed in more ways than one. … I feel like a complete walking miracle.”

RELATED: Newman medically cleared | Newman receives playoff waiver

Newman was treated and released from Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, within two days. The season opener took place Feb. 17. News of his departure came Feb. 19.

Thankfully for Newman, he did not sustain any internal organ damage or broken bones despite the severity of the crash. He did have a head injury. Some doctors told him it was a concussion; others thought it was not.

So, Newman self-diagnosed the injury as a “brain bruise.”

“The reality is you need to give time for a bruise to heal, and what I needed was time for my brain to heal,” Newman said. “I’ve really felt completely normal since, I guess in the last eight weeks. No problem, no question. That doesn’t mean that I was, and that’s why when it comes time to having a bruise heal, especially one you can’t see, you have to be extra careful.”

And he was – still is.

Before NASCAR’s COVID-19 competition pause back in March, Newman actually did a private test at Darlington Raceway. The run ended up being about 30 laps total at speed. It was Newman’s first time behind the wheel of a race car on track since Daytona International Speedway.

“I was so excited and ready to go and just kind of prove myself that I actually had to slow myself down and make sure that I didn’t go out there and fence it on the first lap by trying too hard,” Newman said. “So I never felt like I had to be apprehensive towards it, other than the fact that I wanted to make sure that I didn’t mess up my own test. I was there to prove that I was valid in the seat again.”

RELATED: Newman’s history at Darlington | Newman’s path to playoffs

NASCAR medically cleared Newman three weeks ago – just three days before the sanctioning body released its return-to-racing schedule. Newman, along with the Cup Series as a whole, will make an official comeback in Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The 42-year-old could not be more excited to get back inside his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

“I’m hoping to do every lap,” Newman said, “and then one more after that.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR fans across the country have eagerly awaited the return of on-track action, but they’ll have to tune in from home for the foreseeable future. Despite not being in the stands, however, Busch Beer has found a way to give die-hard supporters unprecedented access to the sport they love.

To mark the return of NASCAR this weekend at Darlington Raceway (Sun., 3:30 p.m. ET, FOX), Busch is giving fans a new way to be a part of the action like never before. Ten lucky fans will have their face prominently featured on Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light car for the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 27 — so while you currently cannot be at the races, your face can.

Fans can tweet a picture of themselves with a Busch Light logo using #YourFaceHere and #BuschContest from now through May 17 for a chance to win. Winners will also receive a pair of tickets to a 2021 NASCAR race of their choice.

This sweepstakes is just the latest fun Busch Beer has devised to promote its brand and celebrate a driver who has 49 career Cup Series wins. You may remember avocado toast from last year when Harvick drove the pink millennial car in one of Busch’s signature promotions that led to it winning NASCAR’s 2019 Marketing Achievement Award.

“Just like when Busch turned my car into beer cans, made me race in a bright pink car at the All-Star Race and changed Busch to ‘Harvick’ at Dover last year, I’m always amazed at what they come up with,” Harvick said in a previous release.

Be sure to tune in on FS1 at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 27 to see Harvick race the scheme under the lights at Charlotte.

Posted on by Official NASCAR Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (May 14, 2020) – NASCAR today announced the next installment of races in its return to racing, featuring events at Bristol Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The slate of races include events in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series and the ARCA Menards Series.

RELATED: NASCAR sets schedule through June 21

The second installment is as follows:

DATE TRACK SERIES DISTANCE TV INFO START (ET)
Sat, May 30 Bristol Xfinity 160 miles FS1 3:30 p.m.
Sun, May 31 Bristol Cup 266 miles FS1 3:30 p.m.
Sat, June 6 Atlanta Gander Trucks 200 miles FS1 1:00 p.m.
Sat, June 6 Atlanta Xfinity 251 miles FOX 4:30 p.m.
Sun, June 7 Atlanta Cup 500 miles FOX 3:00 p.m.
Wed, June 10 Martinsville Cup 263 miles FS1 7:00 p.m.
Sat, June 13 Miami Gander Trucks 201 miles FS1 12:30 p.m.
Sat, June 13 Miami Xfinity 250 miles FOX 3:30 p.m.
Sun, June 14 Miami Xfinity 250 miles FS1 12:00 p.m.
Sun, June 14 Miami Cup 400 miles FOX 3:30 p.m.
Sat, June 20 Talladega ARCA 202 miles FS1 2:00 p.m.
Sat, June 20 Talladega Xfinity 300 miles FOX 5:30 p.m.
Sun, June 21 Talladega Cup 500 miles FOX 3:00 p.m.

All the above dates will continue to be run without fans in attendance. The remainder of the adjusted schedule for all NASCAR series will be announced at a later date.

RELATED: NASCAR to return on May 17 at Darlington Raceway 

“As we prepare for our return to racing at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, the industry has been diligent in building the return-to-racing schedule,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “We are eager to expand our schedule while continuing to work closely with the local governments in each of the areas we will visit. We thank the many government officials for their guidance, as we share the same goal in our return – the safety for our competitors and the communities in which we race.”

In addition, NASCAR today announced the postponement of events at Kansas Speedway (May 30-31); Michigan International Speedway (June 5-7), the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio (May 30) and the Gander Trucks Series race at Texas Motor Speedway previously scheduled for June 5, as well as the cancelation of all NASCAR national series races and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Iowa Speedway for the 2020 season. The NASCAR Xfinity race at Iowa Speedway scheduled for June 13 has been realigned to Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, June 14. Further Iowa Speedway realignment dates will be announced in the future.

The NASCAR Cup Series will return to racing at Darlington Raceway this Sunday, May 17, with a 400-mile event scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX, FOX Deportes, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR released its next wave of races in the realigned 2020 schedule on Thursday, locking in the next five NASCAR Cup Series races that begin after the May 27 event at Charlotte Motor Speedway and go through mid-June.

Five NASCAR Xfinity Series events and two NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series races were confirmed as well. All of these rescheduled events will be held without fans in attendance as restrictions and safeguards related to the coronavirus pandemic remain in effect.

RELATED: Revised schedule for May | Darlington 101 for racing’s return

A weeknight race under the lights at Martinsville Speedway on Wednesday, June 10, is among the highlights announced days before NASCAR’s return to the track. The originally scheduled spring race at Martinsville Speedway was to be the first to begin under the track’s lights on Mother’s Day weekend before the COVID-19 pandemic sidelined the sport for two months.

Races at Bristol Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway – all tracks which saw their races postponed due to the novel coronavirus, and all tracks within driving distance of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based shops – complete the schedule through June 21.

RELATED: NASCAR announces next set of return to racing dates

The full list of rescheduled races announced Thursday:

Date Track Series Distance Network Start
Sat., May 30 Bristol Xfinity 160 miles FS1 3:30 p.m. ET
Sun., May 31 Bristol Cup 266 miles FS1 3:30 p.m. ET
Sat., June 6 Atlanta Gander Trucks 200 miles FS1 1 p.m. ET
Sat., June 6 Atlanta Xfinity 251 miles FOX 4:30 p.m. ET
Sun., June 7 Atlanta Cup 500 miles FOX 3 p.m. ET
Wed., June 10 Martinsville Cup 263 miles FS1 7 p.m. ET
Sat., June 13 Homestead Gander Trucks 201 miles FS1 12:30 p.m. ET
Sat., June 13 Homestead Xfinity 250 miles FOX 3:30 p.m. ET
Sun., June 14 Homestead Xfinity 250 miles FS1 Noon ET
Sun., June 14 Homestead Cup 400 miles FOX 3:30 p.m. ET
Sat., June 20 Talladega ARCA 202 miles FS1 2 p.m. ET
Sat., June 20 Talladega Xfinity 300 miles FS1 5:30 p.m. ET
Sun., June 21 Talladega Cup 500 miles FOX 3 p.m. ET

“As we prepare for our return to racing at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, the industry has been diligent in building the return-to-racing schedule,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. “We are eager to expand our schedule while continuing to work closely with the local governments in each of the areas we will visit. We thank the many government officials for their guidance, as we share the same goal in our return – the safety for our competitors and the communities in which we race.”

In addition, NASCAR announced the postponement of events at Kansas Speedway (May 30-31); Michigan International Speedway (June 5-7), plus stand-alone events for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Mid-Ohio (May 30) and the Gander Trucks at Texas Motor Speedway (June 5).

All national series events and a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race scheduled for Iowa Speedway this season have been canceled. The NASCAR Xfinity race at the .875-mile Iowa track that was scheduled for June 13 has been reassigned to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday, June 14. NASCAR officials indicated that the realignment of Iowa Speedway’s other national-series events will be announced at a later date.

NASCAR officials continue to collaborate with public health officials, medical experts and local, state and federal officials to create a comprehensive plan to ensure the health and safety of competitors and surrounding communities at the above events. All races will be strictly tailored, in every way, to follow specific guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Event procedures will be significantly modified in accordance with CDC, OSHA and state and local government recommendations — including hosting one-day shows at the above tracks, which are all within driving distance of North Carolina race shops to minimize travel and time spent in a community.

Other adjustments include mandating the use of protective equipment, health screenings for all individuals before entering the facility and maintaining social distancing protocols throughout the event.

The announcement comes days before the return to racing on May 17 at Darlington Raceway.

NASCAR announced its revised schedule for May two weeks ago, a stretch that includes seven national series races – four of them NASCAR Cup Series events – in an 11-day stretch among two tracks, Darlington and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Posted on by Staff Report

Prior to Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), NASCAR will hold a virtual driver-crew chief meeting — with a twist — that will air at 2 p.m. ET on NASCAR.com and NASCAR’s social channels.

The virtual meeting is a different take on the annual race-day event. While no drivers or crew chiefs will actually be on air, the virtual meeting will include remarks from 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick and NASCAR President Steve Phelps, the official rules video for Darlington Raceway and comments from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.

RELATED: Sunday’s race to honor healthcare workers | Ways to follow the action

The virtual meeting will also recognize race dignitaries. Giving the command for the race will be a group of medical personnel, and these healthcare workers also will be on each car in Sunday’s race. Country music superstar Darius Rucker will perform the national anthem.

Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 marks NASCAR’s return to racing and is the first race held since the COVID-19 stoppage that occurred after the fourth Cup race of the season at Phoenix Raceway in March.

Posted on by Jonathan Merryman

“Have you ever?” Well, yes, I have. It happened on March 16, 2003 in Darlington, South Carolina.

The 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway could have ended up being just another ordinary race. Fans who flocked to the track that day hoped for that once-in-a-lifetime ending, the kind you brag to your kids and grandkids about. And on that day in March, fans got more than they bargained for.

RELATED: Full race results | Too Tough to Forget: Oral history of 2003 finish

In the closing laps, Ricky Craven, driving the No. 32 Tide Pontiac, was in a dog fight with a young, fiery and talented Kurt Busch, steering Jack Roush’s No. 97 Ford. With five to go, Craven locked in on Busch and spent the next few go-arounds reeling him in. With two to go, Craven ran Busch into the wall; Busch recovered and regained the lead. In the final turn of the final lap, however, Busch wiggled ever so slightly and Craven pounced. The two bounced off each other down the front straightaway, and Craven was ahead by inches at the line.

Fans came for a show that day, but what they got was history. Relive the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history in this NASCAR Classic Full Race Replay.

MRN: Listen to the radio broadcast | RELATED:  Where is Craven’s winning car?

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR returns to the track for the first time since early March for its first race since the COVID-19 outbreak shut down the sports world.

The Cup Series makes its best effort to return to some semblance of normalcy by holding its first races in more than two months at Darlington Raceway, host to a 293-lap event Sunday, The Real Heroes 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and the Toyota 500 on Wednesday (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The events will be held without fans in attendance and with the track’s property restricted to only a limited group of essential personnel.

With a tight schedule of racing on tap to round out the month of May, here’s a primer with helpful information before stock-car racing resumes at the track “Too Tough to Tame.”

RELATED: How to follow the race

TRACK DETAILS

Darlington Raceway is a 1.366-mile track that opened as NASCAR’s first superspeedway in 1950. The track’s last repaving project was completed in 2008. The start-finish line was relocated from what was the frontstretch to the former backstraight in 1997.

The track features an oblong, egg-shaped layout, with a wider arc through Turns 1 and 2 than the tighter Turns 3 and 4. Turns 1 and 2 are banked at 25 degrees, while Turns 3 and 4 feature 23-degree banking. Both the frontstretch and backstraight measure 1,229 feet with minimal banking.

The next two events will be the 117th and 118th for the NASCAR Cup Series at the historic South Carolina track. Darlington’s first winner was Johnny Mantz, who topped a 75-car field in the 1950 Southern 500 on Labor Day in a time of 6 hours, 38 minutes. The margin of victory for his Plymouth was nine laps over runner-up Fireball Roberts.

RELATED: How Darlington’s distinctive design was made

STAGE LENGTHS

Sunday, May 17: Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 90, Stage 2 at Lap 185, and the final stage slated to conclude on Lap 293.

Wednesday, May 20: Stage 1 is set to end at Lap 60, Stage 2 on Lap 125, with the full distance set for Lap 228.

STARTING LINEUPS

Since the next two events will be held without practice or qualifying, NASCAR officials will set the starting lineups and determine pit-stall selection based on a mix of factors, including Cup Series owners points, a tiered structure of random draws and previous results.

See the full breakdown here detailing lineup procedures for all three NASCAR national series under the condensed race-day procedures.

RULES PACKAGE

The 2020 NASCAR rules package for intermediate-sized tracks will be in effect with a tapered spacer used to set a target of 550 horsepower. The cars will use aero ducts in addition to other aerodynamic devices to increase downforce.

MORE: Full Darlington, Charlotte schedules | Latest entry list

GOODYEAR TIRES

As the Cup Series braces for two Darlington events without practice or qualifying, the first race back will start without any rubber worked into the track’s abrasive surface. That should mean abnormally high wear for the Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials, especially in the first few pit-stop cycles before the asphalt begins to take rubber.

Cup Series teams will be allotted 12 sets of tires for the longer Sunday race and nine sets for the Wednesday event.

The tire features the same compound and construction that was scheduled to be used March 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway before that event was postponed. Tires that were earmarked for that race weekend will be used at Darlington.

“Getting back to racing and doing so at Darlington is a great feeling,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “We’ll come out of the gate by testing teams with one of the most grueling challenges in NASCAR, with the abrasive track surface and tight configuration of ‘The Track Too Tough to Tame.’ Our whole sport has had to become very nimble in coming up with a plan to safely get back to the track. Schedules will change, as will the way we all do business at the race track in the near future, but NASCAR as a sport has always been known for being innovative and able to adapt to ever-changing conditions. We will get back to the track this week and will put on great races for our fans. We’re glad to play a part in leading the way back for professional sports in the country and doing so in a safe, competitive and entertaining manner.” 

STATS TO KNOW

— The track has held a traditional Labor Day spot on the schedule since 2015, but two new Cup Series events for May were created at Darlington, a venue within driving distance to the Charlotte-area hub for the NASCAR industry. Coronavirus restrictions have begun to loosen, but race officials have opted for one-day events that minimize travel and at-track exposure for essential personnel. The last time the raceway held a springtime event was April 2014, when Kevin Harvick dominated by leading 238 of 374 laps in his lone Darlington win.

— Joe Gibbs Racing and its affiliated teams have won five of the last seven Darlington events — all with different drivers. Matt Kenseth, who returns to competition Sunday for the first time since 2018, kicked off that string of success in 2013. He was followed by JGR-associated drivers Carl Edwards (2015), Martin Truex Jr. (2016), Denny Hamlin (2017) and Erik Jones (2019). Toyota’s recent run there has impressed, but Chevrolet leads all automakers with 41 Darlington wins in NASCAR’s top division.

— Kenseth takes over the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet starting Sunday, but his return isn’t the only one happening at Darlington. Ryan Newman has been medically cleared to come back to the Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford after his recovery from serious injuries in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500 in February. Newman missed the last three races during his recovery time. Kenseth’s most recent Cup start was also behind the wheel of Jack Roush’s No. 6, which he drove in 15 races in 2018.

— Kevin Harvick is the only driver to score top-10 finishes in all four Cup Series races so far this season. The Stewart-Haas Racing veteran has a similarly steady streak at Darlington, where he has placed among the top 10 in seven consecutive races.

— The last time NASCAR’s top series embarked on a schedule of four races in an 11-day span came in August 1971. Richard Petty swept all four, winning at the Albany-Saratoga Fairgrounds; Islip, New York.; Trenton, New Jersey; and Nashville on the way to his third of seven series championships. 

Source: Racing Insights 

LIVE COVERAGE

Tune in to television coverage from Darlington Raceway on FOX (Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET), FS1 (Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. ET) and the FOX Sports App both days. For complete radio coverage, listen in to MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on-air.

RELATED: Ways to follow the races

For a more interactive experience, head over to NASCAR.com or the NASCAR app to check out an enhanced Race Center, live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the customizable live leaderboard with Scanner (which is FREE for both races), and the return of Drive (featuring in-car cameras).

Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the NASCAR Finish Line App!

2019 RACE WINNER

Darlington Raceway did not host events last May, but Erik Jones made the track’s most recent event on Labor Day a memorable moment. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver rose into contention late and led 79 of 367 laps to notch his second career Cup Series win.

RELATED: Odds, lines for Darlington

ACTIVE DARLINGTON WINNERS

Jimmie Johnson (three); Denny Hamlin (two); Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. (one each). 

Posted on by Pat DeCola

This is the fourth installment in a series where NASCAR.com looks back at each race this season and gets you caught up for Sunday’s return at Darlington Raceway. The FanShield 500 took place on March 8, 2020 at Phoenix Raceway. 

WINNER: Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, held off blue oval stablemate Kevin Harvick in NASCAR Overtime to pick up his second win of the season. Logano led 60 of 316 laps for his 25th career NASCAR Cup Series win. 

KEY MOMENTS: Logano expected a bump from Harvick in the two-lap overtime, but it never came. Instead, Harvick pulled up beside Logano in the center of Turns 1 and 2 on the final lap, but Logano sped away with a hard charge off Turn 2 and cruised to the finish line with a margin of .276 seconds. The 2018 champ rebounded from a few snafus earlier in the race and used a bold pit strategy to regain the lead late.

RELATED: Full results from race 

KEY DRIVERS: Though Harvick was disappointed to come up short at his best track, the runner-up finish was his fourth in the top 10 in four 2020 races — the only driver to do that. Rookie Cole Custer, Harvick’s teammate, landed in the top 10 as well, placing ninth for his best-ever Cup Series finish. Chase Elliott led a race-high 93 laps, but a loose wheel sunk his race on Lap 156. Kyle Busch finished third, for just his second top 10 of the season and his second straight top-three finish. Rookie Tyler Reddick battled with the leaders at times, as well, before mechanical issues ended his day early.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: The biggest takeaway was how clearly, at that time, things were pointing toward 2020 being the year of Logano, and really Team Penske as a whole. This likely will still be the case when NASCAR resumes racing, but it’ll be interesting to see if any of the momentum has been lost after the layover. Busch also seems to have regained some footing after a rocky start to the season, by his standards. The Phoenix race also was the first to deploy the new rules package designed for short tracks and road courses, which wound up putting on an exceptionally competitive race and drew positive feedback from industry voices and drivers.

2020 SEASON REFRESHERS