Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Complete Sunday schedule | Kes takes Darlington pole


Members of the NASCAR.com editorial team make their predictions for one of the most prestigious races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series calendar: the Bojangles’ Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).


Zack Albert
Kyle Busch: The tradition returns? Kyle Busch leading piles of laps at Darlington has some heritage, too.


Kenny Bruce
Jeff Gordon: A five-time Southern 500 winner, Gordon secures a spot in the Chase in his final Darlington appearance. 


Holly Cain
Kevin Harvick: Coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes in the previous two races, it’s time Harvick re-visits victory lane for a proper Chase send-off and his second straight Darlington win.


MORE: Darlington throwback paint schemes


Brad Norman
Kurt Busch: The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has three career poles, but no wins at Darlington. That changes Sunday as the No. 41 notches a momentum-building win with the Chase looming.

George Winkler
Kevin Harvick: Fans looking for a surprise winner to shake up the Chase won’t get it because Harvick has been just too good all season and is in prime position (third in lineup) for a repeat performance at Darlington.


Pat DeCola
Martin Truex Jr.: Sure, Truex started the season with 13 top-10s in his first 15 races and only has two in the nine events since, but it’s hard to picture the No. 78 team not regaining its strength as we roll into the Chase. With a low-downforce package at Darlington that would seem to favor Truex — a vocal proponent of as little downforce as possible — a Southern 500 win for the Furniture Row Racing driver seems like more than just a dark horse pick. 


RJ Kraft
Kevin Harvick: No Cup driver has repeated at Darlington since Greg Biffle did in 2006, and Harvick will as he also sees his string of oh-so-close calls for a third 2015 victory come to an end at the “Lady in Black.”


Jessica Ruffin
Brad Keselowski: Pole-sitter Keselowski’s speed during practice and qualifying  at “The Lady in Black,” coupled with his strength with the low downforce rules package at Kentucky tells me he is going to be a force to be reckoned with on Sunday night.



Kathy Sheldon
Joey Logano: He loved the low downforce package at Kentucky, finishing second with it. He’s on a roll with two wins in the last three races. And he found some speed in practice at Darlington, breaking into the top 10 in early practice.


Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full lineup

 

Denny Hamlin will start Saturday’s race at Darlington Raceway after earning his 20th career Coors Light Pole Award in qualifying.

 

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver topped the leaderboard in the final round of qualifying with a best speed of 171.704 mph.

 

Hamlin, who started and won from the pole at the track “Too Tough to Tame” in 2006, 2007 and 2010, has never finished an XFINITY event outside the top 10 at Darlington.

 

JGR teammate Daniel Suarez will start alongside him on front row after running a lap at a 171.178 mph clip. Kyle Larson (170.970 mph), Joey Logano (170.815 mph) and Paul Menard (170.703 mph) — who led the first two rounds — round out the top five.

 

Following a bit of a bizarre moment, XFINITY stalwart Kyle Busch will start 36th after failing to advance to the second round. His time was disallowed for a blend line violation.

 

Defending race-winner Chase Elliott will start seventh after a best speed of 170.395 mph.

 

Tune in to watch the VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Additional coverage is on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on by Zack Albert

What: 66th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500.
Where: Darlington Raceway, 1.366-mile oval in Darlington, South Carolina
When: Sunday, Sept. 6, 7 p.m. ET.
TV/Radio: NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Distance: 367 laps, 501.322 miles. 

Pit road speed: 45 mph.
Caution car speed: 50 mph.
Fuel window: 59 laps.

On the front row | Full lineup | See all 43 cars
1. Brad Keselowski, Team Penske No. 2 Ford (178.874 mph)
2. Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet (177.588 mph)

Did not qualify
Travis Kvapil, The Motorsports Group No. 30 Chevrolet
Timmy Hill, Premium Motorsports No. 62 Chevrolet
Josh Wise, Go FAS Racing No. 32 Ford

Fastest in practice
First practice: Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford (176.189 mph) | Results
Final practice: Brad Keselowski, Team Penske No. 2 Ford (175.880 mph) | Results

Driver rating (Average at Darlington based on past 10 races):
Jeff Gordon (112.7)
Denny Hamlin (107.1)
 
Last year’s winner
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet.

Gordon among all-time greats
Jeff Gordon‘s seven victories at the track “Too Tough to Tame” are far and away the most among active drivers in NASCAR’s premier series; Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson is a distant second with three Darlington wins. The multiple triumphs at the South Carolina track place Gordon in elite company, behind only David Pearson (10 wins) and Dale Earnhardt (9) on Darlington’s all-time win list.

RELATED: Gordon discusses road to the Chase

Rules recap
Sunday’s race will mark the second usage of the reduced-downforce rules package with a shorter rear spoiler and other aerodynamic alterations. The set-up was used with great fanfare in July at Kentucky Speedway, but will feature a softer, grippier tire this weekend at Darlington.

RELATED: Drivers, teams weigh in on low downforce package

History lesson
When Harold Brasington carved out the roughly 1 1/3-mile egg-shaped oval into a South Carolina field starting in the autumn 1949, the locals called it folly. But the project wound up ushering in the era of paved superspeedways while stock-car racing was still in its infancy. Johnny Mantz scored his only NASCAR win in the inaugural Southern 500 — the series’ first 500-mile race — by a nine-lap margin of victory over NASCAR Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts in 1950.

They said it
“I got a late start. I would like for it to be a little fuller but this is all I’ve got for now.” — Aric Almirola, on his old-school Fu Manchu mustache tribute to his car owner, Richard Petty.

RELATED: See Almirola’s look and more
 
Former Darlington winners in field
Jeff Gordon (7); Jimmie Johnson (3); Greg Biffle (2); Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth (1)

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Complete race results | Updated series standings

DARLINGTON, S.C. — You could call polesitter Denny Hamlin‘s victory in Saturday’s VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway “dominating,” but the NASCAR XFINITY Series event wasn’t without its share of drama — courtesy of a fuel shortage and Hamlin’s own Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Daniel Suarez.
 
Hamlin Led 117 of 147 laps at the 1.366-mile speedway, but he didn’t make the winning pass until Lap 145, when he surged past Suarez, who was stretching fuel after foregoing a final pit stop in hopes of stealing the victory.
 
The win was Hamlin’s third of the season (all from the pole), his fourth at Darlington (all from the pole) and the 14th of his career.
 
In a 1-2-3 finish for JGR, Kyle Busch got past Suarez, who finished third, to start the final circuit and came home in the runner-up position. But Suarez secured a $100,000 bonus as the top finisher among eligible series regulars in the final XFINITY Dash 4 Cash event of the season.
 
Suarez also won $100,000 for Kurt Kolstad, a race fan paired with Suarez for the Dash 4 Cash finale.
 
When Hamlin brought his No. 20 Toyota to pit road under caution on Lap 72, he returned to the track after a lightning fast stop during which his team left the fuel cell slightly short of a full load.
 
That meant Hamlin would have to pit before his primary pursuers, Busch and Kevin Harvick, and hope the race would run caution-free for the entire cycle of stops.
 
Hamlin got his wish. After pitting on Lap 122 and gaining time on fresh tires, a relieved Hamlin saw the race run caution-free to the end, giving him just enough time to catch Suarez, who was saving fuel on old rubber, before the laps ran out.
 
“I’m almost glad we didn’t (get the car full of fuel),” Hamlin said after the race. “We didn’t want a caution to fall and trap us there, but I had scraped the wall and kind of misjudged my line one time and got a little right-side damage, and the car just stopped turning.
 
“I don’t know if the right side would have made it or not (under the pressure of all-out racing).”
 
Harvick led 16 laps and finished fourth, his chances thwarted when the race ran green to the finish.
 
“The 9 (Chase Elliott) hit the wall or was blowing up or something, and we stayed out a few extra laps, thinking that the caution was going to come out, and got a little bit behind,” Harvick said.
 
“The 20 (Hamlin) had the best car. We were better in the long run — we could run him back down and race with him, but on the short run, those guys were a little bit better than we were.”
 
Chris Buescher ran fifth and extended his series lead to 29 points over Ty Dillon, who finished 15th, and 35 over Elliott, who came home 24th, three laps down, after his engine soured late in the race.
 
Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Landon Cassill, Regan Smith and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: See all 43 cars for Darlington | Full starting lineup

DARLINGTON, S.C. – With two races left before the start of the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski got the momentum builder he needed with Saturday’s pole-winning effort at Darlington Raceway.
 
“Boy, this feels good,” said Keselowski, who toured the treacherous 1.366-mile Lady in Black in 27.492 seconds (178.874 mph) to edge Kurt Busch for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
 
The Coors Light Pole Award was Keselowski’s first of the season, his first at Darlington and the ninth of his career. The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has but one top five to his credit in six previous starts at the track “Too Tough to Tame,” but NASCAR’s switch to a low-downforce configuration for this race seemed to suit the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford.
 
“For my team, we haven’t had, to date I would say, as strong of a year as what we had last year, and I think that kind of wears on everybody a little bit, including myself,” Keselowski said. “But I feel like we have positive momentum, and you always want to see results that showcase that, and this is one of those results that I feel like we can carry for the next 12 weeks.
 
“I’m just really pleased with today’s qualifying effort and the momentum we’re carrying.”
 
With tire fall-off a clear reality at Darlington, Busch set the fast speed of the time trials in the first round, running 179.501 mph to edge Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (179.389 mph) by .017 seconds. Through each subsequent round, the top speeds declined as tires accumulated wear, with Keselowski leading both the second and final sessions, the latter of which determines the pole winner.
 
Kevin Harvick, last year’s winner from the pole, qualified third at 177.415 mph, followed by Joey Logano (177.319 mph) and Jeff Gordon (177.192 mph).
 
Harvick, though, didn’t seem particular worried.
 
“I feel a lot better about it in race trim than I did in qualifying trim,” said the reigning Sprint Cup champion. “We try to concentrate on that the most, because there is so much falloff. The cars are going to slide around so much that I really feel like the cars need to be as manageable as you can make them throughout the night.
 
“It’s really not about the first two or three laps. You’ve got to be able to stay in there and be able to maneuver your car and be comfortable and keep it off the wall for at least 400 miles so that you can be around at the end. So, we’ll try to take care of our car and make sure we do everything right and get our car adjusted so that we’re ready for the last 100 miles of the race.”
 
There was plenty of suspense throughout the three rounds of knockout qualifying. Denny Hamlin, pole winner for Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at the Lady in Black, had to bump his way into the top 24 late in the opening round.
 
Three-time Darlington winner Jimmie Johnson was the last driver to punch a ticket to the second round, bumping Matt DiBenedetto by .009 seconds for the 24th spot. But Johnson’s run ended with a 19th-place run in the second session.
 
Trying to squeeze enough speed out of her No. 10 Chevrolet, Danica Patrick tagged the outside wall during her final run in the first round, forcing the team to roll out a backup car. Accordingly, Patrick will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.

RELATED: See Danica hit the wall in qualifying
 
Fast in Friday’s practice, Greg Biffle also sustained damage to his No. 16 Ford after contact with the wall in the second round. Biffle was credited with a 24th-place qualifying effort, and his team opted to try to repair the car, rather than resorting to a backup.
 
Note: Josh Wise, Timmy Hill and Travis Kvapil failed to make the 43-car field.

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Stay updated with everything happening at the track ‘Too Tough to Tame’

RELATED: Check out NASCAR.com’s new Social Drive

Hey fans, there’s plenty going on at Darlington Raceway this weekend and while many of you likely have Monday off for Labor Day observance — there’s a good chance you’re stuck behind a desk this Friday morning and afternoon.

Don’t worry, NASCAR.com has you covered with our running blog of everything happening at the "Lady in Black", so keep this tab open on your browser and keep that refresh button handy. Just remember to minimize your browser when your boss walks by — unless, of course, he or she is a NASCAR fan, too.

5:53 p.m. ET: Thanks for following along today. Here’s Zack Albert with tonight’s tune-in alert via his trusty typewriter.

 

5:35 p.m. ET: Tough break for ‘Rowdy’.

5:03 p.m ET: Not getting enough attention for how good his paint scheme looks? ‘Smoke’.

4:54 p.m. ET: Swag? Check.

4:45 p.m. ET: There’s always time for the fans.

4:44 p.m. ET: Problems for the 88 and 55.

4:35 p.m: ET: We’re rolling for final practice. Get over to NBCSN.

4:16 p.m. ET: Swoon, indeed.

4:12 p.m. ET: Every aspect of #NASCARthrowback has been strong so far. Seriously.

4:07 p.m. ET: There were tons of awesome throwback images from Darlington on Friday. Here are some of the greatest.

3:58 p.m. ET: Sam Bass is one of the best.

3:43 p.m. ET: What he said.

3:23 p.m. ET: Got questions about the new digital dashboard? Of course you do. Here are some answers.

3:17 p.m. ET: Yes, yes they are.

2:55 p.m. ET: And you thought Zack Albert was kidding.

 

2:38 p.m. ET: Congrats, Bill Elliott.

2:34 p.m. ET: Raise your hand if you think it’d be hilarious if Owen had a mustache, too.

2:27 p.m. ET: Speaking of which — Bill Elliott is about to address the media at 2:30 p.m. ET. Head on over to Press Pass to watch. But then come right back here.

2:26 p.m ET: Awesome.

2:21 p.m. ET: Brad isn’t typically known for siding with the popular opinion, but he isn’t alone here. Just look at it.

2:19 p.m. ET: Color me jealous.

2:12 p.m. ET: Kyle Busch‘s double-duty gets off to a good start. His No. 54 Toyota topped XFINITY Series practice. Read more and get full practice results here.

2:10 p.m. ET: Keselowski has a habit of putting top-five cars in Victory Lane. Keep an eye on him this weekend.

2:04 p.m. ET: Sunday will mark Jeff Gordon‘s last dance with the "Lady in Black".

2:02 p.m. ET: Well put, Kyle. Well put.

1:50 p.m. ET: Greg Biffle ruled opening Cup practice. Get full practice speeds and more in this recap.

1:33 p.m. ET: Ray Evernham knows a little something about Darlington, so he gave Dale Earnhardt Jr. some tips. Read more here.

12:41 p.m. ET: Okay, I take it back. Sorry, Aric Almirola. Zack Albert wins #NASCARThrowback.

12:28 p.m. ET: Keelan Harvick: Beer Pong aficianado. Read more in this week’s Eight Tweets You Might Have Missed.

11:53 p.m. ET: Here’s a look at that Austin Dillon wreck. Dillon tags the wall early at Darlington

11:48 p.m. ET: Something to keep in mind for any of you crew chiefs reading this blog.

11:41 a.m. ET: This is about as #NASCARThrowback as it gets.

11:40 a.m. ET: Oh yes.

11:27 p.m. ET: Wait a second, Kurt Busch … is that a bell-bottomed firesuit?

11:05 a.m. ET: Aric Almirola wins throwback weekend.

10:40 a.m. ET: A little bit of the past, a little bit of the future on display at Darlington.

10:35 a.m. ET: Some news for you this morning. Leavine Family Racing announced they have parted ways with crew chief Wally Rogers. Read more here.

10:27 a.m. ET: Drivers are really getting into this whole throwback thing. Cool hat, Kes.

10:15 a.m. ET: Yup. This is awesome.

10:11 a.m. ET: Darlington is certainly known for its close finishes, but we might need more than a Polaroid.

10:07 a.m. ET: Throwback schemes might look cool, but don’t be fooled — they certainly aren’t on the inside.

Posted on by Nascar

SHR team innovates on throwback weekend; display will be mandatory in 2016

MORE: Q&A on new digital dash

DARLINGTON, S.C. — NASCAR and its teams may be turning back the clock this weekend with Darlington Raceway‘s "throwback" initiative and the return of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 to the Labor Day holiday weekend, but both groups remain focused on the future as well.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

• Latest news
• Standings
• Schedule

Case in point — the Stewart-Haas Racing team with driver Kurt Busch. While the No. 41 Chevrolet is one of more than 30 entries featuring a retro paint scheme here this weekend, it is the only Sprint Cup entry featuring the new digital display (dashboard).

Teams were allowed to begin using the new technology in August; however this is the first time a team has had the new piece in place for a race weekend. The digital dash display will be mandatory in all Sprint Cup entries beginning in 2016.

"With digital dash, you get the same information everyone else does," Greg Zipadelli, Vice President of Competition for SHR, said Friday morning at Darlington. "Obviously … the digital dash offers an awful lot of data … just a ton of stuff depending on what kind of channels they allow us to use in the future."
 
That additional data won’t be available this weekend – the system will provide only the readings available through current analog gauges.
 

"It takes a little bit different (wiring) harness, a different dashboard," Zipadelli said. "(Kurt) was willing to run it. It allowed a group of our guys at the shop to just basically jump on it; we’re just trying to be a little bit ahead for next year and get some feedback, how does it work, what does he like about it, let the other drivers see it.
 
RELATED: How has Kurt fared at Darlington?

"That’s really the only reason for us. We’ve got to do it next year, we don’t have a choice, so we felt like we would embrace it and try … I don’t want to try to figure it out at Daytona or Phoenix next year."
 
There is a slight weight difference, he said, noting that the digital display is heavier.
 
"So we worked a little bit harder on the surroundings of it to try and get it back to being equal."
 
Earlier this year, Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR vice president of innovation and racing development, said the amount "of information we share and what we share will be somewhat dependent on the ability to telematically send information."
 
"The teams will be getting the same information they get currently; and they do have the ability to reconfigure the dash to their liking.

"We are also working on a tire-pressure monitoring system that will feed to the digital dash. The digital dash already has the receiver built into it; we’re working on the technology from the tires to talk to the dash. We will then be able to log the tire pressures during a race and take those post-race. The question is can we have real-time pressure monitoring?"

Current configurations inside the cars feature individual analog gauges for oil and water pressures, tachometer, fuel pressure and voltage.

The digital dashboard will display similar information, but also has the ability to provide additional feedback such as the tire pressures mentioned by Stefanyshyn, lap times and even relevant pit stop information.

Jamie McMurray, driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates No. 1 Chevrolet, previewed the digital technology earlier this year during a Goodyear tire test at Kentucky. By flipping a switch, McMurray noted, the new dash also has the ability to revert to a screen that displays the information in a more conventional manner.

In addition to providing more information to teams and drivers, officials have said it is hoped that the information can also be provided to fans to enhance the viewing experience.

Posted on by Nascar

RELATED: Gordon on lack of throwback scheme

 

DARLINGTON, S.C. — The level of concern has increased, Jeff Gordon admits, as the cutoff for this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup nears.

With only two races remaining to secure one of the 16 bids in this year’s field, Gordon and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team find themselves 15th in the Chase standings.

A victory in Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, Sirius XM) here at Darlington Raceway would all-but guarantee the 44-year-old Gordon an 11th appearance in the 10-race, championship-determining playoff. Gordon can qualify mathematically as well, depending on where other non-winners on the Chase bubble finish Sunday night.

Putting the question of ‘are we in or aren’t we?’ to rest before the series travels to Richmond for next weekend’s event “would be huge,” Gordon said Friday at Darlington.

“We definitely feel pressure and it’s a little bit stressful right now being on the bubble. I felt like we were in a pretty comfortable position about a month ago, we just had some misfortunes.”

A year after he scored a pair of regular-season wins and entered the Chase as the No. 2 seed, Gordon finds himself winless in his last 31 starts with just one top-10 finish in his last five outings. He was 42nd at Indianapolis, 41st at Watkins Glen, 17th at Michigan and 20th two weeks ago in Bristol, Tenn. The lone highlight in the midst of the free fall — a third-place run at Pocono.

He had finished no worse than ninth in the three outings previous to the Indy setback.

“I feel like we have performed well enough to securely be in by points,” Gordon, a seven-time winner at Darlington said. ” I can’t say we have performed well enough to be real confident coming in here, that we are going to be one of the cars to beat.

“But … the amount of hard work that Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the team, everyone at Hendrick Motorsports has been putting in the effort for this weekend especially. … I’m pretty happy with the car. I think we’ve got a shot at doing that.

“No matter what we realize it’s really important for us to execute really well this weekend … to get those points we need to go to Richmond and be a little more comfortable anyway.

“Other than a win this weekend, Richmond is going to be stressful but the good news is we’ve dealt with it before.”

As for Darlington, Gordon’s enjoyed more success than most on the rugged, old, oddly-shaped 1.366-mile track. During a stretch between September of 1995 and ’98, Gordon won three consecutive races here (two of which were Southern 500 victories) and five out of seven overall.

Outside of Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, where he has eight career wins, Darlington has been most kind to the four-time series champion. He closed the books on the former Winston Million bonus program in 1997 with a victory as well.

RELATED: Watch Gordon win $1 million at Darlington

With only two races remaining, Gordon is taking nothing for granted. He knows what his team has accomplished before, and what it is capable of today.

The stress is there. But so is the confidence.

“It certainly helps when you’ve been through it a number of times,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that it goes away.

“You know what’s on the line. You know what you have to do.”

Posted on by Staff Report

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Leavine Family Racing announced Friday morning that crew chief Wally Rogers is no longer with the team.
 
The organization did not name a replacement for the No. 95 Ford and driver Michael McDowell. The Bob Leavine-owned team is not participating at Darlington Raceway this weekend, but will return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Sept. 12 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as part of the team’s part-time schedule.
 
“We appreciate everything Wally has done for this organization,” Leavine said in a release provided by the team. “I’m committed to growing this race team and improving our on-track performance. Looking ahead to 2016, we are putting the pieces in place to improve the overall performance of this race team.”
 
Rogers had been with the team since its Sprint Cup debut in 2011. He helped guide the team to its best-ever finish — seventh at Daytona in July 2014 — in McDowell’s first season with the operation.