One popular part of Darlington Raceway’s annual throwback weekend is the fan vote for best paint scheme — and with all three NASCAR national series at the “Track Too Tough To Tame,” three unique winners were honored this year.
Yes, the fans have spoken.
The envelope, please.
NASCAR Cup Series
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet. Elliott’s scheme is an honor to Jimmy Means.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Chevrolet. Clements’ scheme is an honor to Dale Earnhardt and Bud Moore.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Matt DiBenedetto, No. 25 Chevrolet. DiBenedetto’s scheme is an honor to Sterling Marlin.
There’s nothing quite like Darlington Raceway on the Cup Series schedule, as the surface wears tires at an extreme rate. In the midst of Throwback Weekend, 2018 champion Joey Logano sat atop the qualifying leaderboard, winning his first pole since 2019. Between the two group practice sessions, two potential race winners will have to come from the rear after having incidents.
Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup: Starter 1: Kyle Larson Starter 2: Denny Hamlin Starter 3: Ross Chastain Starter 4: Erik Jones Starter 5: Tyler Reddick Garage pick: Kevin Harvick
NEXT IN LINE: Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr.
RISING: Joey Logano is coming off consecutive races where he finished 29th or worse. But on Saturday, it was the No. 22 Ford that led the way, winning his first pole at the “Track Too Tough To Tame.” In 16 starts at Darlington, Logano has a quartet of top-five results, and top-10 finishes in three of his last four starts.
When it comes to a track that has an abrasive racing surface, Tyler Reddick comes to the top of mind as drivers that could contend for the win. On Sunday, there’s a good chance the No. 8 Chevrolet will be rim-riding the wall to chase additional grip. Not many drivers do it better than the two-time Xfinity Series champion. He will start from a respectable 10th on Sunday.
FALLING: Kevin Harvick enters Sunday’s race with 12 straight top-10 finishes at Darlington. However, after blowing a left rear tire and going for a spin in practice on Saturday, the No. 4 car had to go to the garage to repair the diffuser. While Harvick will have to start in the rear, 400 miles around “The Lady in Black” is a long day; I’m keeping him in my lineup.
In recent years, Chase Elliott has felt he’s struggled to get around Darlington, thus why he entered the Xfinity Series race this weekend (he DNQ’d with qualifying getting canceled due to rain). His struggles continued in Group B of practice, blowing a left-rear tire entering Turn 3 on his 15th lap. The No. 9 Chevrolet will also have to come from the rear in a backup car.
FEATURED MATCHUPS
Denny Hamlin vs. Martin Truex Jr.: Of the 36 drivers entered into Sunday’s race, no driver is better at Darlington than Hamlin. Since 2020, the No. 11 Toyota has won two of the last four races at the 1.33-mile track, including last year’s Southern 500. Truex isn’t a snub at Darlington, either, as the No. 19 car dominated this race last season. This is a tossup, but the slight advantage goes to Hamlin, even though he had an issue in qualifying.
Ross Chastain vs. Kyle Busch: These two drivers have had comparable seasons thus far, though Chastain has gotten to Victory Lane once more than the No. 18 car. Chastain is my pick to win the race, so he’s got my vote here.
Chris Buescher vs. Ricky Stenhosue Jr.: Both Buescher and Stenhouse are coming off standout races for their respective teams in the 2022 season, with the No. 17 car winning the pole at Dover and the No. 47 Chevrolet finishing runner-up. Based on their success at Darlington, Buescher gets the nod, as he finished ninth in both races last season.
Ryan Blaney vs. William Byron: Based on speed alone, the Nos. 12 and 24 have been near equal in 2022. But Byron has proven to get better as a race goes on this year, while Blaney has had a tough time putting complete races together. Slight advantage, No. 24 team.
For the second race in a row, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to a highly banked oval for 400 miles of racing. Today’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Darlington Raceway should feature some similarities to the racing at Dover, including tire management.
In addition to Dover, the Cup Series also ran at Auto Club Speedway earlier this year. That gives bettors two previous races on high-wear, high-speed ovals to analyze. Combined with practice, we have a pretty solid set of data to work with to help guide our betting decisions.
NASCAR at Darlington Picks
*Odds as of Sunday morning
Chris Buescher -120 Over Bubba Wallace
While practice is important, don’t get too wrapped into practice times when the rest of the data points in the other direction.
Yes, Wallace was faster than Buescher over five and 10 consecutive laps. However, Buescher has a significant edge in other relevant categories.
At Darlington, Buescher leads Wallace in head-to-head matchups by a 5-2 margin. That includes a 100% win rate in three races with low downforce.
Additionally, Buescher was faster in average green flag speed than Wallace at Dover Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway. We can even throw in Richmond Raceway, another high tire wear track that correlates strongly with Darlington in average running position, where Buescher had the 13th-best average running position to Wallace’s 25th-place effort.
My model gives Buescher a 62% chance of winning this head-to-head battle. That means the -120 line at Caesars Sportsbook presents a solid 13.6% edge per my model.
The Bet: Chris Buescher -120 Over Bubba Wallace | Bet to: -135
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Top-5 Finish +1200
When looking at Auto Club and Dover, two underdog drivers stand out: Erik Jones and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Darlington is Jones’ best track, but that’s priced into his top-five number, where he’s +500 at DraftKings.
Stenhouse, on the other hand, hasn’t had the track record of Jones at “The Lady in Black,” but that could all change this weekend.
This year, Stenhouse has matched Jones’ upside at Auto Club and Dover.
At Auto Club Speedway, Stenhouse was seventh in average green flag speed, and would likely have been faster had he not gotten bogged back in traffic during several restarts throughout the race. His 10th-place finish was an unflattering result for a driver who initially drove his way up to third place early in the race.
At Dover, Stenhouse steadily made progress and came home with a second-place finish. There, he posted the sixth-best average green flag speed.
At Auto Club, Stenhouse was impressively quick in practice. If history repeats itself, Stenhouse should have a great car for today’s Goodyear 400. That’s because Stenhouse placed sixth among 29 cars in 10-lap average in practice.
Stenhouse is a high variance driver, so while I’m not betting for or against him in matchups, I don’t mind a shot at some longer priced bets with his upside.
His top Chevrolet odds are an enticing +5000 at BetMGM, but I prefer +1200 for a top-five finish. At both Auto Club and Dover, a Chevrolet fielded the winning car as Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott took those victories. Darlington is arguably Larson’s best track, so it’ll be tough for Stenhouse to score top Chevy honors.
The Chevy dominance extended beyond Hendrick cars. Chevrolet swept the top-four spots at Auto Club, and took five of the top-six finishing positions at Dover.
Hence why I prefer the 12-1 top-five odds at BetMGM. It allows Stenhouse to claim a nice score for bettors, even if he gets beat by a few other Chevrolets.
The Bet: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. +1200 Top-5 Finish | Bet to: +1200
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Kyle Busch was all about the task at hand Saturday at Darlington Raceway, putting his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota a solid fifth on the starting grid for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). But that day of work came alongside some added perspective, with a major life moment on the way.
Busch’s JGR team has Trevor Bayne on site at the 1.366-mile track as a reserve driver this weekend, in the event Busch and his family need to depart for the arrival of their second child. The organization confirmed that arrangement Friday, and Bayne would be available for stand-in duty next weekend at Kansas Speedway as well, should the surrogate carrying Kyle and Samantha Busch’s baby go into labor.
“I think it’s always a hard decision,” Busch said, “but I think you can live down missing a race, but you’ll never live down not being there for the birth of your kid.”
Those words come ahead of race day falling on Mother’s Day for Sunday’s 400-miler, and Busch spoke about the family’s anticipation for 6-year-old Brexton Busch becoming a big brother.
“Samantha kind of said it a little while back where her not being able to carry and her not being the one pregnant,” Busch said, “she feels like the husband in a pregnancy because she’s not feeling the changes, she’s not going through the internal things that you get while being pregnant. And so if she’s the husband, I guess I’m the next step down from that, whatever that is, I’m not sure. But you know, just a bit removed, although still planning and doing the stuff around the house and getting ready. I’ve asked her now two weeks in a row like, ‘are we ready? Are we ready?’ Like I feel like we’re ready. We’re ready. Yeah. So I think we’re ready.”
Busch spent part of his post-practice debrief bringing Bayne up to speed – “just giving him all the information I could about what I was feeling so he’d be more prepared in the instance we need him,” he said.
Busch said he was not part of the decision-making process in lining up Bayne as a backup. The 31-year-old driver and 2011 Daytona 500 winner last drove in the Cup Series in 2018 in a partial season for car owner Jack Roush, but has competed in three Xfinity Series races in JGR’s No. 18 entry this season – winning a pole and logging two top-five finishes.
The numbers tell the story of Justin Allgaier’s impressive victory in Saturday’s Mahindra ROXOR 200 at Darlington Raceway.
First and foremost, in defending the NASCAR Xfinity Series victory he claimed last spring at the Lady in Black, Allgaier broke a 34-race drought dating to that 2021 win.
For the second straight race, JR Motorsports posted a 1-2 result, with Noah Gragson trailing Allgaier to the finish line by .259 seconds in a two-lap dash to the end of regulation.
JRM drivers now have won three straight races in the series and three straight at Darlington, with Gragson having triumphed at the 1.366-mile track last fall.
Beyond the numbers, though, the key element on Saturday was the flawless execution of Allgaier’s pit crew. After Allgaier finished third behind Gragson and Ty Gibbs in Stage 2, the crew got the No. 7 Chevrolet out first during a Lap 92 pit stop.
On the two stops that followed, Allgaier was first off pit road among the drivers who came in for service. When nine cars stayed out under caution for Joe Graf Jr.’s crash on Lap 136, Allgaier restarted 10th on Lap 141 and advanced to second before Tyler Reddick slammed the outside wall on Lap 142.
On the subsequent restart on Lap 146 of 147, Allgaier quickly grabbed the lead form AJ Allmendinger, who had 16-lap older tires, and held the top spot to the finish, as Gragson pursued.
“This team right here — the pit stops today were killing it,” said Allgaier, who had finished a close second to teammate Josh Berry a week ago at Dover. “They were awesome. This Hellman’s Camaro was so fast. Just a testament to the 7 guys, but everybody at JR Motorsports — they’ve been working so hard. It’s showing with our finishes, not just our 7 team, but all of us.
“We’ve been doing this way too long, and you know how great it feels to get back to Victory Lane. … And by the way, it was awesome racing my teammates. That was probably the coolest part, racing my teammates all day, so hats off to those guys.”
Gragson delivered his eighth top-five finish of the season, including victories at Phoenix and Talladega.
“A 1-2 finish for our company, that was great,” Gragson said. “We had great points today. Two stage wins and a second place. I wanted that win. I was ripping the top. I went on a bike ride this morning with Justin Allgaier, right at sunrise. He said, ‘Man, I’m going to run the bottom,’ and I knew he was going to run the bottom.
“We ran at the fence all day. He got the win. Hopefully, we’re selling T-shirts out on the concourse for ripping the top. I don’t know if anyone was higher than us, and there’s barely scrape on the right side.”
Riley Herbst ran third, extending his string of top-10 finishes to five. Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race winner, John Hunter Nemechek, came home fourth, followed by JRM’s Sam Mayer.
Landon Cassill, Brandon Jones, Allmendinger, Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric completed the top 10. Allmendinger has finished in the top 10 in all 11 Xfinity Series races this season.
Three JR Motorsports cars finished among the top five. The fourth JRM car of Josh Berry was running second when he was penalized on a late return to green for jumping the start. He placed 18th.
Richard Childress Racing rookie Sheldon Creed completed just 16 laps Saturday after a self-induced engine issue, Creed said. On the initial start, Creed shifted into neutral instead of fourth gear, over-revving the engine and resulting in a loss of power. He finished in last place.
The Xfinity Series returns Saturday, May 21 at Texas Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Note: Post-race inspection in the NASCAR Xfinity Series is complete. There were no issues, confirming Allgaier as the winner of the race.
Eleven races into the season and we have had nine winners, with the only repeat winners being Ross Chastain (Circuit of The Americas and Talladega Superspeedway) and William Byron (Atlanta Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway). The introduction of the Next Gen car has brought a lot of parity to the field with seemingly more comers and goers at the front of the field than in recent years. However, if you look at the breakdown of winners, only three of the nine picked up their first career win in the Cup Series. Nearly one third of the way through the season, will the parity continue? Or will the cream rise to the top? Darlington Raceway is a daunting, high-speed track that has historically favored the seasoned veterans of the sport. Kevin Harvick (three), Martin Truex Jr. (two) and Denny Hamlin (three) have combined to win an astounding eight of the last 11 races at the “Track Too Tough to Tame.” There has not been a first-time winner here since Erik Jones’ late-night triumph in 2019. The old, aging surface has historically favored familiar drivers. Sunday’s challenging race may be the ultimate test of proving which teams, and wheelmen, have a solid grip on the Next Gen car and are separating themselves from the pack. | Will Hendrick end its 10-year Darlington drought?
Who’s hot? Who’s not?
Kevin Harvick is beginning to round into the consistent form that we are used to. Back-t0-back top-10 outings have the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing driver on an upward trend heading to a track he has historically dominated. Still searching to end his winless streak, Harvick has had the hot hand at Darlington Raceway, capturing three wins and 12 straight finishes of ninth or better. He has also led laps in 11 of the last 15 races at the South Carolina track. Throwback Weekend might be the perfect time for Harvick and company to regain their championship-winning form. Trending in the opposite direction is Tyler Reddick. Known for his prowess in the outside lane and ability to run along the wall, Darlington could provide Reddick with a bit more comfort than in recent weeks. The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team has two consecutive finishes of 30th or worse and is slipping in the standings. In Reddick’s last four races at Darlington, he has finished outside the top 12 each time. Look for the crew to start fast and stay out front in hopes of ending this minor slump.
Driving under the radar
Can Kyle Busch fly under the radar? The two-time Cup Series champion has the talent and the resume, but other names have risen to the top of discussions so far this season. But on paper, Busch has been almost as good as anyone lately, with a win and five top-10 performances in his last seven races. He’s led laps in seven races already and scored stage points in 10 of the 22. So far, he has only finished outside of the top 14 twice, and one was at the newly reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver could also have the strongest case for a driver deserving to be in the multi-win category with Ross Chastain and William Byron after a couple of dominant runs. Contract talks and driver conflicts have overshadowed Busch’s impressive performances recently. Seemingly more motivated than in quite some time, look for Busch to put together another championship-worthy campaign. | Trevor Bayne on standby for Busch at Darlington with new child on the way.
Saturday’s sessions
Weather played an important factor in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions at Darlington Raceway. On a hot, sunny day, sporadic bits of cloud cover provided a different look at how the track may change as the sun starts to wane on Sunday evening. Austin Cindric and Joey Logano were the two fastest in the morning’s lone practice session. But it was Logano who saw that speed translate over to the two-round qualifying session, landing the 23rd pole of his Cup Series career and first since 2019. Kyle Larson starts on the front row alongside Logano, followed by a plethora of Toyota drivers. Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch each laid down an impressive lap time to guarantee a top-10 starting position. As we have seen throughout the season, drivers struggled to get a hang of the Next Gen car in the weekend’s early laps, leading to a number of spins and minor crashes. Chase Elliott took the worst of the incidents in practice, slamming into the wall and forcing the No. 9 team to a backup. He did not qualify. | Elliott reacts to practice crash.
Jared East | Getty Images
Race-day staples ✅
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• Paint Scheme Preview: Throwback schemes for Darlington Throwback weekend | See them here
• Power Rankings: Christopher Bell heating up with summer stretch on the horizon | Updated driver rankings
• Fantasy Fastlane: Will Denny Hamlin end his 2022 slump at Darlington? | Top plays, sleepers
• NASCAR betting: Odds for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Darlington | See the favorites, underdogs
• Backseat Drivers: Can anyone stop Hendrick Motorsports? | Hear the debate
Catch the pack 💨
Andrew Coppley
Read up on the top headlines from the week leading up to Sunday’s race.
• Signed, sealed: William Byron inks three-year extension with Hendrick Motorsports | More details| Byron, Fugle focused on championship
• Drought: Will Hendrick Motorsports end its 10-year winless streak at Darlington? | Full analysis
• Patiently waiting: Trevor Bayne on standby for Kyle Busch at Darlington | Learn more
• Hall of Fame: New trio elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2023 | See the new Hall class| Voter Zack Albert’s ballot • Hall of Fame videos: Matt Kenseth| Kirk Shelmerdine| Hershel McGriff
• Mission 600: Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick train alongside U.S. paratroopers | Read more
• Honoring heroes: Kyle Larson, Jeff Gordon lay wreath at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier | Pictures, details
• Penalty report: JGR No. 11, Kaulig No. 16 teams fined for lost wheels | Full report | JGR set to appeal
• Next Gen: Expert analyzes the loose wheel issues seen at Dover Motor Speedway | Technical breakdown
• NASCAR Salutes: Annual military appreciation program returns for 2022 | Learn more
• Where are they now?: Catching up with Tim Brewer | Read more
Get in on the action 💰
Think you know NASCAR? Put your mettle to the test with gaming, fantasy.
• Backseat Bets: Can Buescher beat Stenhouse head-to-head at Darlington? | Hear the debate
• The Action Network: Different drivers to bet at Darlington | Betting analysis
• Sunday’s picks: Ride with Ross Chastain at Darlington | Experts break it down
• Play it LIVE: Full guide to 2022 NASCAR Fantasy Live game | Get the FAQ
• Going all the way: NASCAR betting: 2022 Cup Series championship odds | See them here
Lessons from the ‘Lady in Black’ 👩⚖️
Before the series returns to the track “Too Tough to Tame,” look back at some track history and previous winners.
• By the numbers: An in-depth, statistical look at Darlington’s annual Throwback Weekend | Read more
• Mother’s Day: Every NASCAR race held on Mother’s Day and the winners of the races | See them here
• Previous paint: Comparing throwback schemes from 2015-22 | Which is your favorite? | Only 2022 schemes
• Last year: Martin Truex Jr. holds off a late charge from Kyle Larson to win 2021 spring race | Race recap, highlights
• Finish for the ages: Relive the famous Busch-Craven finish at Darlington Raceway in 2003 | Watch it here
Fast facts ⏩
Hard-hitting, race-relevant statistics, brought to you by the experts at Racing Insights.
• Sunday will be the 122nd race at Darlington Raceway, NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway.
• The last six races at Darlington were won by only two organizations: Joe Gibbs Racing (four wins) and Stewart-Haas Racing (two wins).
• Twelve of the last 13 races at Darlington were won by drivers over the age of 30 years old.
• Five times a driver has swept both stages at Darlington but only once have they gone on to win.
• The final green-flag stretch last spring at Darlington was 100 laps; the longest in the past seven races there.
Say what? 🎙
Notable quotes from the stars of the sport heading into Sunday’s race.
James Gilbert | Getty Images
• “We have a lot of momentum as a team heading to Darlington this weekend. We had a great weekend in Dover after starting in the back with 70 laps to go at a place that is tough to pass, so I think it only helps myself and the rest of the team know that we are firing on all cylinders right now. I am looking forward to taking the No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevy to Darlington and making Mark (Martin) proud and try to get the car back in Victory Lane.” — Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
• “Darlington is going to be tough. My teammate Denny Hamlin did a tire test there and lost grip over the course of the run. As we know it’s been the name of the game trying to keep your car balanced and handling well over the course of a tire run is very difficult and with these new cars, it’s become even more difficult. It’s going to be a battle for sure and to see whoever can get their car to drive the best on old tires.” — Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
• “It’s been a lot of fun to have been able to win there a few times now. Darlington is one of those historic racetracks that everybody loves going to because of the fact that it’s forever tied to the guys that used to race there with the same shape of the race track. It may be a different surface, but it’s the same racetrack that they raced on in the 1950s. It’s a unique place to go race and a place that has so much history in our sport.” — Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Martin Truex Jr. voiced his displeasure with Ross Chastain’s driving tactics in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, explaining the basis of their post-race discussion Monday and the incidents that led up to it.
Chastain and Truex tangled in their last-lap contest for the third position with Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet drifting up into the path of Truex’s No. 19 Toyota. Chastain continued and placed third behind race winner Chase Elliott and runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr., but Truex slumped to 12th in the final order.
The two exchanged words on pit road post-race. Saturday at Darlington Raceway, Truex explained that the final-lap skirmish was the culmination of multiple incidents that fed his ire.
“Well, he came up. I mean, I had a run to the outside, and he, his spotter told him I was there, and he just came up like I wasn’t there,” Truex said after qualifying fourth for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). “So it caused me to lift and get in the marbles, ultimately crashed and lost six spots, seven, eight spots. So I don’t really know the reason. He ran me all over the race track all day, and I get it. He’s air-blocking. These cars are terrible in dirty air, he’s doing what he has to do, but I’m talking three lanes up the race track, all over.
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
“Like literally, just completely blowing and forgetting about making lap time. The guys in front of us are driving away, and he’s screwing around with me for fourth place. It’s the Cup Series, we don’t typically race like that. I just thought it was kind of uncalled for. And then obviously, the incident I was mad about – I wasn’t mad about the rest of it, which is ridiculous, but it is what it is, some guys will do it. And then the deal at the end of the race, just blatantly running me out of race track, that was what I was mad about.”
Chastain dodged when asked about their conversation during last week’s post-race interviews, saying they were discussing their next fishing trip together. He continued that running gag in Friday interviews at Darlington, joking that they planned to wet a hook in the minnow pond adjacent to the track’s Turn 4 bend.
But Chastain did say that in retrospect, he should have opted to let Truex by, which could have allowed both to track down Stenhouse in the late going.
“I’d say more the mistake was 30 laps before that, not just letting him go and hoping he got by Ricky and then I’d get by Ricky, too,” said Chastain, who will start eighth Sunday at Darlington. “That’s more what I mean. I mean the last lap is the last lap. We are coming back around to the checkered, I’m going to race him as hard as I possibly can and try not to crash. I trust him and hope that he’d trust me. It was like 50 laps before that or the beginning of that last run when he first got to me probably, looking back at it, let him go then and then try to get by Ricky and still finish third. But I didn’t.”
The two drivers sit also in close proximity in the Cup Series standings – Chastain in sixth and Truex seventh, with just two points separating the pair. Moving forward, Truex was asked if his post-race message at Dover was delivered.
“I asked him why he did it, and I’m not really sure he knows why he did it,” Truex said. “But it’s not going to happen again.”
See where your favorite driver will pit for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Darlington Raceway.
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin’s season of misfortune by the bushel with one great height continues. It’s been enough that his team’s approach has undergone some tinkering as the NASCAR Cup Series regular season nears its halfway point.
Hamlin enters Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) with highly uncharacteristic numbers on his stat sheet to date. He has a victory already – at Richmond – that has virtually clinched his spot in the Cup Series Playoffs, but that’s his only finish inside the top 10 through 11 races. Six finishes have been outside the top 20, a burdensome weight that’s left him 23rd in the standings and with a lackluster 22.5 average finish.
“It’s been frustrating. I mean, honestly, it’s just been, you know, week after week of being the coyote that gets the anvil dropped on its head,” Hamlin said Saturday at Darlington Raceway, nodding to the infamous Wile E. Coyote cartoon. “I mean, I don’t even know how else to explain it.”
Hamlin finished right near his 2022 average last week after a list of unforced errors at Dover Motor Speedway – one a pit-stop miscue that caused his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing to lose a wheel early on, and secondly a crash where he was unable to miss the spinning No. 51 of Cody Ware.
He continued on, avoiding what could have been his fifth DNF of the year.
“We’ve had things that just have broken. I’ve had more mechanical failures this year than I’ve ever had,” Hamlin said. “Again, you know, some of these parts that we don’t control and NASCAR is continuing to change them and develop them to make them better so we don’t have a lot of problems, but we’ve just been kind of the poster child of the ones that break things. And then last week, you know, what can I do? … The 51 spun there and I just didn’t, didn’t get around, run into him. It’s been unfortunate, but I can tell you it’s a lot different than running top 10 every week and trying to figure out how you’re going to get enough speed to win. That’s what I’d really be worried about.”
Almost prophetically, Hamlin had another breakage during Saturday’s Cup Series qualifying, with part of the underbody causing a grinding noise underneath his No. 11 Toyota. He had qualified 22nd, but will drop to the rear of the field for Sunday’s start.
His JGR teammates have fared better in their respective perches in the points, all ranking among the top 10 – Kyle Busch tied for third, Martin Truex Jr. seventh and Christopher Bell 10th.
“I mean, he’s been competitive, and he’s been right there with us every week,” Bell said of Hamlin. “So he’s made jokes about it, like you can’t stop the bleeding, right, because something always happens to him. Even last week at Dover, he had a car capable of winning the race and unfortunately had a pit-road mishap and then got caught up in a wreck. That was not his fault at all, so we don’t even really talk about it.”
Hamlin said his faith in his performance has been boosted by his season-best 67 laps led at Dover, but also his average running position – which he said stacks up favorably to Chase Elliott, the current points leader. But the current deficit has prompted the No. 11 team to shake up its goal, strategy-wise.
That shift means a focus on building up a bankroll of playoff points, and letting any other points fall where they may.
“We’ve given up on the regular-season points, and even getting in the top 10. I’m not even sure,” Hamlin said. “So for us, it’s actually simplified our strategy, we go for playoff points only. So when you see the field start splitting because they want stage points or whatever, you know where the 11 (team) stands from this point on. We’re trying to get five points at the end of the race and two for the Playoffs during stages. So it actually simplifies our strategy for the regular season.”
It was easy to hear the relief and elation in Joey Logano’s voice after the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford put his car on the pole for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“Oh, it was so much needed for all of us here,” said Logano, who struggled to a 29th-place finish last Monday at Dover. “The last couple of weeks were pretty rough, getting in a couple of crashes and not being strong at Dover.”
On Throwback Weekend at the Track Too Tough to Tame, Logano is sporting a paint scheme reminiscent of the quarter midget racer he drove as a child.
“This is full circle for me,” said Logano, who covered the 1.366-mile distance in 28.805 seconds (170.720 mph) in the money round of qualifying on Saturday. “This is my first quarter-midget paint scheme — it’s got all the same stuff on it since I was a kid.”
In winning his first pole of the season, his first at Darlington and the 23rd of his career, Logano edged Kyle Larson (170.236 mph) by .082 seconds. Christopher Bell qualified third at 169.818 mph, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch, as Toyota drivers claimed starting positions three through six.
Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, William Byron and Tyler Reddick will start from positions seven through 10 on Sunday after advancing to the final round of time trials.
Neither Chase Elliott nor Kevin Harvick made qualifying runs after suffering flat tires during Saturday’s practice. Elliott was forced to a backup car after hard contact with the wall, and Harvick’s team spent the qualifying session replacing the damaged rear diffuser on the No. 4 Ford.
Both drivers will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.
Brad Keselowski and Corey LaJoie also found trouble in practice. Keselowski spun at pit entry to conclude Group B’s practice session as he attempted to head into pit lane. LaJoie went around in the center of Turns 3 and 4 that saw his No. 7 Chevrolet brush the outside wall. They qualified 23rd and 30th, respectively.
