Darlington Raceway - The Showtime Southern 500 (News & Notes)

HacheMan · May 5, 2010

The Showtime Southern 500
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series moves to the Darlington Raceway for the 11th race of the 2010 season, the Showtime Southern 500. The only race this season at the "Track Too Tough To Tame" promises to be filled with excitement. We analyzed past performances, season trends, and talked to NASCAR contacts to shed a light on how the field should finish on Saturday night.

When: Saturday, May 8, 2010; 7:44 p.m./et.

Weather: Sunny with a high around 78; wind out of the NNW at 10 mph Chance of precipitation is zero percent.

The Track: Darlington Raceway

Darlington is a 1.366 mile oval. It has 25 and 23 degree banking in the turns and three and two degree banking on the straight-aways. Darlington rewards aggressive and fearless drivers which is why it is the "Track Too Tough To Tame".

Key to Race: THE TRACK TOO TOUGH TO TAME

Darlington is a track that Jeff Gordon has managed to tame. He has seven career victories at the track, including the 2007 edition of the race. He is one of our favorites to take the checkers on Saturday.

Qualifying Procedures:

46 cars will attempt to qualify for 43 spots. Cars not in the top 35 in the 2010 owner point standings will have to qualify based on speed. Starting positions 1-43 will be determined during qualifying on Friday, May 7 at 5:10 pm/et.

Fantasy Cheat Sheet:

Top 5

No. 24 Jeff Gordon: Gordon has seven wins in 29 career starts at Darlington. He has tamed the "Track Too Tough To Tame".
No. 16 Greg Biffle: Biffle has had one of the most dominant cars in four of the last five races at Darlington. He is a great pick this weekend.
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson: Johnson has two wins and has finished outside the top 10 just twice in 11 career starts at Darlington. He should be in the top five all day.
No. 18 Kyle Busch: Rowdy loved the increased speeds that came with the new Darlington surface 2008. He is a great pick to win.
No. 11 Denny Hamlin: Hamlin has had one of the best cars in the past three races at Darlington. He should be fast again this weekend.

6 to 10

No. 5 Mark Martin: Martin has 17 top five finishes at Darlington, including a win during last year's race. He won't win this weekend, but his ability to be patient and drive smart races should have him in the top 10.
No. 17 Matt Kenseth: Kenseth has been great the past four races at Darlington and should return to the top 10 this weekend.
No. 56 Martin Truex Jr.: Truex has cracked the top 14 in all of his career starts at Darlington. He is a great sleeper pick this weekend.
No. 20 Joey Logano: Logano cruised to a top 10 finish at Darlington last year. He will be one of the top cars in the field on Saturday.
No. 99 Carl Edwards: Edwards has made the top 10 in four of his six career starts at Darlington.
He is a great option on Saturday.

11 to 20

No. 39 Ryan Newman: Newman has six top five finishes in 11 career starts at Darlington. He is a very good option this weekend.
No. 31 Jeff Burton: Burton has finished in the top 12 in three of the last four races at Darlington. We think he should just miss the top 10 this weekend, but will cruise to a solid top 15 finish.
No. 29 Kevin Harvick: Harvick has struggled during five of the past six Darlington races. We expect he will be better this weekend, but a top 10 finish may elude him.
No. 2 Kurt Busch: Busch hasn't cracked the top 10 at Darlington since 2004. We think that trend will continue this weekend.
No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Junior has finished in the top 11 in seven of the last nine races at Darlington. We like his chances for a top 15 finish on Saturday.
No. 14 Tony Stewart: Smoke has nine top 10 finishes in 17 career starts at Darlington. He has never won at the track and hasn't seen Victory Lane this season so he is due to do a little fence climbing.
No. 9 Kasey Kahne: Kahne has three poles and two top five finishes in seven career starts at Darlington. He is someone to watch this weekend.
No. 12 Brad Keselowski: Keselowski wasn't intimidated during his first trip to Darlington. He is an exciting pick.
No. 1 Jamie McMurray: McMurray has been very hit-or-miss at Darlington in his career. He is a bit of a risky pick on Saturday.
No. 33 Clint Bowyer: Bowyer has finished inside the top 15 in two of the past three Darlington races. He should finish right around the top 15 again this weekend.

21 to 30

No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya: Montoya is still searching for success at Darlington. He will finish in the middle of the pack on Saturday. There are far better fantasy options.
No. 98 Paul Menard: Menard had a great run Mother's Day weekend last year at Darlington. He could be great again this year.
No. 6 David Ragan: Ragan impressed with a top five finish at Darlington in 2008, but it was more luck than skill. He will be doing well to crack the top 20 this weekend.
No. 83 Brian Vickers: Vickers is usually a great sleeper pick, but besides strong qualifying efforts he has never been great at Darlington. Stay away from him this weekend.
No. 00 David Reutimann: Reutimann has averaged a 27th place finish at Darlington during his career. He will finish just a little better than his average this visit to South Carolina.
No. 19 Elliott Sadler: Sadler has been decent at Darlington in his career. We think a top 25 finish should be expected.
No. 82 Scott Speed: "Speedy" should be able to match the 26th place finish he notched during his only previous career run at Darlington.
No. 71 Bobby Labonte: The "Tax Slayer" has finished in the top 25 in 23 of the last 24 Darlington races. He is a decent choice as a fourth fantasy driver on all teams this weekend.
No. 47 Marcos Ambrose: Ambrose was terrible during his first start at Darlington last year. He isn't much of an option.
No. 43 A.J. Allmendinger: A.J. has finished on the lead lap in a Darlington race just once. He will crack the top 30, but won't do enough to help your fantasy team this weekend.

31 to 35

No. 34 Travis Kvapil: Kvapil has averaged a top 25 finish at Darlington the past four races. He could be worth taking a shot on for those of you in the deepest leagues.
No. 78 Regan Smith: Regan Smith, like Kvapil has been a top 25 finisher previously at Darlington. Take a flyer on him in deep, deep leagues.
No. 77 Sam Hornish Jr.: Hornish Jr. has been very bad at Darlington. He isn't an option.
No. 66 Dave Blaney: Blaney finished ninth in the 2008 edition of the Southern 500. He could surprise again this weekend.
No. 7 Robby Gordon: Gordon will be doing very well to crack the top 35 on Saturday.

Field Fillers

No. 09 Mike Bliss
No. 87 Joe Nemechek
No. 13 Max Papis
No. 36 Casey Mears
No. 38 David Gilliland
No. 37 Kevin Conway
No. 26 David Stremme
No. 55 Michael McDowell
No. 32 Reed Sorenson
No. 46 J.J. Yeley
No. 64 Todd Bodine

Brownie's Picks

Top Four:

1. Jeff Gordon
2. Greg Biffle
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kyle Busch

Sleepers:

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Brad Keselowski

Bust of the Week:

1. Brian Vickers

johnboland · May 6, 2010

Very similar to what The Masters in golf means to the community of Augusta, Georgia in revenue, The Southern 500 means that much to the Darlington, South Carolina economy. Darlington and the surrounding area all the way to Myrtle Beach will look to patronize race fans with hotel rooms and food in restaraunts. Each year this event is a big money maker in South Carolina. When they had a Labor Day Weekend race, Darlington was probably in it's heyday. I am sure old timers like Bubby Baker, Cale Yarbourgh, and Fireball Roberts left some paint on the wall in turn number 4. But time moves on and we have a new breed of drivers with advanced technology. This brings new excitement to the venue, however, to the race fans who can remember the Labor Day Weekend races of years ago, it is hard to teach those old dogs new tricks and to accept that todays racing might be better than what they viewed years ago. At any rate, it is an Extremely Big Event in South Carolina for the tourism industry and we can only hope we have good weather and a safe race.

HacheMan · May 7, 2010

Showtime Southern 500
Track history: Track history

Harold Brasington had a dream in 1949 that he could turn an old cotton field in Darlington, SC into a super speedway for stock car racing. His friends and family thought he was crazy, but, he and his crew spent a year shaping the 1.366 mile speedway. Brasington often drove the bulldozers and grading equipment himself. The original planned track layout was a normal oval, but the owner of the land didn't want his minnow pond disturbed. The track was narrowed at the west end to allow for the pond, giving Darlington its egg-shaped design. Brasington expected about 10,000 fans for the first race in 1950 and was shocked when 25,000 fans packed the speedway.

On September 4, 1950, the first Cup race, the Southern 500, was run at Darlington Raceway. It became an annual Labor Day weekend race up until 2004 when it was moved to November in a swap for a California Speedway event.
In 1960, a second Darlington race, the Spring event, was added to the schedule and the track hosted two races up until 2005. In that year, the fall race was dropped from the schedule. A new Darlington tradition was started for the Spring event that same year and continues today. Since the race is on the eve of Mother's Day, several mothers of the participating drivers serve as grand marshals and give the command: "Sons and gentlemen, start your engines!".

Darlington Raceway is known as the track "Too Tough to Tame", which is why drivers never forget a Darlington victory. It's a track where, without warning, one could get his "Darlington Stripe" after getting too close to the wall. It is definitely a driver's track.

After the 2007 Cup race at Darlington, the entire track was scheduled to undergo a complete resurfacing. Paving began in mid-January, took nearly 15,000 tons of asphalt to complete and replaced a surface that was laid in 1994. All of the bumps were removed and, during a test of the new smooth surface in March 2008, speeds had increased to 200 mph at the end of the backstretch.

First Darlington Cup race: Curtis Turner ran an 82.034 mph lap in the Eanes Motor Co. No. 41 Oldsmobile to start on the pole of the 3-wide 75 car field in the September 4, 1950 Southern 500. He led 22 laps of the 400 lap event but crashed on lap 275. Johnny Mantz started 43rd in the No. 98 Westmoreland 1950 Plymouth, dominated the event by leading 351 laps and finished 9 laps ahead of runner-up, Fireball Roberts.

2009 Southern 500: Matt Kenseth put up a track record qualifying lap of 179.514 mph in the No. 17 DeWalt Ford to start on the pole for the May 9, 2009 Southern 500. He spent the first 330 (of 367) laps running in the top 5. He led 16 laps and faded to 10th at the end. Kenseth's teammate, Greg Biffle, led the most laps (117) in the No. 16 3M Ford and took the checkered flag in 8th position. Around lap 319, the yellow flag waved for debris on the track and Mark Martin was one of several drivers who took a gamble by not pitting for fuel and tires. It paid off for Martin. He stretched the fuel in the No. 5 Cheez-it Chevrolet, led the 46 remaining laps and scored his second of five 2009 victories.

Your fantasy game won't allow you to pick all track favorites so Mid-Pack Attack is here to help. A mid-packer may not win the race but has as good a shot at a top 15 finish as track favorites Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson. There were 46 cars on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Cup race. Here are our picks for Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina.

Mid-Pack picks

If you went with our choice of Ryan Newman last week you had a top ten (8th) finisher in your game. Darlington is another Newman track. While he doesn't have a win to his credit, Newman really likes this track. He has six top-five and seven top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Darlington. In 2009, he qualified third, ran in the top-10 for most of the race and finished 4th. Over the last ten Cup races here, Newman has scored the 4th-most championship points of all drivers entered in Saturday night's race.

This will only be Brad Keselowski's second Cup race at the "Lady in Black". He ran a strong race in 2009. Keselowski was a top 15 driver for most of the race and was one of the teams that opted to gamble on fuel strategy for the last 40 or 50 laps. He turned that into a 7th place finish. In the Nationwide Series, he had Darlington finishes of 15th and 11th over the last two seasons. We think Keselowski is a good choice for a fourth or fifth driver this week.

Starting 5th and finishing 9th at Darlington with a yellow rookie stripe on your back bumper is impressive. Joey Logano did that last year and led 19 laps along the way. The night before, he started the Nationwide Series race 4th in the lineup and finished 12th. Logano had a couple of tough weeks recently at Fort Worth and Talladega but he recovered last weekend at Richmond with a 16th place finish. We think you'll see the No. 20 near the front this weekend.

We're going deep with 'the dinger' this week. Looking at AJ Allmendinger's Darlington Cup Series finishes (36th, 27th and 17th, respectively), we see a definite pattern. Throw away his DNF at Martinsville and you have top 19 finishes in the last seven races this season. Allmendinger is most likely a reasonable buy in salary cap games or is found on a 'C-list' or mid-pack roster. That makes him a 'bargain' choice to round out your Saturday night team.

johnboland · May 7, 2010

Thanks for the excellent read about the track history HM. Most people don't realize how poor some of the folks are that live around Darlington, South Carolina and how the race stimulates their economy. Unfortunately the rural areas of South Carolina still have many social economic problems. However big events such Senior Week At Myrtle Beach and the NASCAR Southern 500 help to alleviate some of the financial stress. Once again thanks for the track history on "The Lady In Black".