Darlington Raceway Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor When looking back at all the memorable moments Darlington Raceway has produced, all of them aren’t confined to just the Southern 500. Back when the track held two events each year, the spring race produced just as many memorable moments of its own. The CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 in April 1979 was one of those events. Richard Petty, driving his famous No. 43 STP car, and Darrell Waltrip, who then drove the No. 88 Gatorade machine for DiGard Racing, staged a battle for the agesRead More

By NASCAR DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A champion crowned in the desert. The Last Great Colosseum becomes a postseason factor. A tricky doubleheader. The birthplace of NASCAR bookends the regular season. NASCAR today announced significant, dynamic changes to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, with intriguing shifts during both the regular season and the Playoffs. Most notably next season, NASCAR’s championship will transition from the beaches of Miami to the desert near Phoenix, Arizona, following the renovation and reconfiguration of ISM Raceway. These recent changes delivered a new and excitingRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 34 Years in Cup: 11 Career Wins: 27 Biggest Accomplishment: 2012 Cup Series Champion After a handful of near-misses last season, it looked as if Brad Keselowski would be heading into the Playoffs without a win, putting himself behind the eight-ball when it came to the postseason. Then came the Southern 500 at Darlington, and theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Now that the 2018 NASCAR season is complete and the year is drawing to a close, we’ll take this opportunity to take a look back at the year that was. On the docket today is Part One of the 10 most memorable moments of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. 20 Years Later: Austin Dillon Returns No. 3 to Daytona 500 Victory Lane In 1998, Dale Earnhardt finally broke through with his first win in the Daytona 500 after coming so close for so manyRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Since taking a step back for medical reasons five weeks ago, Kasey Kahne and the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing team had held out hope that their driver could return to the cockpit to finish out the remainder of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season on his own terms, but alas, it was not to be. News came down Tuesday that Kahne was not medically cleared to return to the racecar following his battle with severe dehydration that left him in bad shape at theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The times they are a-changin’. On Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR made the 2019 rules package for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series official, laying out specific aerodynamic and engine configuration changes geared toward improving the competition on tracks of all shapes and sizes. Building off the package that was used in the All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier this season and in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the basic package will be split into two groups depending on track size, with specific features for each. Every raceRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s exactly the kind of unmistakable momentum you want with one race remaining before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin. And so in that sense, perhaps the timing of Brad Keselowski’s first win of the season Sunday night at Darlington Raceway makes up for the near-misses he’s had earlier in the year. What a positive statement it was for Keselowski, who swept the weekend’s races at the historic track – hoisting not only the Cup trophy on SundayRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – By a matter of inches, Brad Keselowski won the race off pit road under the final caution in Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. That narrow margin was all the driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Ford needed to secure a stunning victory in one of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ marquee races. On the flip side, Keselowski’s first victory of the season left Kyle Larson bitterly disappointed. Larson led 284 of the 367 laps in additionRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Throughout the first two stages of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington, Kyle Larson looked to be untouchable, but the waning laps went exactly the opposite way the No. 42 team expected and he would have to settle for a third-place finish instead. For 284 laps, Larson’s Chevrolet led the way, but within the last 60 laps of the race, the yellow flag flew three times, erasing his advantage each and every time. When the final caution came out with 24 laps left, it came downRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor To say that Jimmie Johnson has had a rough go of things in 2018 would be an understatement and Sunday’s race at Darlington only added insult to injury as a mechanical failure resulted in a 39th place finish. Johnson, who sits 15th in points, just ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, needed an issue-free race to be able to aid his chances of making it into the Playoffs, but he got anything but that in the Southern 500. From the start of the weekend,Read More