Darlington Raceway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C.— Driving a No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota with a paint scheme reminiscent of the late Tim Richmond’s 1982 Buick, Tyler Reddick emulated the driver he was honoring, winning the pole position for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 NASCAR Cup Series race (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Turning a lap at Darlington Raceway in 28.906 seconds (170.124 mph) in the final round of qualifying, Reddick edged Brad Keselowski (170.018 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.018 seconds. The BuschRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. — Taking advantage of a late caution, Ross Chastain surged ahead during an overtime restart and held off charging Nick Sanchez to win Friday night’s Buckle Up South Carolina 200 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Darlington Raceway. Moonlighting from the NASCAR Cup Series in a race delayed more than two hours by rain, Chastain, driving for Niece Motorsports, led only the last three laps after seizing the top spot from Ty Majeski on the overtime restart on Lap 149. Sanchez finishedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is finally here. After weeks of piecing together next year’s schedule like a puzzle, the full picture was finally revealed on Wednesday when the sanctioning body rolled out the full lineup of tracks and dates for NASCAR’s premier series. While there are many mainstays that remain in known positions on the calendar, there have also been a number of changes made to the schedule, including the debut of Iowa Speedway next June.  Since opening in 2006, the Rusty Wallace designedRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. — Welcome back, Kyle Larson.  The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion held off a desperate charge from fellow Playoff driver Tyler Reddick at sold-out Darlington Raceway to claim victory in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 and earn an automatic berth in the Round of 12.  Larson entered the Playoff opener with an undistinguished average finish of 17.5 in his previous six races, but he weathered a transmission momentary stuck in neutral and a disconcerting brush with the wall to register hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin resumed his NASCAR Xfinity Series mastery of Darlington Raceway on Saturday, winning the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 to raise his victory total at the track to six.  Hamlin passed series leader Austin Hill after a Lap 147 restart that pushed the race one circuit into overtime. Parker Kligerman’s consequential spin off Sam Mayer’s bumper on Lap 141 brought out the seventh caution of the race and set up the final two-lap shootout. “I really neededRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – After edging Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by .026 seconds in Saturday’s time trials, Christopher Bell will lead the field to green in the first NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race of 2023—Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Bell navigated the venerable 1.366-mile speedway in 29.065 seconds (169.193 mph) to claim his third Busch Light Pole Award in the last eight races and first at the Track Too ToughRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service William Byron took full advantage of a late on-track incident between Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson to triumph in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 Darlington Raceway and become the first three-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.  For Byron, the victory was sweet redemption for last season’s spring race at the Lady in Black, where Joey Logano’s bump-and-run denied Byron his first victory at the fabled speedway.  “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing,” said Byron, who earned the 100th victory for the No. 24 team. “My granddadRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service In a fitting end to a true Darlington slugfest, Kyle Larson won Saturday’s Shriners Children’s 200 after bouncing off the wall at the Turn 4 exit and knocking John Hunter Nemechek into the inside SAFER barrier 100 yards short of the finish line.  With the help of two opportune cautions, Larson recovered from a speeding penalty that sent him to the rear of the field for the start of the final stage.   Restarting behind race winner Nemechek for the final green-flag run withRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service After last Sunday’s post-race dust-up at Kansas Speedway, Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson are back on good terms.  That’s bound to make their weekly interactions more comfortable, given that the drivers work out together when they’re not on the race track.  Chastain and Gragson came to blows after swapping sheet metal during the NASCAR Cup Series race. After Chastain ran Gragson into the wall, Gragson retaliated and forced Chastain’s Chevrolet to the apron of the 1.5-mile track.  Chastain salvaged a fifth-place finish, but GragsonRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Undeterred by any supposed disadvantage facing Group B qualifiers in Saturday’s final round, Martin Truex Jr. put down an enviable lap in winning the pole position for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  Truex covered the 1.366-mile distance in 29.028 seconds (169.409 mph) to edge fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace for the top starting spot in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race. Wallace was .012 seconds behind Truex at 169.339 mph.   In theory, theRead More