Darlington Raceway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service After five weeks of frustration, Christian Eckes got the rebound he needed on Friday night at Darlington Raceway.  Leading a race-high 82 of 158 laps, Eckes scored a convincing two-overtime victory in the Buckle Up South Carolina 200, the ninth event on the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule.  The win was Eckes’ second of the season and third of his career. It followed a string of five races in which the driver of the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet had finished 30th three times andRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – In a race that had more twists and turns than a Victorian melodrama, Erik Jones put the vaunted No. 43 Chevrolet back in Victory Lane for the first time since 2014.   In a remarkable run to the finish in the season’s first NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race, Jones held off Denny Hamlin in a 20-lap run to the finish to win the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway for the second time.   The Sunday night race took its toll onRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kevin Harvick has had enough. The safety of the Next Gen car in the NASCAR Cup Series has been a common topic during its inaugural season on track and Sunday night at Darlington Raceway, safety was back at the forefront again. Harvick, who was running inside the top-five with less than 100 laps remaining in the Cook Out Southern 500, suddenly had fire erupting from under the right-front wheel well as he ran down the frontstretch. As he drove into Turn 1, the fire grew largerRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – At the end of a thrilling three-car battle that wasn’t decided until the last corner of the last lap Saturday at Darlington Raceway, Noah Gragson stole a victory from Sheldon Creed and charging Kyle Larson to score his fourth victory of the NASCAR Xfinity Series season. After passing Gragson for second place on Lap 144 of 147, Larson got a strong run on Creed, then the leader, coming to the white flag. Larson steered his No. 17 Chevrolet to the insideRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. – Déjà vu will be just fine for Joey Logano.  The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford won the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series spring event at Darlington Raceway from the pole.  After edging Christopher Bell for the top starting position in Saturday’s time trials, Logano will have a chance to repeat the feat in Sunday’s Playoff opener, the Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).  In the final round of qualifying, Logano negotiatedRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor After a wild weekend in Daytona to wrap up the regular season and set the 16-driver field for the Playoffs, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to one of the crown jewels on the circuit, Darlington Raceway, for Sunday’s running of the Cook Out Southern 500. A staple of the Cup Series since 1950, there are many elements to Darlington that make it a special track. From the egg-shape of the track that features one end narrower than the other as a result of building the trackRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Since Kurt Busch has been on the sidelines recovering from concussion-like symptoms, he has had a medical waiver from NASCAR to remain eligible for the Playoffs should he be back behind the wheel when the postseason starts. However, as the weeks have gone on since his saga started after a crash during qualifying at Pocono, Busch’s status for the 16-driver chase for a championship has been up in the air. On Thursday, ahead of the regular season finale at Daytona, 23XI Racing provided some clarity onRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Leading with two laps to go at Darlington, William Byron was in for a fight with Joey Logano filling up his rear-view mirror. He was either going to bring home his third win of the season or see it snatched from his grasp in the waning moments of the race. As Byron and Logano entered Turn 3 on the penultimate lap of Sunday’s Goodyear 400, we got our answer. Following closely in Byron’s tire tracks, Logano charged into the corner and slammed into the rear bumperRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Executing a decisive bash-and-run on the next-to-last-lap of Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, Joey Logano wrested the lead from William Byron and ended a NASCAR Cup Series 40-race winless streak dating to March of 2021 at the Bristol Dirt Track. After Logano gave Byron’s Chevrolet a jolt entering Turn 3 on the white-flag lap, Byron shot up the track into the outside wall and fell back to 13th at the finish. Driving a No. 22 Ford sporting the throwback paint scheme of hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service 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 wonRead More