Southern 500 Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Although any form of racing action won’t start anytime soon, it’s never too early for Joey Gase to announce Wednesday what throwback scheme he’ll run in the Southern 500 September 6. For the 71st renewal of one of NASCAR’s most iconic races, Gase will honor Bobby Allison’s 1971 Coca-Cola paint scheme with Gase’s primary sponsor Agri Supply being onboard of Rick Ware Racing’s No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Gase is far from the only competitor that’s driven one of Allison’s schemes on Throwback Weekend over theRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway has always been a special race for those in NASCAR, with a win in the 500-mile slugfest on the track “Too Tough to Tame” residing on the bucket list for nearly every driver and team that has ever turned a lap around the 1.366-mile oval. Entering the 1985 edition of the Southern 500, the pressure of winning at the storied track was ratcheted up even more for Bill Elliott, as a $1 million payday awaited him at the end ofRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Before Furniture Row Racing became the juggernaut it is in 2017, the Colorado based team had to scratch and claw for everything single position on the track, especially in their early years. The team which just started a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule back in 2008 brought Regan Smith on board starting in 2009 for a part-time schedule before moving back to full-time the next season. Smith came onto the Cup Series scene with Bobby Ginn and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 2007, butRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor With Darlington next up on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule, it’s time again for another edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”. Our “Lady in Black” edition will recap the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington that many will recall as the photo finish between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch. Darlington has always been known for its rough and tumble style of racing, with the drivers battling not only each other, but the treacherous track as well. When the series headed to Darlington in MarchRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service CHARLOTTE, N.C. –Tony Stewart might be in the best shape of his life, and just in time. At 44, the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has declared this to be his final Sprint Cup season as a driver, and he’s doing everything in his power to make it memorable. “I’m eating better, drinking better, working out, doing stuff I swore I would never do – and I’m doing it in my last year,” said Stewart, facing Thursday’s a media during the Charlotte MotorRead More

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Some label Terry Labonte the NASCAR premier series’ least flamboyant champion. Perhaps it just seemed that way, when measuring Labonte alongside such colorful contemporaries as NASCAR Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip. His calm, quiet demeanor at least partially explains why Labonte became known as “The Iceman.” The Corpus Christi, Texas driver may not have personified flash, but Labonte got the job done. Labonte won his first of two championships in 1984 and figuratively fell off theRead More

By Owen A. Kearns, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Curtis Turner lived life and stock car racing in the same manner – at full throttle. A bootlegger at age nine, the Virginia native was a self-proclaimed millionaire at 20 and made and lost several fortunes while becoming one of the greatest drivers – and most colorful characters – of NASCAR’s pioneer era. He won a lot but also wrecked just as often. His parties were legendary and lengthy, as were Turner’s on and off-track antics in rental carsRead More

DARLINGTON, S.C. – On a night when throwback paint schemes recalled NASCAR’s past in vivid color, and a low-downforce aerodynamic package suggested the future direction of the sport, Carl Edwards overcame early misfortune to win an exhilarating race at the Lady in Black. Grabbing the lead thanks to a blisteringly fast pit stop under the track-record 18th caution of Sunday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Edwards pulled away after a restart with eight laps left and beat polesitter Brad Keselowski to the finish line by .902 seconds toRead More

DARLINGTON, S.C. – With two races left before the start of the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski got the momentum builder he needed with Saturday’s pole-winning effort at Darlington Raceway. “Boy, this feels good,” said Keselowski, who toured the treacherous 1.366-mile Lady in Black in 27.492 seconds (178.874 mph) to edge Kurt Busch for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 (7 p.m. ET on NBC). The Coors Light Pole Award was Keselowski’s first of the season, his first at Darlington and the ninthRead More