{"id":29411,"date":"2020-05-15T14:50:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T19:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=29411"},"modified":"2020-05-16T12:50:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T17:50:58","slug":"darlington-raceway-to-host-nascars-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/15\/darlington-raceway-to-host-nascars-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Darlington Raceway to host NASCAR’s return"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

After a nearly two-month interruption in the competitive schedule, the NASCAR Cup Series will return to racing this Sunday at the sport\u2019s historic Darlington Raceway in The Real Heroes 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

(Photo by Sarah Crabill\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Special to this week\u2019s race and in honor of the healthcare workers who have so tirelessly and bravely served during this pandemic, instead of each driver\u2019s name above the window, the space will carry the name of a healthcare worker. Additionally, a group of healthcare workers will \u201cvirtually\u201d deliver the traditional starting command \u2013 \u201cDrivers, start your engines\u201d \u2013 to get things started.<\/p>\n

The event kicks off a much-anticipated resumption of NASCAR racing and it is the first of seven races \u2013 featuring all three national series, including the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series \u2013 in the next two weeks alone. NASCAR released additional race dates this week that will feature similar one-day shows at longtime favorite venues from Atlanta and Homestead-Miami to Martinsville and Talladega that will carry the sport\u2019s schedule through late June.<\/p>\n

No spectators will be in attendance at the upcoming single-day events \u2013 part of the health precautions NASCAR has adopted in re-starting the sport following the pause caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. But fans, drivers, teams and the NASCAR organization are enthusiastic about the opportunity to throw the green flag this weekend and to do so at one of the sport\u2019s most iconic racing venues.<\/p>\n

“To get the call and know that we are going back to Darlington is huge and great for the sport of NASCAR,” Chip Ganassi Racing driver Kurt Busch said. \u201cThe industry has been collaboratively working together to make sure that this is done safely and properly to put on a good show. I\u2019m excited to go to Darlington.”<\/p>\n

The entire sport has echoed Busch\u2019s comments. And there will certainly be plenty of storylines to follow this weekend.<\/p>\n

Ryan Newman, who hasn\u2019t raced since being involved in a last lap accident in the season-opening Daytona 500 will return to the seat of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford \u2013 this extra time off actually afforded Newman the chance to get doctor\u2019s clearance to compete. His team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Roush said of his veteran\u2019s return that Newman is so excited to be back behind the wheel of a race car it\u2019s like a 16-year old with a new driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like that every day,” joked Newman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no apprehensions getting in the car,” Newman said of a test session he conducted at Darlington earlier in the spring as part of his medical evaluation. \u201cI was excited to get in the car. It\u2019s my favorite race track and just really wanted to get back in it and at it. I\u2019ve been working really hard to do the things that I needed to do test-wise to pass my concussion test and protocol and things like that, so I could be down there with my team and Dr. Petty to establish the fact that I felt well and could prove I was well behind the seat of the race car, so I basically did that.”<\/p>\n

Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth will also be back behind the wheel, making his first start since the 2018 Homestead-Miami season finale; the last of a 15-race stint for him, ironically, in the No. 6 Roush Ford. For the remainder of this season, Kenseth will be steering the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m just as excited as I\u2019ve been to go racing in many, many years and I\u2019m really looking forward to getting to the track,” said Kenseth, who won at Darlington in 2013. \u201cI really like this group of guys at Ganassi; the cars look nice and the Camaro looks like they\u2019re really fast, so I\u2019m really looking forward to this first race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 42-team has run really well at Darlington in the last two years, so setup-wise, we\u2019re probably not going to veer too far off of that. I think you\u2019ll run those first thirty laps, see how the car feels and then be able to make some small adjustments and go from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is going to be out there is ready to pounce on whatever spot they can, so you just have to be smart. Especially for me, I just need to be smart and get through those first bunch of laps to get in a rhythm, get a little bit of room to move around, breath, get kind of acclimated and go from there. I know that it\u2019s going to be a big challenge and I\u2019m going to do my best to try and take advantage of the opportunity.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick shows up at Darlington as the current NASCAR Cup Series points leader with a one-point advantage on Team Penske\u2019s Joey Logano, who had already earned two victories (at Las Vegas and Phoenix) in the season\u2019s first four races.<\/p>\n

Harvick\u2019s only Darlington victory came in his 2014 NASCAR Cup Series championship season. And he has been especially good as of late. Including that win, Harvick has five top-five and six top-10 finishes in the last six races for an average finish of 4.1.<\/p>\n

The starting lineup and pit road assignments have been decided based on a random draw and charter team owner points. Positions 1-12, then 13-24 and then 25-36 were chosen in a random draw corresponding to owner\u2019s points. The field is completed with grid positions 37-40 \u2013 based on open teams\u2019 owners points.<\/p>\n

Using that format, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski drew the pole position at Darlington and will start alongside Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, who earned his second career win at California\u2019s Auto Club Speedway in March before the break.<\/p>\n

Wood Brothers Racing driver Matt DiBenedetto, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s Aric Almirola round out the top five starting spots. Championship leader Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson, Logano and Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin round out the starting grid\u2019s top-10. Defending race winner, Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Erik Jones, will start 20th.<\/p>\n

William Byron, who won three of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series races during the break, will start 18th.<\/p>\n

With NASCAR\u2019s strict social distancing orders, only a portion of the team will be on-site. Each team is limited to only 16 members at the track and that includes the driver, crew chief and the spotter with many of the engineers expected to work from the race shops instead of being pit-side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a huge challenge and I really have to throw a lot of thank-yous and a lot of accolades to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports because it\u2019s not been an easy process to get back in there in a very, very short period of time and get race cars ready to go to a very unique venue,” said seven-time Cup Series champion crew chief Chad Knaus.  \u201cDarlington is quite a lot different than any other race track that we go to, obviously. But, we\u2019ve got staggered work hours. We\u2019ve got blocks of people that work. We\u2019re not really alternating days. We\u2019re going in blocks of days to try to keep the exposure down to a minimum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thermal testing people as they come into the facility. You see everybody wearing their masks and practicing social distancing. We\u2019re doing all that we can to be in accordance with the CDC regulations and what the governor has put out there, to make sure we\u2019re doing what\u2019s right and being smart. It\u2019s not easy.”<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it\u2019s not a super-long race, you\u2019ve still got time to work on your car, especially at the competition caution,” said Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. “They\u2019re (NASCAR) giving a lot of time to kind of make wholesale adjustment if you need them. So I feel like everyone will take it easy for the first little bit, but, honestly, the muscle memory of everybody is pretty good, so once you get one run in and things like that, I think we\u2019ll be back to normal.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service After a nearly two-month interruption in the competitive schedule, the NASCAR Cup Series will return to racing this Sunday at the sport\u2019s historic Darlington Raceway in The Real Heroes 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Special to this week\u2019s race and in honor of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":29425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[651,16],"class_list":["post-29411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-darlington-raceway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/DR-MENCS-Checkered-090317-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-7En","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29411"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29426,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411\/revisions\/29426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}