{"id":45825,"date":"2024-05-09T23:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T04:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=45825"},"modified":"2024-05-12T09:07:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T14:07:33","slug":"nascar-weekend-preview-darlington-raceway-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/09\/nascar-weekend-preview-darlington-raceway-4\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Weekend Preview: Darlington Raceway \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Reid Spencer<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

After high drama at Kansas, NASCAR Cup stars head for Darlington Raceway<\/b><\/p>\n

With \u201csilly season\u201d now in full swing, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to historic Darlington Raceway for a Throwback Weekend that pays homage to grass roots racing.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #19 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway on September 02, 2023 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

On Wednesday, Michael McDowell announced he will leave Front Row Motorsports after seven seasons with the organization. His new home? Spire Motorsports, where McDowell will drive the No. 71 Chevrolet under a multi-year deal.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, in his penultimate appearance at Darlington for Front Row, McDowell will drive a No. 34 Ford featuring a retro Long John Silver\u2019s paint scheme in the Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Though McDowell\u2019s paint scheme is a tribute to 1970\u2019s branding, the 2021 Daytona 500 winner already is looking ahead to his next ride. At Spire, McDowell will team with Corey LaJoie and Carson Hocevar, as Zane Smith exits the No. 71 Camaro in a planned move to Trackhouse Racing.<\/p>\n

“This is a new chapter for my family and me, and we\u2019re incredibly thankful for the opportunity that\u2019s in front of us,\u201d said McDowell, who has won pole positions at Atlanta and Talladega this season. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take some hard work, but I feel like everything is in place for us to be successful as a race team \u2014 to win races and contend for championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDowell has three top 10s to his credit this season, the most recent a 10th-place finish last Sunday at Kansas Speedway. His record at Darlington, however, leaves plenty of room for improvement.<\/p>\n

In 17 starts at the Lady in Black, McDowell has recorded a pair of top 10s\u2014a seventh and sixth in 2022, the first year of NASCAR\u2019s Next Gen race car.<\/p>\n

Realistically, in looking for likely favorites at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped track, the usual suspects come to mind.<\/p>\n

Hendrick Motorsports has produced the last two Cup Series winners at Darlington\u2014William Byron last spring and Kyle Larson in last year\u2019s Playoff race. Chevrolet drivers have won the last three events at the Track Too Tough to Tame after a dry spell for the manufacturer that lasted 11 straight races.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing like getting ready for Darlington,\u201d said Byron, who is sporting an Axalta paint scheme with bright flames reminiscent of Jeff Gordon\u2019s 2009 Chevrolet. \u201cIt\u2019s always exciting to go to that track and compete\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThat place is so nostalgic, and the fans really show up. There\u2019s just something about that track that has clicked for me, and I hope we have a strong showing there again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tied with Byron for the series lead in victories this season with three, Denny Hamlin has four career wins at Darlington, most among active drivers. Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr. (two victories each) are the only other active drivers with more than one.<\/p>\n

Larson comes to Darlington fresh from his dramatic victory at Kansas, where he beat Chris Buescher to the stripe by 0.001 seconds in the closest finish in Cup Series history.<\/p>\n

Jones will return to the seat of the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota after a two-week absence due to a compression fracture of a lower vertebra suffered during an April 21 accident at Talladega. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am super excited to get back to Darlington and hopefully go out and have a good run for our first race back with a pretty neat tribute to the Petty Family on the car,\u201d said Jones, who won the 2022 Southern 500 in a Chevrolet fielded by Petty\/GMS Motorsports, the predecessor of Legacy Motor Club.<\/p>\n

William Byron, John Hunter Nemechek will challenge Xfinity regulars at Darlington<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a history of NASCAR Cup Series drivers stealing victories from NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars at Darlington Raceway, and that could be the case in Saturday\u2019s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

William Byron and John Hunter Nemechek are racing in both the Cup and Xfinity Series events on Throwback Weekend at the Track Too Tough to Tame. Byron is the defending winner of the Cup race, while Nemechek has two poles, three top fives and four top 10s in five starts at the track.<\/p>\n

Nemechek also won at Las Vegas earlier this season in a double-duty appearance there.<\/p>\n

Before Byron won last year\u2019s race, however, JR Motorsports had triumphed in the previous three races, with Noah Gragson winning twice and Justin Allgaier once. A two-time winner at Darlington, Allgaier is hungry for a breakthrough victory this season after a number of close calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cDarlington has always been a really strong place for us, and I feel extremely confident that we will be just as quick again this weekend,\u201d Allgaier said. \u201cThe last couple weeks didn\u2019t go quite as we had planned, but I know that (crew chief) Jim (Pohlman) and all the guys on this BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet are ready to go and get back to the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we can have a nice, smooth day and be up front when it matters at the end. We\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

JRM has added six races to part-timer Carson Kvapil\u2019s schedule after Kvapil finished fourth at Martinsville and second at Dover in his only two starts in the series to date. Kvapil will make his third Xfinity appearance on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Kyle Busch to make final 2024 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at Darlington<\/b><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Kyle Busch has never made a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at Darlington Raceway, but that will change in Friday night\u2019s Buckle Up South Carolina 200 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

The all-time victory leader in the series with 66 wins, Busch has triumphed in two of his previous four starts this season, at Atlanta and Texas. The driver of the of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet is a three-time winner in the Cup Series at Darlington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to Friday night\u2019s Truck Series race at Darlington,\u201d Busch said. \u201cThe Truck Series has only raced at Darlington I think maybe 10 times or so (actually 11) and just started going regularly the last five years, but it never worked out for me on my truck schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

To win his only Darlington start in a truck, Busch will have to beat defending winner Christian Eckes and the series\u2019 most recent winner, Corey Heim, who took the checkered flag last Saturday at Kansas Speedway.<\/p>\n

Eckes is driving a Chevrolet with a throwback paint scheme paying tribute to Brownie King, who raced on the Daytona Beach & Road Course and competed in the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959.<\/p>\n

Heim\u2019s No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota bears a paint scheme memorializing Cale Yarborough\u2019s 1974 Southern 500 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service After high drama at Kansas, NASCAR Cup stars head for Darlington Raceway With \u201csilly season\u201d now in full swing, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to historic Darlington Raceway for a Throwback Weekend that pays homage to grass roots racing. On Wednesday, Michael McDowell announced he will leave Front Row […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":43348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[11],"tags":[651,16],"class_list":["post-45825","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\/2023\/09\/GettyImages-1655484687-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1636&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-bV7","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45825"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45827,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45825\/revisions\/45827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}