The next five projected to round out the top 16, as of now, are Jamie McMurray (76 points above the cutoff line), Ryan Newman (+63), Paul Menard (+54), Jeff Gordon (+52) and Clint Bowyer (+35).
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NASCAR, its teams and NBC Sports are teaming up to commemorate NASCAR’s rich racing history at Darlington Raceway with a salutes to the 1970s this weekend. There isn’t any other track like it, and comparisons are hard to make. Kahne has four poles at Darlington and could grab the victory which would be his first at the track.
Sunday night of Labor Day weekend in Darlington: It doesn’t get any better for racin’ fans.
Throughout the track’s history, few of those finishes really stand out, such as Ned Jarrett’s Southern 500 win by an wonderful 14 laps in 1965, Buddy Baker’s win in the winged Dodge owned by Cotton Owens in 1970, Bobby Allison’s win in the underfunded American Motors Matador in 1975, as well as Bill Elliott’s historic Winston Million win in the 1985 Southern 500. Throwback schemes in their essence are the epitome of “cool”, bringing back memories of some of the sport’s daring pioneers and most dominant champions. Before you say “no” you better ask Regan Smith who won the 2011 Southern 500 at 500-1 odds.
Up until the Labor Day date was yanked and moved to California and then Georgia, to win on Darlington’s narrow, undulating black ribbon of asphalt on a sweltering late summer day meant a driver had measured up to those stock vehicle racing greats who had come before, starting in 1950. He’s only had three races (out of 24) this season where he’s finished worse than ninth. His fourth-place finish two weeks ago at Bristol was his first top-five since Daytona in early July, so it’s understandable to see him offered at odds as high as 10-to-1. Jimmie Johnson is a three-time victor at Darlington…
Up next: Federated Auto Parts 400, September 12, Richmond global Raceway, Richmond, Va., 7:30 p.m.; TV: NBCSN; last year’s victor: Brad Keselowski. Don’t be surprised if the victor is one of the older drivers like Gordon, Johnson or Kenseth.
Can a 500-1 long shot win at Darlington?
Sunday’s race featured six drivers eligible for the championship, with Scott Dixon winning the race to tie Juan Pablo Montoya in the standings and earn the title on a tiebreaker. The No. 4 will also have a retro paint scheme for Darlington, and as his Budweiser Chevy will sport the gold-and-yellow Kodak colors Sterling Marlin rolled with. Currently, there are 11 drivers secure in the 16-driver field for The Chase with necessary victories in hand already this season. Jeff Gordon has seven career wins at Darlington and is 20/1. Sunday will mark his 35th and final Darlington start. As the cars became more purpose-built for racing – versus the grocery getter that Los Angelino Johnny Mantz drove to victory in the first Southern 500 – changing the cross-weight in the chassis and tire pressures on pit stops was a major factor. One positive is that his seventh-place finish at Kentucky was the best among Chevy drivers. “When they canceled it, I was under the impression they should have just canceled Labor Day if they aren’t running the Southern 500 at Darlington on Labor Day”. For a third time, he narrowly missed disaster as Yarborough dropped to the apron with a broken power steering unit.
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It has elements of an intermediate 1.5-mile track in that its flat straightaways lead into a pair of 23 or 25-degree banked turns. Now if we could only get Rockingham back on the schedule.
