Story Ideas: Darlington

New Pavement, Relatively New Tradition Sets Darlington Stage
In 2005, NASCAR took a chance – and it paid off. Having always avoided scheduling NASCAR Sprint Cup races on Mother’s Day weekend, the sanctioning body shifted gears and shifted the annual Sprint race at Darlington Raceway to the Saturday night before Mother’s Day – under the lights, no less.
Here’s what happened: The power of the Darlington tradition spilled over and created a new tradition, as the new date instantly became a hit with fans.

This year, those fans will see a 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval – called the “Lady In Black” – that’s received a facelift, in the form of new pavement. Newer means faster in this case, apparently. In recent Goodyear tire tests, some cars were clocked unofficially at 200 mph at the end of the track’s backstretch.

The repaving was part of a package of improvements totaling $10 million – the largest one-time investment in the 50-year history of the storied South Carolina facility. In addition to the new racing surface, several other enhancements were made with driver and crew safety in mind including the addition of SAFER barrier walls to the interior frontstretch and backstretch concrete walls and extending the length of each pit box by one foot. The addition of a new infield access tunnel in Turn 3 will also allow emergency vehicles to easily enter and exit the infield area of the track.

Throwback Man: Busch’s Take No Prisoners Show Rolls On
Kyle Busch is coming off two altercations this past weekend at Richmond.

• Late-race contact with Steven Wallace in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race followed by a helmet-to-helmet “discussion” post-race.

• Then, the next night, by a late-race spinout of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup event that drew serious ire from the fans.

En route to becoming, arguably, the most controversial driver in NASCAR, Busch has also become a championship contender. He now leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, and is third in the NASCAR Nationwide points.

Earnhardt Hanging Tough, Still 3rd In Standings
Dale Earnhardt Jr. bid to end his two-year winless streak in NASCAR Sprint Cup competition was ruined by his late-race dust-up with Kyle Busch, but for Earnhardt fans, they still have this big-picture view to enjoy:
He remains third in the series point standings, the highest for a Hendrick Motorsports driver.

Gordon Lurking – And Looking For 1st Win Of 2008
Jeff Gordon’s demise is likely being exaggerated at this stage. Another big-picture reality check shows he’s only six points out of the top 12 this week, a winless season thus far notwithstanding.

Darlington comes at a good time for Gordon. He’s the defending race champion and he has seven victories there overall – third all-time behind David Pearson (10) and Dale Earnhardt (9).

RCR: A Quiet Dominance Thus Far
If any more proof was needed that Richard Childress Racing has indeed reclaimed its status in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the current series standings pretty much does the job

All three RCR drivers are in the top five in the series standings: Jeff Burton (2nd), Clint Bowyer (4th) and Kevin Harvick (5th).

Team owner Richard Childress is looking for his seventh NASCAR Sprint Cup title. He won six with Dale Earnhardt between 1986 and ’94.

Driver Rating Shows Busch, Earnhardt 1-2
A rivalry was born in the closing laps of Richmond – and statistics say it’s between the two strongest drivers in the series.

Busch and Earnhardt, who tangled at the close of Saturday night’s race to end Earnhardt’s chances of victory, rank first and second in the season-to-date Driver Rating.

Busch leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in Driver Rating with a 109.4; Earnhardt is close behind with a 108.7 (a perfect Driver Rating is 150.0).

The Driver Rating, a formula combing a number of Loop Data statistics, gives a clear description of how a driver’s season, or race, has played out.

During last Friday’s at-track news conferences, Jeff Burton talked about the usefulness of Driver Rating.

“We’ve run well this year,” Burton said. “We haven’t run great this year, but we’ve run really well. If you look at the key components that we look at…the Driver Rating thing is a pretty smart statistic to look at. If you look at the number of laps that we’ve run in the top 10, the number of quality passes that we’ve had, all those kind of things, obviously we’re a top-five, top-six, top-seven car. We’ve had less trouble than other people have had and therefore we’re leading the points.”

60th Anniversary Season Comes To Darlington,
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Second-Oldest Track
This season marks NASCAR’s 60th anniversary, and suffice to say Darlington Raceway has had a big-time history-making role since the sport’s 1948 inception.

Darlington is the second-oldest track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule (behind only Martinsville Speedway); the track’s first race was in 1950, the second year of NASCAR’s premier series, then called Grand National.

Darlington was unique in those days – 1.25 miles and paved. Also unique: the field for the track’s first race was 75 cars and qualifying was extended over two weeks.
Immediately, the track’s “toughness” legend got underway as teams struggled with the tire problems on the extremely abrasive surface. Johnny Mantz won that event in a 1950 Plymouth.

South Carolina Natives Head Home
A number of NASCAR crewmen are returning home to South Carolina this weekend. Below is a list of some of the S.C. natives in the NASCAR garage:

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Steve Addington (Spartanburg) – No. 18 crew chief
Donnie Wingo (Spartanburg) – No. 41 crew chief
Tim Smith (Cope) – No. 41 engineer
Rudy Wade (Greer) – No. 41 engine tuner
Rodney Ashley (Indiansville) – No. 07 mechanic
Gene Cornwell (Rock Hill) – No. 5 mechanic
Bryant Noggle (Myrtle Beach) – No. 96 transporter driver
Mike Lingerfelt (Greenville) – No. 48 front tire changer
Brad Pickens (Greer) – No. 5 gas man
Jason Rogers (Florence) – No. 96 gas man
Adam Mosher (Fort Mill) – No. 41 rear tire carrier
Kevin McDowell (Myrtle Beach) – No. 16 rear tire carrier
Brett Griffin (Pageland) – No. 19 spotter
Jimmie Parrott (Taylors) – No. 5 second gas man


NASCAR Nationwide Series
Trent Owens (Darlington) – No. 32 crew chief
Chuck Johnson (Spartanburg) – No. 33 engine tuner
Manning Gregory (Spartanburg) – No. 11 front tire carrier

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Half Of The Top 10 Are “Nationwide Only” Drivers
In this week’s NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, half of the top 10 are drivers who race only in the series and are holding their own against drivers who race both in their series and NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Mike Bliss – who drives for South Carolina-based Phoenix Racing, leads the way in fifth while Brad Keselowski, Jason Leffler, Mike Wallace and top-10 newcomer David Stremme make up positions 7-10. Stremme started out the season in 41st position and also missed a race as road-course ace Max Papis drove in Mexico City. The early championship battle remains tight – Clint Bowyer leads but Carl Edwards lurks just nine points behind in second while third-place Kyle Busch has become a factor only 12 points out of first.

South Carolina Favorite Son Jason Keller Returning To Home Track
The series’ all-time leader in starts with 433 is a native of Greenville and is in his first full season with CJM Racing – he helped start the team up last year and ran its debut race at Darlington and bringing home a 14th-place finish. He’s 14th in the standings this week, only 27 points out of 10th place – a testament to his consistency since he has yet to post a top-10 finish this year and has two DNFs.

Martin Looks to Go 2-for-2 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series
Mark Martin, the series’ all-time leader in wins (48) and poles (30) is set for his second start of the season. He won at Las Vegas in March in his last start and also owns the record for career series wins at Darlington with eight. His wins there have all come in successive races – three straight from 1993-94; two in a row in 1995-96 and a trio from 1999-2000. He was second to Denny Hamlin last year. Hamlin – who finally won at his home track at Richmond last week – has won the last two races at Darlington.

In Year 5, Rusty Wallace Racing Coming Of Age
The two full-time drivers – a first in Rusty Wallace Racing’s history – are propelling the organization to what is shaping up to be its most consistent season. In 10th this week, David Stremme became the first driver to crack the top-10 standings for the team since Jamie McMurray in 2006. He’s posted two top fives and six top 10s in 10 races this year while young Steve Wallace seems to be hitting his stride. He registered his career-best finish – fifth – last week at Richmond and has two top-10 efforts in his last three races. Maybe there’s some good karma working for the organization this week – McMurray captured the team’s first win in 2004 at Darlington.


NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES

Busch Back In Trucks, On May 16
Kyle Busch, the hottest driver in NASCAR, returns to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the May 16 North Carolina Lottery Education 200. Busch is the only double winner of the event, in 2005-06, and the only Lowe’s series winner younger than 44. He was age 20 and 21.

No Home Cooking at Lowe’s, Traditionally
It’s considered a hometown race but only one North Carolina driver – Dennis Setzer of Newton – has been able to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. In fact, Setzer is one of just six natives of the Tar Heel State to win a series race. He’s scored 18 of the 30 wins by North Carolina natives.

Hornaday Atop Series Standings – And Is Defending Champion at LMS
It has taken five races but 2007 champion Ron Hornaday Jr. is back atop the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings. Hornaday, who led the first one-two finish for Kevin Harvick Inc. at Kansas Speedway on April 26, is the first defending titlist to head the points since Bobby Hamilton in 2005. He’s also the defending Lowe’s winner.