Erik Jones celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on September 4, 2022. Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Darlington Raceway is the perfect stage for 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ opener, Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500.
The historic 1.366-mile, egg-shaped, paved oval has hosted 124 NASCAR Cup Series races dating back to 1950, and with its rich tradition of history it has become one of the most iconic tracks on the schedule.
Originally, the raceway was built as a 1.25-mile paved superspeedway in 1949-1950 and hosted the first 500-mile race in NASCAR history and the first on asphalt on September 4, 1950. A total of 75 cars competed in the inaugural event and Curtis Turner won the pole at 82.034 mph, and the race was won by Johnny Mantz in a Plymouth, at a pace of 75.250 mph. The race took 6 hours, 38 minutes, and 40 seconds to complete. This weekend’s race will be exactly 73 years since the inaugural event held in 1950.
Since then, Darlington Raceway has undergone some changes through the years. In 1953, the track was re-measured to 1.375-miles. Then in 1970, the track was re-configured to 1.366-miles following the spring race of that season. The track was repaved in 1995 and then again prior to the 2008 season. Over the years the historic facility has become known amongst its competitors as ‘the track too tough to tame’.
In total, the 124 NASCAR Cup Series races has produced 53 different pole winners and 53 different race winners. NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson leads the series in poles at Darlington with 12 (1967, ’70, ’72, ’73 sweep, ’75 sweep, ’76 sweep, ’77, ’78 and ’82). Pearson’s 12 Darlington poles are tied with NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough (12 poles at Daytona) for the second-most poles all-time at a single track in the NASCAR Cup Series. Pearson also holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for most poles at a single track with 14 poles at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
A total of six of the 53 NASCAR Cup Series pole winners at Darlington are active this weekend, led by Kevin Harvick (2014, 2017) and Joey Logano (2022 sweep) with two poles each.
Pearson also leads the NASCAR Cup Series in victories at Darlington with 10 wins (1968, ’70, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’76 sweep, ’77, ’79, 80); followed by fellow Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt with nine wins and Jeff Gordon with seven. Denny Hamlin leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in victories at Darlington Raceway with four triumphs (2010, 2017, 2020, 2022). Of the 53 NASCAR Cup Series Darlington Raceway race winners, 29 have multiple wins and eight are active this weekend.
This weekend’s Southern 500 will be 367 laps (501.3 miles) and will be broken up into three stages. The first stage will be 115 laps, the second stage will be 115 laps and the final stage will be 137 laps.
NXS: Xfinity Series Heads Back To The Lady In Black
After some superspeedway action at the World Center of Racing, the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be heading to Darlington Raceway for the penultimate race in the regular season. Drivers will take on the Lady in Black for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 on Saturday.
Heading into the weekend, this will be the 67th NASCAR Xfinity Series race at “the track too tough to tame.” The previous 66 races have produced 36 different race winners and 32 different pole winners. Fifteen races have been won from the pole or first starting position, most recently by Denny Hamlin in 2017.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin sits as the track’s winningest driver in the series, tallying eight wins (1993, 1994 sweep, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000 sweep). He’s also set the record for most poles (eight), top fives (14), top 10s (18) and laps led (972).
The track has also been memorable for some drivers as it has been a place of “firsts”. Justin Ashburn (2003), Hamlin (2004) and John Jackson (2011) all got their first Xfinity Series starts at The Lady in Black while Kyle Busch (2004) and Ross Chastain (2018) each won their first poles here. There is yet to be a driver to post their first career Xfinity Series win at Darlington.
NASCAR Weekend Preview
NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Cook Out Southern 500
The Place: Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
The Date: Sunday, September 3
The Time: 6 p.m. ET
The Purse: $8,260,258
TV: USA, 5:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 501.32 miles (367 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 115), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 230), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 367)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200
The Place: Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
The Date: Saturday, September 2
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,703,502
TV: USA, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 200.8 miles (147 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 147)
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