Posted in

NASCAR Xfinity Series News & Notes – Darlington Raceway

NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200
The Place: Darlington Raceway
Track Length: 1.366 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Saturday, April 5
The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,651,939
TV: CW, 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)

Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:

Saturday, April 5

NXS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (The CW App at 10 a.m. ET)

NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying (Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM at 12:30 p.m. ET)

NXS Race: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 (The CW, MRN, SiriusXM at 3:30 p.m. ET)

Sunday, April 6

NCS Race: Goodyear 400 (FS1 & FOX Deportes, MRN, SiriusXM at 3 p.m. ET)

Darlington Storylines and Insights:

  • This weekend will be the 70th running of a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway (1982-2025).
  • Darlington is not a Dash 4 Cash race; it returns at Bristol.
  • The four Dash 4 Cash races in 2025 are Miami, Martinsville, Bristol and Rockingham.
  • Austin Hill claimed Richard Childress Racing’s 100th Xfinity Series win at Martinsville.
  • Austin Hill’s 12th win ranks second among RCR winners behind Kevin Harvick with 35.
  • Austin Hill won the Dash 4 Cash $100,000 for the first time at Martinsville last weekend.
  • Austin Hill won twice in the first seven races of the season for third straight year (three wins in 2023).
  • Sheldon Creed earned his 14th career runner-up finish at Martinsville, most by a winless driver in NASCAR Xfinity Series history
  • JR Motorsports is nine wins away from 100, only three other teams won at least 100 NXS races (Joe Gibbs Racing-215, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing-138, Richard Childress Racing-100)
  • Cup Series drivers Chase Elliott (Hendrick #17), Christopher Bell (Gibbs #19) and Ross Chastain (JR Motorsports #9) are racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington.
  • Four drivers in the field are past NASCAR Xfinity Series Darlington race winners: Justin Allgaier-3, Chase Elliott-1, Christpher Bell-1 and Brandon Jones-1.
  • Justin Allgaier is the only driver to sweep both stages and the race at Darlington – May 2024.
  • Justin Allgaier finished inside the top-10 in eight straight Darlington races, one away from tying Mark Martin for longest streak in Xfinity Series history at Darlington Raceway.
  • Sheldon Creed (2), Christian Eckes (1) and Ross Chastain (1) won in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series at Darlington and are entered in the Xfinity Series race this weekend.
  • Four drivers finished runner-up at Darlington in the Xfinity Series, but are still winless there: Austin Hill-2, Ross Chastain-1, Sheldon Creed-1, Harrison Burton-1.
  • Three of the last 10 Darlington Xfinity Series races featured last lap passes, the pass for the win came in the final 10 laps in nine of the last 10 races there.
  • Three former Xfinity Series Darlington pole winners are entered this weekend: Christopher Bell-1, Ross Chastain-1, Brandon Jones-1.
  • The Stage 1 winner has won four of the last five Darlington Xfinity Series races.
  • Four of the last eight Darlington Xfinity Series races have finished in overtime.
  • The last five Xfinity Series races at Darlington were won by five different drivers.
  • JR Motorsports (5) and Joe Gibbs Racing (3) combined to win eight of the last nine Darlington Xfinity Series races.
  • 13 drivers had or tied their best finish of the season at Martinsville, including two who made series debut.
  • Four races this year have ended with a last lap pass, the most ever through seven races in a season.
  • Four of the seven races this season went to overtime.
  • Sam Mayer is the only driver to finish in top-10 in six of seven races this season.
  • Ryan Sieg is the only driver to finish in top-25 in all seven races this season.
  • Justin Allgaier is the only driver to finish on the lead lap in all seven races of 2025.
  • Justin Allgaier is the only driver to earn multiple Fastest Lap Awards in 2025.
  • Sammy Smith scored 19 more stage points through seven races than he did last year, the biggest improvement of any full-time drivers.
  • Daniel Dye’s 9.3 average finish over last three races leads the eight rookies.
  • The average age of pole winners this season is 21, while average age of race winners is 30.
  • Chevrolet led 943 of 1,219 laps this season (77.3%).
  • For the first time in NASCAR Xfinity Series history, rookies swept the front-row in qualifying the last two weeks.
  • Brennan Poole finished better than he started in each of the last six races including Martinsville where he finished fourth after starting 29th.
  • Richard Childress Racing is winless at Darlington in the Xfinity Series, it has five runner-up finishes there.

NASCAR & Darlington, Etc.

Historical & Significant Events at Darlington Raceway:

  • Darlington Raceway was originally built as a 1.25-mile paved superspeedway in 1949-1950.
  • In 1949, Darlington, South Carolina native Harold Brasington leased cotton and peanut farmland on the west side of town from his poker playing friend Sherman Ramsey. On that property Brasington created an egg-shaped oval with one corner tighter, narrower, and more steeply banked because he promised Ramsey that the new track wouldn’t disturb his minnow pond at the west end. He broke ground on December 13, 1949 and almost single handedly built the track in spite of continually having to find necessary funding.
  • Known as NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway, Darlington Raceway also has earned the nicknames – ‘Lady In Black’ and ‘The Track Too Tough To Tame.’
  • Darlington Raceway hosted the first 500-mile race in NASCAR history, the first on an oval-track longer than a mile and the first on asphalt on September 4, 1950 – 75 cars competed in the inaugural event.
  • Qualifying for the first race at Darlington was held ‘Indianapolis style’ over 15 days from August 19th-Sept 2nd. The five fastest cars each day qualified for the race. Curtis Turner was the fastest on the first day and won the pole. The fastest qualifier was Wally Campbell.  Many competitors drove their racecars to the track.
  • For the first NASCAR cup Series race at Darlington, Curtis Turner won the pole at 82.034 MPH, and the race was won by Johnny Mantz (Plymouth, 75.250 MPH). The race took 6 hours, 38 minutes, and 40 seconds to complete.
  • The three longest races in NASCAR History were all held at Darlington and all three were over 6 hours and 30 minutes.
  • The longest race in the history of NASCAR lasted 6 hours, 42 minutes and 37 seconds and was held at Darlington on September 1, 1952 and won by Fonty Flock.
  • In 1953 the track was expanded to 1.375 miles by rebuilding turns one and two (now three and four) and raising the banking to 25 degrees. In the early years there was a pedestrian crossover that spanned the backstretch (now front).
  • The largest field ever in a NASCAR race was in the September 3, 1953 race at Darlington when 82 cars competed in the race and for the record, pole winner Frank Mundy finished last, and Herb Thomas won from second.
  • The largest Margin of Victory ever was at Darlington on September 6, 1965 when Ned Jarrett won by over 14 laps.
  • In 1970 the track was measured at 1.366 miles (like it is today) after retaining walls were added around the track and turns three and four (now one and two) banked at 23 degrees.
  • The track was repaved in 1995.
  • Prior to the 1997 Southern 500 the track was ‘reversed’ switching the front and back stretches.
  • Lights were added in the fall of 2004. The 2005 race was the first Saturday night race at Darlington Raceway.
  • The track was again repaved prior to the 2008 season.
  • The Throwback theme started in 2015.
  • In 2020, multiple races were run at the track in the same week without fans in attendance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first live major sporting event back up and running during the pandemic.
  • In total, there have been 127 NASCAR Cup Series races held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
  • From 1960 – 2004 the track hosted two Cup Series races per year and from 2005 – 2019 it was just one race per season. The series returned to multiple races per season in 2020.
  • Darlington has hosted a race in all but the first season of the NASCAR Cup Series (1950-present).

Latest Track Storylines at Darlington Raceway:

  • Darlington Raceway announced this week that the family of the Wood Brothers Racing team will serve as the Grand Marshals for the Goodyear 400 this Sunday. Celebrating their 75th anniversary alongside the Track Too Tough to Tame, the pioneer team of the NASCAR Cup Series will say the most famous words in motorsports ahead of the main event of The Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR.
  • Darlington Raceway announced this week that NASCAR Hall of Famer Carl Edwards will serve as the honorary starter for the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, the flagship event of The Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR. Edwards notoriously won the coveted 2015 Southern 500 to close out the inaugural Throwback Weekend at the Track Too Tough to Tame.
  • On April 3, in advance of Sunday’s Goodyear 400, defending race winner and 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski will visit patients in the children’s wing of McLeod Hospital. He will then head to Darlington Raceway to greet fans and take photos with Track Laps for Charity participants in Victory Lane.
  • Darlington Raceway announced that former NASCAR Cup Series star and two-time Cup Series winner at the Track Too Tough to Tame, Greg Biffle, will serve as the Honorary Pace Car Driver for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, April 6. The former champion of the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series will lead the field to green during the cornerstone event of The Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR.
Views: 414