shops/winchester

The Cook Out Southern 500 will mark Noah Gragson’s third career NASCAR Cup Series start at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, but his first in the Southern 500. Both of Gragson’s previous Cup Series starts at the 1.366-mile oval have come in May during the Goodyear 400. Gragson finished 26th in last year’s Goodyear 400 and improved on that number this year when he finished 14th.

Gragson’s lack of NASCAR Cup Series experience at Darlington does not mean he’s lacking experience at the egg-shaped oval. In fact, Gragson has seven NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the “Track Too Tough To Tame,” and he seemed to tame Darlington by scoring an average finish of fourth. His worst finish was eighth, and in his last three Xfinity Series starts at Darlington, Gragson scored two wins and earned one second-place finish. The Las Vegas native has a 100 percent lap-completion rate at Darlington and he led a total of 253 laps, nearly 25 percent of the 1,035 laps available.

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