Nextel Cup Drivers Get Ready For Darlington's "Lady In Black"

 

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Storylines and Drivers to Watch at Darlington
By Greg Engle - Cup Scene Daily

Another week, another night race.

NASCAR heads to the famed “Lady In Black” this weekend for the running of the Dodge Charger 500, race no. 11 of 36 for the Nextel Cup Series.

Here are a few of the storylines to watch this weekend:

Kasey Kahne has scored two poles in just three starts here. Kahne now heads to Darlington having won two races so far in 2006; that’s three wins overall in his young career, all of those wins coming from the pole. The last driver to win from the pole here though was Dale Jarrett back in 1997. Kasey also has a 7th place finishing average and has been pretty quiet the last few races, could Kahne he be ready to make some noise in a race sponsored by his car make?

Qualifying was rained out only once in the first 77 races at Darlington, but in the last 9 races here qualifying has been rained out 3 times. Weather has plagued all three series this year and while Friday night is forecast to be clear, Saturday night has a 40% chance of-you guessed it- rain.

Mark Martin leads all full time active drivers with 16 top five finishes here and also leads all active driver with 24 top ten finishes. Could this be the weekend he finally scores a much-needed win in his last year of full time Nextel series competition?

Greg Biffle rolls in here as the defending champion of the race; after his stellar 4th place run last week at Richmond he looks to defend that win and get back on track after a dismal season up to that point.

Speaking of dismal seasons, Kurt Busch could use a shot in the arm. His biggest memory here is of his second place run here in 2003 when he lost to Ricky Craven by 0.002 seconds, the closest finish in the history of electronic timing.

"To this day, every time I think back about that race I have to say that it was pretty incredible.”

Busch did score his first career pole here in 2001and hopes to make some more memories at Darlington Saturday night.

Dale Earnhardt Junior will have something to prove this weekend. Coming off his first win since Chicagoland last year, Earnhardt hopes to carry his momentum from Richmond’s victory lane to here and prove that his team’s turnaround is for real. He has the pedigree of his legendary father to live up to; Dale Earnhardt Sr. led a total of 2648 laps in 44 races at Darlington, the most of any driver; the closest active driver to that mark is Jeff Gordon with 1553 laps in 25 races.

And as to Gordon, he was second here last year and needs a win to prove that his team is turning around. Gordon has three poles and six wins here and hopes to avoid the Darlington stripe and earn win number seven.

Nighttime is the right time at Darlington. It wasn’t too long ago that the famed raceway was in its final moments of life. But after adding lights and paring down to one race a year, the track is enjoying a rebirth; this race is sold out for the second year in a row and that’s after the track added 3000 seats. Look for Darlington to shine again Saturday night and for many years to come.

Here are some other drivers to watch this weekend:

Dale Jarrett will be without his crew chief this weekend. Tuesday, crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe was fined $25,000 and suspended from NASCAR until June 7 — three races plus the all-star event — for an unapproved rear sway bar. The violation was discovered during prerace inspection at Richmond. Jarrett and car owner Robert Yates were also penalized 25 driver and owner points, respectively. This penalty dropped Jarrett from 11th to 12th in the standings.

Jimmie Johnson won two races early in the season while crew chief Chad Knaus was serving a suspension and it would be somewhat ironic if Jarrett won this weekend without his.

Darlington is one of Jarrett’s better tracks; he has three pole positions and he’s won here three times with all of those victories coming in the spring. His career statistics include 11 top-fives and 13 top-10s

“It’s been a very good track not just for me but for my dad, too,” said Jarrett of his famous father Ned. “I love racing here. It’s such a unique track and a lot of fun. There’s just nowhere else on the schedule that compares to this track. I think it takes on an even deeper meaning once you’ve won here because everyone knows how difficult a track it is, so when you walk away with a win, you know that you’ve really accomplished something. I usually mark this on my calendar well in advance knowing and anticipating when we’re going to Darlington.”

Jimmie Johnson will have his crew chief Chad Knaus with him this weekend. Johnson leads Tony Stewart by 55 points in the standings and has two victories here; he swept both races in 2004. He has six top-10 finishes in seven races at Darlington and in fact his only Darlington finish outside the top 10 was a 27th in March 2003 that’s the longest current streak.

“Darlington is a very fun track to drive at night, “Johnson said. “The track has a little more grip and is a little more forgiving than what you have during a day race. That takes away a little bit of the challenge at Darlington, but I love going to that track, regardless. It's one of my favorite tracks on the circuit."

Tony Stewart. Despite never winning here, he has seven top-10s in 13 career starts with a best finish of fourth, twice (spring 2000 and fall 2001) — Stewart likes Darlington."A lot of it has to do with the history of the track," Stewart said.

"If you can say you won a race at Darlington, that's a feather in your cap."

He finished sixth at Richmond and climbed from third to second in the standings, his best points ranking of 2006. It was his eighth top-15 finish in the first 10 races of the season and Stewart looks primed to score his first win at this historic venue despite his frustration of running here.

"I could probably run backward and run about the same as I do going forward,” Stewart said. “That's how close I feel like I am to figuring out Darlington. We've run decent at Darlington. I mean, I've run in the top-five there before, but every time I think I have something figured out, I normally whack the wall and go, 'Oh boy, I really did figure it out, didn't I?' I don't know that I'll ever feel like I've got Darlington totally figured out.”

Kevin Harvick is still the hottest driver on the circuit despite coming up short after dominating the race (he led a race high 247 laps) at Richmond, to finish third. Harvick has four top-10 finishes in nine races at Darlington with his best Darlington finish, second, coming here in August 2003. He finished 14th in this race one year ago and has been running at the finish in all but one of his races here.Harvick is also on fire in the Busch series as well. There he enjoys a commanding lead, he’s won three races and now leads the points by 313 over his Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer.

“Darlington’s tough, but I like it,” Harvick said. “It’s a very narrow, fast racetrack that has a lot of history and is very prestigious to win. It’s one of those places where I’d like to win either in the Busch Series or in the Nextel Cup Series. Keeping the car off the walls is a key when you go to Darlington. You’ve got to get in a rhythm there and be consistent over the long runs. You have to take care of the fenders, tires and sides of the car.”

Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick’s teammate at Richard Childress Racing has eight top-five finishes, including two victories, in the last 17 races at Darlington. He came close to winning at Richmond but a critical mistake late in the race ended any chance he had of scoring his first win of the season. To add insult to injury, a late-race spin forced him to settle for a 15th-place finish on a night where he had a legitimate chance to win the race.

Burton believes his luck will change here this weekend.

"To me, Darlington is a track where both the driver and the team have to be on their game and everything (has to be) going well," said Burton. "There aren't any fluke winners at Darlington."

Others:

Carl Edwards has finished in the top 10 in both of his starts at Darlington.

"I can't wait to run Darlington this weekend," he said. "It is hands down my favorite track on the circuit. The track has a million different characteristics that make it a very cool track to run. The shape of the track is unique — one end is different than the other, so you have to set the car up for almost two different types of corners."

Elliott Sadler has 13 starts at Darlington and has been running at the finish all 13 times. As a result, he ranks first in fewest DNFs in the long history of the track. He has four top-10 finishes in those 13 races, including a second in the 2002 spring race. In March 2003 Sadler won the first pole position of his Cup career here.

Clint Bowyer will be making his Nextel Cup debut at Darlington. He has raced twice at the 1.366-mile oval, both times in the Busch Series, and his best finish was a 10th. Bowyer said Darlington reminds him of

"my days on the dirt tracks, where you're sliding up toward the wall and the car finally catches right before you hit the wall and off you go. For a split second, you slide in and then you have to use a lot of throttle control off the corner. It's real fun, and I am really looking forward to going back."

Denny Hamlin will also make his first Nextel Cup start at Darlington this weekend. He finished seventh in the Busch Series race at the track in 2005. Hamlin has two top-five finishes thus far this season.

Hamlin scored his career-best finish of second before the hometown fans as he battled crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win at Richmond.

"I definitely would rather run second here than I would the Daytona 500 regardless of money or anything," he said.

Ryan Newman is "really looking forward to going to Darlington," and no wonder; he has four top-five finishes in seven starts here, including a second in his second start at the track. Newman could use the boost, he has only one top-five finish this season.

Brian Vickers’ best career-finish at Darlington in three starts is 16th. But he is the youngest-ever winner at the oldest superspeedway in the sport's history by virtue of his August 2003 win in the Busch Series event. Vickers was 19.

Martin Truex Jr. is another member of the rookie class who will be making his first Cup start at Darlington on Saturday night. He finished third in the Busch Series race a year ago and would be thrilled to match that finish this weekend.

Jamie McMurray has five starts at Darlington and has two top-fives and three top-10s. He had led in three of the five races. "Racing at Darlington is always fun and intense," said McMurray. "You always run close to the wall and hope you don't take that extra inch and run too close to it. The track is abrasive and fast — you'll need good pit stops, speed and a good-handling race car to prevail at Darlington."

Fast Facts:Dodge Charger 500 / Race No. 11 of 36 in the Nextel Cup Series
Darlington Raceway / Darlington, S.C.
1.366-mile oval, 370 laps, 500 miles
Saturday, May 13, 2006TV: Fox, 7 p.m. ET start (coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET)
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)
Bud Pole Qualifying: Friday, May 12 / 3:30 p.m. ET on SPEED Channel
2005 winner: Greg Biffle

Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com