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NEW ON THE SITE: Southern 500 Fact Sheet
http://racing-reference.info/factshe...ts_2009-11.htm
The following notes pertain only to Sprint Cup races held at Darlington Raceway.
Track facts:
- Saturday's Southern 500 will be the 106th Sprint Cup race at Darlington Speedway.
- The 1951 race featured a field of 82 cars, the most ever at this track.
- Darlington Raceway was the first superspeedway to be used by NASCAR.
- The closest race at Darlington was one of the most memorable in Sprint Cup history: Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch by two 1,000ths of a second to win the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 in 2003.
- That victory was the 151st and last win for Pontiac in NASCAR's top division.
- Craven led only the final lap on that day, the fewest laps led by any Darlington winner.
- Last year's race was the fastest in track history as Kyle Busch averaged 140.35 mph in the 2008 Dodge Avenger 500, and that race also featured the fastest-ever qualifying speed of 179.442 mph by Greg Biffle.
- The most lead changes in a Darlington race is 41, a mark that was set in 1982.
- The most caution flags in a race here is 15 (1995) and there has been one caution-free race, in 1963.
- From 2000-2008, a typical Darlington Sprint Cup race had 8.3 cautions for 45.1 laps and 20.7 lead changes. The average green-flag run is 45 laps.
Manufacturers / Owners:
- Chevrolet has visited Victory Lane at Darlington on 37 occasions,
- Ford has won 28 times,
- followed by Mercury (10), Oldsmobile (6), Dodge (5), Pontiac (5), Buick (4), Plymouth (4), Hudson (3), AMC (2) and Toyota (1).
- Hendrick Motorsports has 12 wins here,
- while Junior Johnson had 11
- Three (3) owners have 8 wins at Darlington: Holman-Moody, Richard Childress Racing and the Wood Brothers.
Driver Notes:
- there have been 43 different race winners, led by David Pearson with 10.
- A driver has won from the pole position 19 times (most recently Dale Jarrett in 1997)
- and the worst starting spot that a race winner had was 43rd, which is where Johnny Mantz began the very first Southern 500.
- Mantz also set the record for the most laps led in a Darlington race (351) on that day.
- Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty share the record for most runner-up finishes at Darlington, with 8.
- Mark Martin leads active drivers in #2 finishes with 6.
- Nine different drivers have swept both Darlington races in a single season:
Richard Petty (1967),
LeeRoy Yarbrough (1969),
Bobby Allison (1975),
David Pearson (1976),
Bill Elliott (1985),
Dale Earnhardt (1987 and 1990),
Jeff Gordon (1996),
Jeff Burton (1999 - both rain-shortened)
Jimmie Johnson 2004.
- Earnhardt and Gordon both won 3 consecutive Darlington races, which is the most by any driver.
Milestones:
- Kyle Busch's win at Richmond last Saturday was his 15th, which ties him with Ernie Irvan for 45th place on the all-time list;
- Mark Martin's next top-5 finish will tie him with Buck Baker for 8th place;
Best average finish among active drivers at Darlington (3 or more starts):
Denny Hamlin (6.3)
Jimmie Johnson (7.4)
Bill Elliott (9.4)
Jeff Burton (11.5)
Jeff Gordon (11.5)
Mark Martin (12.3)
Carl Edwards (12.4)
Tony Stewart (12.5)
Random semi-significant driver facts covering Sprint Cup races at Darlington ONLY:
- Kurt Busch's .002 second loss to Ricky Craven in 2003 is Busch's only top-5 finish here in 12 races.
- Prior to his 2008 victory, Kyle Busch had led just 1 lap at Darlington and had an average finishing position of 22.3 in 3 races.
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr's best result here is 4th place, which he has accomplished twice (most recently in 2008) and Earnhardt has not finished worse than 11th over his last 6 starts.
- Denny Hamlin has raced at Darlington 3 times, and has never finished outside the top 10.
- Jimmie Johnson's 13th place result in 2008 was only the second time in 10 Darlington races that he hasn't achieved a top-10 finish.
- Matt Kenseth has one top-5 finish in 15 races here but is currently on a streak of 3 top-10s in a row.
- Ryan Newman winds up near the front most of the time (60% top-10s) but not often in the middle
- Tony Stewart's best finish here is 4th place (2000 and 2001); Stewart has led only 1 lap over his last 9 Darlington races.