NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400
Darlington Raceway Track Length: 1.366 Mile Asphalt Oval
Sunday, March 22 3 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 1:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 400.2 miles (293 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 90), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 185), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 293) The Purse: $11,233,037
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200
Darlington Raceway Track Length: 1.366 Mile Asphalt Oval
Saturday, March 21 5:30 p.m. ET TV: CW, 4:30 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) The Purse: $1,653,590
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200
Darlington Raceway Track Length: 1.366 Mile Asphalt Oval
Friday, March 20 7:30 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 7:30 p.m. ET Radio: NRN, 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) The Purse: $839,700
Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:
Friday, March 20
NCTS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (FS2 at 3:30 p.m. ET)
NCTS Race: Buckle Up South Carolina 200 (FS1, NRN, SiriusXM at 7:30 p.m. ET)
Saturday, March 21
NOAPS Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying (CW App at 12 p.m./Noon ET)
NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying (Prime, MRN, SiriusXM at 2:30 p.m. ET)
NOAPS Race: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 (CW, MRN, SiriusXM at 5:30 p.m. ET)
Sunday, March 22
NCS Race: Goodyear 400 (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM at 3 p.m. ET)
Quick Track Facts & Insights: Darlington
- In 1949, Darlington, South Carolina native Harold Brasington leased cotton and peanut farmland on the west side of town and created an egg-shaped oval with one corner tighter, narrower, and more steeply banked because he didn’t want the new track to disturb the minnow pond at the west end.
- Darlington Raceway was originally built as a 1.25-mile paved superspeedway in 1949-1950.
- 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.
- In 1970 the track was measured at 1.366 miles (like it is today) after retaining walls were added around the track and turns one and two were banked at 23 degrees.
- Lights were added in the fall of 2004. The 2005 race was the first Saturday night race at Darlington Raceway.
- Did You Know? This weekend is NASCAR Alumni Weekend at Darlington Raceway, and several of the greats of the sport will be in attendance.
NASCAR Cup Series
DENNY HAMLIN’S LEGACY
61 career wins, ranks 10th all-time, breaking a tie with Kevin Harvick
Hamlin became the fifth driver to win in 20 different seasons after winning at Las Vegas last weekend
Hamlin’s 17th win since turning 40 years old
Hamlin won both the spring Darlington race and the spring Martinsville race last year, they are the next two races in 2026
Hamlin’s Darlington Dominance Five-time Darlington winner Average finish of 7.9 at Darlington, best all-time by a driver with more than two starts Finished top five in 52% and top 10 in 74% of his Darlington starts Led in 21 of his 27 Darlington starts including the last 12 Scored stage points in all but seven stages at Darlington (32 stages) Average running position in the top 10 in 21 of the last 24 races at Darlington Hamlin led in the last 12 Darlington races, the longest streak at the track since Darrell Waltrip’s 17 straight races from 1976-1984
CHASE BRISCOE’S DARLINGTON DOMINANCE
Briscoe at Darlington:
Led 309 laps in last year’s Southern 500, the most in a
Darlington race since April 1986 (Dale Earnhardt – 335)
Finished top 5 in three of the last four Darlington races
Finished top 3 in four of the last six Darlington stages
Led 84% of the Southern 500 in 2025
Won two of the last three races at Darlington
DARLINGTON’S UNIQUE RACE CHARACTERISTICS
This is the 130th Cup race at Darlington, 4th most among all tracks
There were at least six cautions in each of the last 19 Darlington races
The final green flag stretch was less than 17 laps in only two of the last 11 Darlington races
Only two of the last 18 Darlington races ended in overtime, including last April
The Darlington race winner averages 8 stops per race, the second most of all tracks in the Next Gen to Charlotte with 10
Recent Race Patterns
final 10 laps
The last four spring Darlington races had a lead change in the final 10 laps
Last April’s race at Darlington had four lead changes, the fewest for a Cup race at Darlington since the inaugural
Southern 500 in 1950 Five of the last eight Darlington races had a caution in the first six laps, including the last three
Last fall’s Southern 500 had two DNFs, tied for the fewest ever at Darlington (March 1999, May 2008
TYLER REDDICK’S CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE
Tyler Reddick can become the third driver to win four of a season’s first six races (Dale Earnhardt – 1987, Bill Elliott – 1992)
Nine drivers finished in the top five at Darlington in 2025, Tyler Reddick was the only driver to finish top five in both (fourth and second)
Reddick’s Darlington Success
Four Top 3 finishes at Darlington with the NextGen car , most of any driver
Started top 10 in the last 10 Darlington races
Finished top five in five of the last eight Darlington races
Tyler Reddick got his first finish outside the top-10 at Las Vegas, he faded from 9th to 13th in the final two laps with a right front tire issue
INDIVIDUAL DRIVER SEASON UPDATES
Notable Individual Performances
Ty Gibbs has three straight top-5 finishes for the first time in his career
Chase Elliott’s average finish of 9.4 is his best through five races since 2017
Bubba Wallace’s average finish of 8.8 in 2026 ranks second to teammate Tyler Reddick (4.8), his worst finish this season is 11th at COTA
Four of the fastest stops of 2026 were by Christopher Bell’s crew, three of the four came at Las Vegas
HOT
Denny Hamlin 🔥
Five-time Darlington winner
Finished top five in 52% and top 10 in 74% of his Darlington starts
Scored stage points in all but seven stages at Darlington (32 stages)
Led in 21 of his 27 Darlington starts including the last 12
Average finish of 7.9 at Darlington, best all-time by a driver with more than two starts
Average running position in the top 10 in 21 of the last 24 races at Darlington
HOT
Chase Briscoe 🔥
Won two of the last three races at Darlington
Led 84% of the Southern 500 in 2025
Finished top 5 in three of the last four Darlington races
Finished top 3 in four of the last six Darlington stages
HOT
Tyler Reddick 🔥
Four Top 3 finishes at Darlington with the NextGen car, most of any driver
Started top 10 in the last 10 Darlington races
Finished top five in five of the last eight Darlington races
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
JR MOTORSPORTS’ HISTORIC WIN STREAK
JR Motorsports won the last three races with three different drivers: COTA – Shane van Gisbergen, Phoenix – Justin Allgaier, Las Vegas – Kyle Larson
A team has never won four straight races with four different drivers
Las Vegas winner Kyle Larson will be back in JR Motorsports’ #88 at Darlington
CHEVROLET’S MANUFACTURER DOMINANCE
Chevrolet won all five races, all ten stages and led all but 52 laps in the first five races of the season
Five different drivers won the first five races of the season: Austin Hill at Daytona, Sheldon Creed at Atlanta, Shane van Gisbergen at COTA, Justin Allgaier at Phoenix and Kyle Larson at Las Vegas
JUSTIN ALLGAIER’S RECORD CHASE
Only driver to score stage points in every stage this season
Leads active drivers with three Darlington wins, all three came in the last nine races
Finished Top 10 in the last nine Darlington races, tied with Mark Martin for the longest Darlington streak all-time
29 career wins are tied for 8th on the all-time wins list with Matt Kenseth and one away from tying Joey Logano for 7th
JESSE LOVE’S BREAKOUT SEASON
Jesse Love is the only driver to finish in the Top 10 in all five races this season, he also leads all drivers with 208 laps led and a 5.2 average finish
RCR #2 had three of five fastest four-tire pit stops of season at Las Vegas, including two fastest at Las Vegas
RISING STARS AND BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES
Corey Day’s Hendrick Success
Corey Day has six NOS top-10 finishes, four of them were in the last four races
Corey Day has the second-best average finish of full-time
Hendrick drivers through five races
SPECIAL GUESTS AT DARLINGTON
Kyle Larson Returns
Larson will drive JR Motorsports #88 at Darlington
The last four times Kyle Larson started an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for a team other than Hendrick Motorsports, he won the race: Watkins Glen 08/2022 ( JRM #88 ),
Darlington 05/2023 (Kaulig #10), Texas 05/2025 (JRM #88) & Las Vegas 03/2026 (JRM #88)
Will also race Bristol 1 and Texas Won 3 of last 4 starts, including last week at Las Vegas
1 win (5/23), 3 Top 5s, 6 Top 10s in 7 career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at Darlington
Won Cup Series race at Darlington race in 09/2023
Christopher Bell’s Return
Christopher Bell will drive Joe Gibbs Racing ‘s # 19 at Darlington
Making only scheduled start of season
Best finish of 25th in 2 starts in 2025 – Darlington
1 win (8/24), 2 Top 5s, 3 Top 10s in 5 career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at Darlington 19 series wins
SEASON STATISTICS AND MILESTONES
Collecting Points in 2026
Austin Hill leads all drivers with 3 stage wins in 2026
Five different drivers won the Fastest Lap Award this season: Rajah Caruth at Daytona, Jeb Burton at Atlanta, Shane van Gisbergen at COTA, Jesse Love at Phoenix and Sam Mayer at Las Vegas
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
DARLINGTON
This is the 1st race of the Triple Truck Challange for 2026
Feature
Beginning in 2019, “The Trip” is a program that rewards drivers financially for performing well during a three-race stretch in each Truck Series season. Over that span, a $50,000 bonus is awarded to the winner of each race. Should a driver win multiple events, the bonus money increases. If a driver wins two out of three races, he or she will be awarded $150,000. If a driver wins all three Triple Truck Challenge races, $500,000 total is awarded. March 20 at Darlington Raceway, April 3 at Rockingham Speedway, April 10 at Bristol Motor Speedway. All three venues have hosted the program in prior years; Bristol and Rockingham made up two of the three races during the 2025 stretch, while Darlington hosted the event most recently in 2021.
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.
NASCAR & Darlington, Etc.
Historical & Significant Events at Darlington Raceway (Cont.): - 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. This season marks the first year of the Alumni Weekend Celebration.
- 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 129 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).
Additional NASCAR & Darlington Storylines: - Darlington Raceway announced that 2026 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees Kurt Busch and Harry Gant will serve as co-Grand Marshals for the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, March 22. Two drivers who helped define different eras of NASCAR will unite to deliver the most famous words in motorsports as part of Darlington Raceway’s NASCAR Alumni Weekend celebration.
- Mark Martin, one of the most accomplished and respected drivers in the history of NASCAR, will return to the Track Too Tough to Tame on Sunday, March 22, as the Honorary Pace Car Driver for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. A member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Martin’s name is synonymous with success at Darlington. He is tied with the late Dale Earnhardt for the most wins at the historic South Carolina oval, with 12 Darlington victories across multiple series. His Darlington résumé includes two Cook Out Southern 500 wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, two triumphs in the International Race of Champions (IROC), and an astounding eight victories in what is now the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
- Darlington Raceway announced today that NASCAR pioneer Dave Marcis will serve as the Honorary Starter for the upcoming Goodyear 400, adding another chapter to his remarkable, five-decade connection with the sport’s most historic venue. Hailing from Wausau, Wisconsin, Marcis carved out one of the most enduring and respected careers in NASCAR history. His NASCAR Cup Series career spanned from 1968 through 2002 — an extraordinary 35-year run that included 883 starts across five decades. Marcis was widely regarded as one of the sport’s most successful “independent” drivers, fielding and maintaining his own equipment for much of his career.
NASCAR & Darlington, Etc.
Additional NASCAR & Darlington Storylines (Cont.): - 23XI Racing has been nominated for two Sports Business Journal Sports Business Awards in 2026: o Sports Team of the Year
o Executive of the Year, 23XI Co-Owner Michael Jordan - Joining the team in the Team of the Year category are the Golden State Valkyries; Inter Miami CF; Los Angeles Dodgers; Toronto Blue Jays and the Washington Spirit. Joining Jordan in the Executive of the Year category are Rick Cordella, NBC Sports; Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN; Mark Shapiro, TKO and Mark Walter, TWG Global.
NASCAR
http://www.nascar.com/
Photos & Graphics Courtesy of NASCAR