UNB! NETWORK STAFF REPORT
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| Aric Almirola heads for the track during Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup auto racing practice session for Sunday’s Southern 500 race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C.. (PHOTO: Terry Renna/AP) |
What: 66th annual Bojangles' Southern 500.
Where: Darlington Raceway, 1.366-mile oval in Darlington, South Carolina
When: Sunday, Sept. 6, 7 p.m. ET.
TV/Radio: NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Distance: 367 laps, 501.322 miles.
Pit road speed: 45 mph.
Caution car speed: 50 mph.
Fuel window: 59 laps.
On the front row
1. Brad Keselowski, Team Penske No. 2 Ford (178.874 mph)
2. Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet (177.588 mph)
Did not qualify
Travis Kvapil, The Motorsports Group No. 30 Chevrolet
Timmy Hill, Premium Motorsports No. 62 Chevrolet
Josh Wise, Go FAS Racing No. 32 Ford
Fastest in practice
First practice: Greg Biffle, Roush Fenway Racing No. 16 Ford (176.189 mph)
Final practice: Brad Keselowski, Team Penske No. 2 Ford (175.880 mph)
Driver rating (Average at Darlington based on past 10 races):
Jeff Gordon (112.7)
Denny Hamlin (107.1)
Last year's winner
Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet.
Gordon among all-time greats
Jeff Gordon's seven victories at the track "Too Tough to Tame" are far and away the most among active drivers in NASCAR's premier series; Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson is a distant second with three Darlington wins. The multiple triumphs at the South Carolina track place Gordon in elite company, behind only David Pearson (10 wins) and Dale Earnhardt (9) on Darlington's all-time win list.
Rules recap
Sunday's race will mark the second usage of the reduced-downforce rules package with a shorter rear spoiler and other aerodynamic alterations. The set-up was used with great fanfare in July at Kentucky Speedway, but will feature a softer, grippier tire this weekend at Darlington.
History lesson
When Harold Brasington carved out the roughly 1 1/3-mile egg-shaped oval into a South Carolina field starting in the autumn 1949, the locals called it folly. But the project wound up ushering in the era of paved superspeedways while stock-car racing was still in its infancy. Johnny Mantz scored his only NASCAR win in the inaugural Southern 500 -- the series' first 500-mile race -- by a nine-lap margin of victory over NASCAR Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts in 1950.
They said it
"I got a late start. I would like for it to be a little fuller but this is all I've got for now." -- Aric Almirola, on his old-school Fu Manchu mustache tribute to his car owner, Richard Petty.
Former Darlington winners in field
Jeff Gordon (7 wins); Jimmie Johnson (3 wins); Greg Biffle (2 wins); Kyle Busch (1 win), Denny Hamlin (1 win), Kevin Harvick (1 win), Matt Kenseth (1 win).
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