DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Last weekend, Denny Hamlin became the ninth driver to score a 2023 NASCAR Cup Series victory and he shows up at the historic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as the track’s winningest active driver.
Part of the allure of the 1.366-mile oval is the tight and challenging racing on a track like no other on the circuit. It’s tough. And a driver hasn’t earned back-to-back wins at Darlington since 2005-06 (Greg Biffle). But Hamlin’s four-win total – the last coming in 2021 – and his trophy hoist just last week would make him an easy favorite this weekend.
“It’s a tough track mentally and physically,” said Hamlin, who drives the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. “It’s a driver’s track because the driver can make a difference at Darlington. You can manipulate the way your car is handling based on the line you choose to run. There’s something about it that has always matched my style of driving no matter what type of car we’re racing, so I anticipate we’ll have a really good shot at contending this weekend.”
Three of the seven former Darlington winners in Sunday’s field are still looking for their first trophy of the year, including three-time Darlington winner Kevin Harvick, two-time Darlington winner Erik Jones and one-time winner Brad Keselowski.
Jones is the most recent winner at the track, taking a slight .252-second win over Hamlin in last year’s Playoff opener. He could certainly use a boost in both confidence and the standings. The driver of the No. 43 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Chevrolet is currently ranked 23rd – with only a pair of top 10s through the opening 12 races of the season.
Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, has the resume to score his first win of 2023 at Darlington. He finished fourth in this race last year. The 2014 series champion – who is retiring at the end of this season – is ranked fifth in the standings, 46 points behind leader Ross Chastain and one of four ranked in the top-10 without a victory yet this season (also including Chastain, Ryan Blaney and Keselowski). He not only has the three Darlington wins but his two pole positions tie him with defending Darlington race winner Joey Logano for most among the active drivers.
Keselowski, owner-driver of the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, is 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings. He and teammate Chris Buescher have both finished in the top-10 in two of the last three races (at Talladega, Ala. and Dover, Del.) and Keselowski has a season-best runner-up effort at Atlanta. The second-year owner-driver’s five top-10s is one-off his entire 2022 season in that category.
Most notable among those still racing for that first trophy of 2022 is the series championship leader, Trackhouse Racing’s Chastain. He is coming off a third-place finish at Kansas and has five top-five finishes on the year – including a runner-up at Dover, where he led 98 laps. Darlington Raceway hasn’t been among the 29-year-old Floridian’s resume highlights in the past. The driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet has only one top-10 in seven starts – a third-place finish in the 2021 Playoff race. He led 26 laps in this race last year but brought out a caution about 100 laps shy of the checkered flag.
He has the ultimate in full schedules this weekend – competing in all three NASCAR national series races.
Team Penske’s Logano and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick scored top-five finishes in both 2022 Darlington races. In fact, Logano edged Reddick by a slight .775-seconds to take the victory in this Spring race last year.
The intensity of the competition is not only gaining strength atop the standings. The 16th and final Playoff position currently belongs to Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe by a slight three-point edge on 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace. Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Ty Gibbs is only seven points off Briscoe.
The hugely popular “Throwback” theme of the Darlington race weekend will include appearances by several of “NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers.” Seven-time champion and inaugural NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and his son Kyle, along with Carl Edwards and five-time Darlington winner, Hall of Famer Bill Elliott will all spend time in the FOX television booth as commentators.
Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett will serve as the Honorary Pace Car driver for the race and join Grand Marshals Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch along with former NASCAR stars Ernie Irvan, Biffle, Ryan Newman and NASCAR Hall of Fame brothers Terry and Bobby Labonte in a parade Saturday afternoon through downtown Darlington.
A half hour NASCAR Cup Series practice gets under way Saturday at 10:35 a.m. followed immediately by Busch Light Pole Qualifying. Both sessions will be televised live on FS1
Source: Holly Cain/NASCAR Wire Service
