There’s a history of NASCAR Cup Series drivers stealing victories from NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars at Darlington Raceway, and that could be the case in Saturday’s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
William Byron and John Hunter Nemechek are racing in both the Cup and Xfinity Series events on Throwback Weekend at the Track Too Tough to Tame. Byron is the defending winner of the Cup race, while Nemechek has two poles, three top fives and four top 10s in five starts at the track.
Nemechek also won at Las Vegas earlier this season in a double-duty appearance there.
Before Byron won last year’s race, however, JR Motorsports had triumphed in the previous three races, with Noah Gragson winning twice and Justin Allgaier once. A two-time winner at Darlington, Allgaier is hungry for a breakthrough victory this season after a number of close calls.
“Darlington has always been a really strong place for us, and I feel extremely confident that we will be just as quick again this weekend,” Allgaier said. “The last couple weeks didn’t go quite as we had planned, but I know that (crew chief) Jim (Pohlman) and all the guys on this BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet are ready to go and get back to the track.
“Hopefully, we can have a nice, smooth day and be up front when it matters at the end. We’re ready.”
JRM has added six races to part-timer Carson Kvapil’s schedule after Kvapil finished fourth at Martinsville and second at Dover in his only two starts in the series to date. Kvapil will make his third Xfinity appearance on Saturday.
Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service
