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Sprint Cup Preview: Darlington

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2008

SPRINT CUP PREVIEW: RACE NO. 11 - DARLINGTON

NASCAR goes back to its roots this weekend with an annual stop at Darlington Raceway, stock car racing's original super speedway. The famed and oft-cursed "Lady in Black" has received a $10 million facelift, including a repaving of the narrow 1.366-mile surface that will mean higher speeds and even more treacherous racing. Below, Tribune motor sports writer Tony Fabrizio takes a look at what's topical entering Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500:

What has been the fallout from Kyle Busch wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr. while both were racing for the win Saturday at Richmond?

Busch has apologized - sort of - and both drivers said the contact that sent Earnhardt into the wall was the unintended product of hard racing. Busch admitted he probably didn't need to drive into the corner as deeply but said Earnhardt could have given him more room. With much of the Junior Nation still fuming, Busch figures to get more boos for at least the next few races.

It doesn't help that Busch went off after being hit by Steven Wallace on the last lap of the preceding night's Nationwide race, saying he will "wreck as many cars as I need to" to win a race. (Wallace said Busch was making a big deal out of nothing and being "a big, tall, big-ear loser, I guess.")

What happened to Denny Hamlin's tire at Richmond and did he intentionally bring out the late-race caution to help teammate Busch?

Hamlin led an astounding 381 laps at Richmond only to wind up 24th after his right-front tire went down and finally blew. This week, Hamlin said he wasn't able to determine what caused the tire failure and that he doesn't think he ran over any debris. He said he stopped on the track not to bring out a caution for Busch but because he had passed the entrance to pit road and would have damaged his car if he'd continued driving. Jeff Gordon said it appeared to him that Hamlin stayed out on his deflating tire because he was "extremely upset and frustrated."

What problems will the new pavement present?

Fresh asphalt has more grip, so even with harder Goodyear tires, speeds will be up. One effect could be more single-file racing because passing will be more difficult. "Anytime we go to a repave, we're all holding our breath, because anything can happen," Greg Biffle said.

What prominent drivers didn't or haven't conquered Darlington?

The best drivers in history have had the most success at Darlington - not surprising, because the track is difficult. David Pearson leads all drivers with 10 victories. Dale Earnhardt Sr. had nine, and Jeff Gordon has seven. But Tony Stewart is 0-for-15 at Darlington, with a best finish of fourth in 2000 and 2001. Even more surprising, he has led only eight laps at the track in Sprint Cup competition. Lee Petty and Rusty Wallace never won at Darlington.

There are two ways Zephyrhills' David Reutimann can qualify for next weekend's Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte: He can finish among the top two in the Sprint Showdown, a qualifying race for drivers who aren't eligible for the all-star race, or he can be voted in by fans.

Fans can vote on NASCAR.com, by texting NASCAR to 7777 on their Sprint phones or by visiting Sprint stores. Fans can vote multiple times, and votes placed on Sprint phones will count twice.

Reutimann said he hopes to "do it the right way" and race his way into the main race, but he won't discourage anyone for voting for him.

Reutimann will run tonight's Nationwide race and Saturday night's Sprint Cup race at Darlington. His best finish at the track was a 22nd in the 2006 Busch/Nationwide Series race.

Tony Fabrizio

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