NASCAR Darlington Sunday, August 26, 2018

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES DARLINGTON STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most Darlington wins (Active): 3 Jimmie Johnson
• Most Darlington poles (Active): 4 Kasey Kahne (Winless)
• Most Darlington laps led (Active): 598 Kyle Busch
• Most Darlington races: 65 Richard Petty
• Most Darlington poles: 12 David Pearson
• Most Darlington wins: 10 David Pearson
• Most Darlington top 5 finishes: 25 Richard Petty
• Most Darlington top 10 finishes: 35 Bill Elliott
• Most Darlington laps led: 2648 Dale Earnhardt
• Most Darlington lead lap finishes: 29 Mark Martin
• Best Darlington average finish (Drivers with more than 2 races): 5.8 Denny Hamlin
• ON THIS DATE
• 9/2/57 SPEEDY THOMPSON WON SOUTHERN 500
• 9/2/63 FIREBALL ROBERTS WON SOUTHERN 500
• 9/2/68 CALE YARBOROUGH WON SOUTHERN 500
• 9/2/74 CALE YARBOROUGH WON SOUTHERN 500
• 9/2/84 HARRY GANT WON SOUTHERN 500
• 9/2/90 DALE EARNHARDT WON SOUTHERN 500
• 9/2/01 WARD BURTON WON SOUTHERN 500
• Denny Hamlin swept Darlington NXS & MENCS races last season
• Post-race penalty: Rear suspension – 25 Driver points, 25 Team points, crew chief Mike Wheeler suspended 2 races & fined $50,000
• Final green-flag run to finish 102 laps last year
• No pit road speeding penalties last year
• No Hendrick Motorsports driver in top 10 last year
• 49 Different winners in 114 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Darlington races
• 39 Different winners in 68 Southern 500s
• 7 Different winners last 7 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Darlington races
• 21 Champions won Darlington races
• Jeff Gordon leads all with 6 Southern 500 wins
• Denny Hamlin only repeat winner last 12 Darlington races (2 Wins) – 10 Others 1 win each
• First Darlington victory for 4 of last 5 winners – Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards & Martin Truex Jr.
• Martin Truex Jr. passed for final lead change last Darlington race
• Jimmie Johnson: 83 Career wins – 1992 Southern 500 was 84th career win for Darrell Waltrip
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: Finished 29th at Darlington last year – Lap 41 crash & lap 152 commitment line violation
• Ryan Newman: 13 Darlington top 10 finishes – Leads active drivers (Finished 13th or better last 5 Darlington races)
• Daniel Suarez: Finished 38th at Darlington last year – Lap 125 crash
• 5 Won Daytona 500 & Southern 500 in same year – Last: Jeff Gordon 1997
• 9 Times driver won Coca-Cola 600 & Southern 500 in same year
• No Rookie of the Year contender won Darlington
• Driver starting first finished top 2 in 3 of last 4 Darlington races – 1 Win (2014 Kevin Harvick)
• 1 of last 28 Darlington races won from pole – Last winner from pole: Kevin Harvick 2014
• Last to win back-to-back Darlington races: Greg Biffle 5/05 & 5/06 (Denny Hamlin won last race)
• 15 Darlington win streaks (Back-to-back wins)
• Southern 500 won back-to-back 7 times – Denny Hamlin won last Southern 500
• Last back-to-back Southern 500 winner: Greg Biffle 2005 & ’06 – Denny Hamlin won last Southern 500
• Most consecutive Southern 500 wins: 4 – Jeff Gordon 1995-’98 (Jeff Burton won in 1999)
• Only 1 won Southern 500 & championship in same year last 17 seasons – Kevin Harvick 2014
• Southern 500 winners went on to win championship 13 times – Last: Kevin Harvick 2014
• Last defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion to win Darlington race – Jeff Gordon 2001 champ & 9/02 winner
• Teammates finished 1-2 four times at Darlington – Last 2 by Joe Gibbs Racing (2013 & ’17)
• Closest Darlington finish: .002 seconds – 3/03 Ricky Craven over Kurt Busch
• Drivers won first race of season 14 times in Southern 500
• 3 Won Darlington in first try – Johnny Mantz, Dick Rathmann & Herb Thomas
• 3 Drivers won Southern 500 in first try – Last: Nelson Stacy 1961
• Ricky Rudd won Darlington for first time in 29th try – Most of all drivers
• Tim Richmond is only driver to win 1st race in last Darlington start
• Worst starting position of Darlington winner: 43rd – Johnny Mantz 1950
• Most consecutive Darlington wins: 3 – Dale Earnhardt (1989-’90) & Jeff Gordon (1995-’96)
• 4 Darlington Overtime finishes – Leader at scheduled distance won 2
• 5 Darlington races settled by last lap pass
• 6 Won first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington
• Mid-race leader failed to win last 12 Darlington races
• Drivers won first race of season 34 times at Darlington
• Chevrolet leads all with 27 Southern 500 wins
• Toyota won 4 of last 5 Southern 500s
• Ford winless last 11 Southern 500s
• 9/6/65: Ned Jarrett won Southern 500 by 14 laps over 2nd-place Buck Baker
• 5/13/67: At Darlington, Richard Petty passed Lee Petty for all-time wins with 55th career victory
• 9/6/71: Bobby Allison started streak of 39 straight races led winning Southern 500
• 4/13/75 & 9/1/75: Team Penske’s only Darlington wins – Bobby Allison driving Matador
• 9/6/76: David Pearson won final race in triple-crown – 1976 Daytona 500, 1976 World 600 & 1976 Southern 500
• 9/2/84: Southern 500 run on Monday instead of Labor Day
• 9/1/91: Harry Gant’s Darlington win was first of 4 straight victories for Mr. September
• 9/6/92: Darlington was 84th and final career win for Darrell Waltrip
• 9/5/93: Mark Martin won 4 straight races in 1993 with the final win of streak coming in Southern 500
• 9/5/99: Jeff Burton won 50th Southern 500 with brother Ward Burton finishing 2nd
• 3/16/03: Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch by .002 seconds winning Darlington
• 5/11/12: Jimmie Johnson’s Darlington win was 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports
• Mark Martin: 8 Career 2nd-place finishes to Dale Earnhardt – 4 at Darlington
• 14 Hendrick Motorsports Darlington wins (Most all-time) by 6 drivers –
• J. Gordon 7, Johnson 3, T. Labonte 1, Martin 1, Richmond 1 & Rudd 1
• 8 Richard Childress Racing Darlington wins – All by Dale Earnhardt 1986-‘94
• 8 Wood Brothers Racing Darlington wins – David Pearson 6, Neil Bonnett 1 & Cale Yarborough 1
• 6 Joe Gibbs Racing Darlington wins by 5 drivers – Kyle Busch, Edwards, Hamlin, Kenseth & B. Labonte
• 5 Roush Fenway Racing Darlington wins – Greg Biffle 2, Jeff Burton 2 & Mark Martin 1
• 2 Furniture Row Racing Darlington wins – Regan Smith 2011 & Martin Truex Jr. 2016
• 2 Team Penske Darlington wins – Both races in 1975 with Bobby Allison driving a Matador
• 1 Stewart-Haas Racing Darlington win – Kevin Harvick 2014

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES DARLINGTON STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Top 2 finishers from last season penalized (Denny Hamlin & Joey Logano)
• #18: Rear suspension 25 team points & crew chief Eric Phillips suspended 2 races & fined $25,000
• #22: Rear suspension 25 team points & crew chief Greg Erwin suspended 2 races & fined $25,000
• Jeff Burton led every lap at Darlington 3/16/02
• 29 Different winners in 57 Darlington Xfinity Series races
• 13 of last 15 Darlington Xfinity Series winners competed in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race
• All 5 of Denny Hamlin’s Darlington wins came after starting on pole
• Denny Hamlin only driver to sweep Darlington NXS & MENCS races more than once (2010 & ’17)
• 4 Darlington Xfinity Series & Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series weekend sweeps
• 4 Won Darlington & championship in same season – Last: Chase Elliott 2014
• 2 of last 4 Darlington NXS winners didn’t compete in MENCS race – 2014 Chase Elliott & 2016 Elliott Sadler
• NASCAR Xfinity Series regular won 2 of last 4 Darlington races – Chase Elliott (2014) & Elliott Sadler (2015)
• Elliott Sadler best Xfinity Series regular 3 of last 7 Darlington races
• Joe Gibbs Racing #20 won 6 of last 12 Darlington races
• Joe Gibbs Racing won 9 of last 12 Darlington races
• Driver starting first won 7 of last 12 Darlington races – Denny Hamlin 5 & Kyle Busch 2
• Final lead change with 3 or fewer laps to go 4 of last 6 Darlington races
• Final green flag run 5 or fewer laps 6 of last 10 Darlington races
• Joey Logano passed for final lead change last Darlington race – Finished 2nd
• 1 Darlington race settled by last lap pass: 2014 – Chase Elliott passed Elliott Sadler
• 3 Scored first career win at Darlington – Last: Ron Bouchard 4/84 (Both career wins came at Darlington)
• William Byron best Xfinity Series regular last Darlington race – Finished 5th
• Fastest Darlington race: 141.355 mph (9/15) – Only 2 cautions
• 3 Won Darlington in first try: Geoffrey Bodine, Neil Bonnett & Chase Elliott
• Chase Elliott only Rookie to win Darlington (2014)
• Todd Bodine won Darlington in 19th try – Most of all drivers
• Worst starting position of Darlington winner: 36th – Larry Pearson 3/95
• 4/13/85: Harry Gant relieved Jack Ingram and drove to the win