NASCAR Darlington Sunday, March 15, 2026
DARLINGTON
Last year, after winning the previous week at Martinsville, Denny Hamlin raced to victory for his 5th time at Darlington. William Byron dominated the race leading the first 243 laps, but he failed to be able to retake the lead over the final 54 laps. In the 2025 Southern 500, Chase Briscoe opened the Playoffs with a dominating win leading 309 laps including final 87. It was Briscoe’s 2nd straight win in the crown jewel race. In 2024, Briscoe raced #14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford & in 2025 raced #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Denny Hamlin: Nearly one-third career wins have come at the next 4 tracks
Darlington 5, Martinsville 6, Bristol 4 & Kansas 4
Denny Hamlin leads active drivers with
5 Darlington wins, 14 top 5 finishes, 20 top 10 finishes, 4 2nd-place finishes, 10 top 3 finishes & a 7.9 avg. finish
Kyle Larson leads active drivers with 1050 Darlington laps led – 1 Win (9/23)
130th Darlington NASCAR Cup Series race – First race: 1950 (76 Years ago)
55 Different winners in 129 NASCAR Cup Series Darlington races (24 Champions & 27 Hall of Fame drivers)
24 of the 36 NASCAR Cup Series champions won at Darlington (79 Total wins)
Tyler Reddick is only driver to finish top 5 both Darlington races last season – Finished 4th & 2nd
Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch & Denny Hamlin finished top 10 both Darlington races last season
Chase Briscoe only repeat winner last 8 Darlington races (2 Wins) – 6 Others 1-win each
Chase Briscoe won Darlington Stage 1, 2 & race 8/25
Last to win back-to-back Darlington races: Greg Biffle 2005 & ‘06 (Chase Briscoe won last Darlington race)
Last defending NASCAR Cup Series champion to win Darlington race – Jeff Gordon 2001 champ & 9/02 winner
Denny Hamlin: 5 Darlington wins with 4 different crew chiefs –
Mike Ford (2010), Michael Wheeler (2017), Chris Gabehart (5/20/20 & 9/21) & Chris Gayle (4/25)
Drivers won first race of season 42 times at Darlington
6 Won first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington
No Rookie of the Year contender won Darlington
1 of last 18 Darlington races won by driver starting first – Last winner from pole: Joey Logano 5/22
Leader of most laps failed to win 6 of last 7 Darlington races
10 To go leader failed to win 4 of last 8 Darlington races
10 Darlington winners led 10 or fewer laps
Fewest laps led by Darlington winner: 1 (Ricky Craven 3/03) & 2 (Terry Labonte 9/80 & Harry Gant 4/83)
Final lead change with 10 or fewer laps to go in 29 Darlington races
5 Darlington races settled by last lap pass
Closest Darlington finish: 2-one thousandths of a second – March 16, 2003 Ricky Craven over Kurt Busch