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April 03, 2025
By Holly Cain–NASCAR Wire Service
The Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, FOX Deportes, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) has become one of the most popular races on the NASCAR schedule for teams, competitors and fans with its “Throwback Weekend” theme at the venerable 1.366-mile one-of-a-kind track where cars and stars celebrate the sport’s previous eras.
A handful of drivers could certainly get into the spirit by reviving their current championship situation. And past Darlington race winners such as Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Erik Jones would love to hoist their first trophy of the 2025 season – that’s the kind of throwback they want.
Keselowski is a two-time and the defending Spring race winner at Darlington – earning his first (and only) victory so far as a team owner, driving the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford last April. Briscoe’s win last Fall was also significant – perhaps the most clutch performance of his NASCAR Cup Series career when he took the win in the regular season finale to earn a Playoff position.
Coming into the weekend, the 2012 series champion Keselowski is ranked an uncharacteristic 30th in the championship standings without a single top-10 nor lap led. However, he holds the highest average finish (6.4) in the last five Darlington races. And it is the first of three straight venues (also Bristol, Tenn. and Talladega, Ala.) where he is a multiple race winner.
Briscoe claimed the DAYTONA 500 pole position in his first outing driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He is ranked 12th in the driver standings with three top-10s, but looking to land his first trip to Victory Lane with the new organization. A win this weekend would mark the first time a driver has won consecutive Darlington races since the track’s Honorary Pace Car Driver Greg Biffle did it in 2005-06.
Coming into the weekend, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are ranked among the top-five in the championship – led by DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron, who holds a 16-point lead on Homestead-Miami race winner Kyle Larson. Chase Elliott, the 2020 series champion, is third, 32 points behind Byron and Alex Bowman is ranked fifth, only 35 off Byron’s pace.
Byron and Larson swept the 2023 races at Darlington and Larson holds the highest driver rating (108.1) at the track. The 2021 series champ Larson has seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes and will be driving a throwback No. 5 paint scheme this week honoring another former Hendrick champion, NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte.
Last week’s Martinsville (Va.) Speedway winner, JGR’s Denny Hamlin is also expected to be a major player at Darlington, where his wins (four), runner-up finishes (four), top-fives (13), top-10s (18) and average finish (8.2) are all top-marks in the series among active drivers.
A victory for Hamlin’s JGR teammate, Christopher Bell – who’s earned three trophies already this season – would make him the first driver since NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in 1997 to win four of the first eight races. And Bell is coming off his career best work at Darlington – third in last Fall’s race.
Add to the mix, reigning series champion, Joey Logano. He has led 260 laps (second this season only to Hamlin’s 298) but still hasn’t recorded a top-five finish. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford won at Darlington in 2022.
The last nine Darlington races have been won by nine different drivers and the record for that mark is 11 (2006-16). Interestingly, the driver who led the most laps has finished 25th or worse in four of the last five races.
“I think over-aggression is kind of over-blown at Darlington, especially with this car, you can be pretty aggressive,” Byron said. “You’ve got to be aggressive at Darlington now to get clean air and stay up towards the front. You’ve got to be good on the long run, so however you manage that, whether set-up or driver input. You can’t afford to just kind of ride around in this car at Darlington anymore. It’s going to be a lot like Homestead where you’ve got to be able to ride the fence and be good in all the lanes.
Practice is set for 12:45 p.m. ET Saturday, followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 1:40 p.m. ET with Amazon Prime airing both sessions. Toyota has won the pole position for the last four Darlington races. 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick is the defending polesitter.
Xfinity Series competitors prepare for The Track Too Tough To Tame
If there’s ever a venue poised to bring its A-game action following last week’s Martinsville (Va.) Speedway thriller, the NASCAR Xfinity Series should be in good shape with Saturday’s Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 (3 p.m. ET on The CW Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Darlington Raceway.
The venerable 1.366-mile track has a fantastic history of high-drama and important races.
Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier shows up at Darlington with the championship lead by 41 points over Haas Factory Team driver Sam Mayer in second and 47 points over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill in third, who collected his second win of the season last Saturday and joins Allgaier as the only multiple winners this season.
Sixth in the championship is 18-year-old Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, who announced Thursday he will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start for Trackhouse Racing at Charlotte’s Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend.
The last five Darlington Xfinity Series races have been won by five different drivers. Allgaier is the defending spring race winner and his three trophies at The Track to Tough Tame is most among full-timers. He is on an eight-race streak of top-10 finishes at Darlington – one away from matching NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin’s record.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones (2020) is the only other fulltime series driver with a Darlington victory. Last year, Allgaier beat Hill to the checkered by a full 3.4-seconds. And Mayer was fourth. RCR has never won an Xfinity Series race at Darlington, but has five runner-up finishes – two from Hill.
Of note, the Stage 1 winner has gone on to win four of the last five races at the track.
The series is coming off an emotionally-charged short track event at Martinsville, where Hill led only the last lap to claim the win – surging forward after aggressive contact between race leaders Joe Gibbs Racing’s Taylor Gray and JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith derailed their days.
Both Gray and Smith were subsequently penalized this week for actions at Martinsville – after the race (Gray) and for contact during the race (Smith).
A handful of NASCAR Cup Series drivers will be on the Xfinity Series grid this week, including Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain and Christopher Bell, who won the Fall Darlington NASCAR Xfinity Series race from the pole position.
Practice is at 10:05 a.m. ET on Saturday morning followed immediately by qualifying at 11:10 a.m. ET. The CW App will air both sessions. Cole Custer won the pole position in last year’s race.
