2009 Southern 500 Presented by GoDaddy.com at Darlington Raceway

2009 Southern 500 Presented by GoDaddy.com:

Darlington Raceway celebrates its 60th anniversary this Saturday night as the Sprint Cup stars invade the history race track for the 2009 Southern 500 Presented by GoDaddy.com. This weekend Darlington will be embracing its long NASCAR history with some nice nods to the past.

Tickets:

Speedway ticket office (843) 395-8499

Buy online from TicketsNow (direct link)

The Track:

Darlington is a tricky 1.366 mile egg shaped oval. The racing surface is very narrow and the groove is up against the wall. Slip just a little and you'll get a "Darlington Stripe" on the side of your car. Since being repaved in 2008 speeds are up and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" is tougher than ever.

Race Distance:

367 laps = 501 miles

The Big Picture:

Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon continued their battle at the top of the points. Last week Busch took the lead from Jeff Gordon. This week Gordon reclaimed the top spot by ten points over Kurt Busch.

The top twelve are now:

1. Jeff Gordon
2. Kurt Busch -10
3. Tony Stewart -39
4. Denny Hamlin -120
5. Kyle Busch -127
6. Jimmie Johnson -151
7. Jeff Burton -184
8. Clint Bowyer -229
9. Carl Edwards -237
10. Ryan Newman -243
11. Greg Biffle -248
12. Matt Kenseth -254

Storylines:

This weekend Darlington Raceway will focus on its past as the second oldest race track in NASCAR celebrates its 60th anniversary. Darlington is celebrating this historic anniversary with a number or changes such as:

• Changing the race name back to "Southern 500"
• Painting a red stripe on the walls (used to be there until the late 80s)
• Naming the winner's trophy the Johnny Mantz Southern 500 trophy after the race's first winner.
• Pre-race ceremony featuring Southern 500 winners from the past including five-time Darlington winner Cale Yarborough

Media Coverage:

TV: FOX Saturday, May 9th, 7:00PM Eastern.

Radio: MRN and SIRIUS Satellite

Actual Race: 7:20PM Eastern

Recent Events:

2008 Polesitter: Greg Biffle

2008 Winner: Kyle Busch

Last Year:

The 2008 Darlington race highlighted everything that Darlington Raceway is known for. "The Track Too Tough to Tame" received new pavement before this race which made the track smoother and much, much faster.

The high speeds didn't affect Darlington's temperament. She still ate race cars all night long.

Kyle Busch drove hard all night long and dared Darlington to tame him. He bounced it off the wall, received a penalty on pit road but still ran away with the race.

Typically the key to winning at Darlington is to race the track and not the competition. Kyle Busch attacked Darlington Raceway and won.

Predictions:

Based on recent history there are two clear favorites for this Saturday night's Southern 500.

Kyle Busch attacked Darlington last year and was rewarded with the win. Clearly he has a setup that works well and knows how to get the job done at Darlington. He has also been fast in 2009 and comes to Darlington fresh from his win last week in Richmond.

Kyle Busch is the favorite to repeat this weekend in Darlington.

For my backup this week I am not straying too far into obscurity. Jeff Gordon is tied with Cale Yarborough for the most Darlington wins at five. He also trails Cale by one win on the overall winners list. Cale has 83 career wins to Gordon's 82. A win this weekend will move Gordon past Yarborough on the Darlington winner's list and into a tie for fifth in career NASCAR wins.

Jeff Gordon knows how to get to Victory Lane in Darlington and is having a great year, leading the points. Gordon makes a strong backup pick this week.