Darlington Showtime Southern 500 Scouting Report
How to make a good fantasy pick for Darlington:
The first thing you should do at Darlington is look at past races at “The Lady In Black”. NASCAR only races once a year at this old speedway but when you look at past results you’ll notice one thing. This is a track where the best of the best win. Fluke wins don’t happen here, drivers earn their win.
Practice is extremely important at Darlington. This middle segments of this race will be long green runs. The man behind the wheel in this race is the difference maker and if their good in practice most likely they’ll be good in the race.
Starting up front is a must at Darlington. Since 2003 the average starting position of the race winner is 7.3. It’s pretty hard to deny starting position isn’t important at Darlington. Darlington also has a tough pit road and if a driver qualifies good then you expect them to have a good pit stall.
The only similar track to Darlington is Dover. Darlington is far from your typical intermediate track.
Ten drivers to watch:
- Carl Edwards – No wins yet at “The Lady In Black” but he’s finished second before. Loves this place and will be the man to beat Saturday night.
- Jeff Gordon – Hasn’t finished lower than fifth since 2004. Don’t forget he also has seven wins here.
- Jimmie Johnson – Two time winner who’s only finished lower than 13th twice. 9.33 average finish.
- Kyle Busch – 2008 winner who was also very strong last year. Look for him to be strong coming off his Richmond win.
- Denny Hamlin – The defending champion who’s never finished lower than 13th. Last year Hamlin led 104 laps and had a 134.5 driver rating.
- Matt Kenseth – He knows how to make his car last all 500 miles. His five year average finish is 7.8.
- Greg Biffle – He’s a two-time winner and in four out of the last six years he’s led +95 laps a race. The downside is that in three out of the last four years he’s finished 15th or worse.
- Ryan Newman – Newman is a “skills driver” and this is a skills track. In twelve races at Darlington Newman has eight top ten finishes. Newman had this race won in August 2003 but undetected kill switch problems kept him out of victory lane.
- Kevin Harvick – Darlington hasn’t traditionally been a Kevin Harvick track but he’s proven he can get the job done here. Unfortunately many of his best runs were early in his career. Last year he finished sixth but to find his next top ten you need to go all the way back to 2004.
- Tony Stewart – Stewart’s finished in the top ten every other year at Darlington since 2004 so he’s due this year. Throughout his career he’s been a hit or miss driver here. The most surprising stat about Tony Stewart is that he’s only led 14 laps
TheSpread.com odds to win:
Jimmie Johnson 6/1, Kyle Busch 6/1, Denny Hamlin 7/1, Jeff Gordon 8/1, Carl Edwards 8/1, Kevin Harvick 10/1, Tony Stewart 12/1, Kurt Busch 15/1, Dale Earnhardt Jr 15/1, Clint Bowyer 18/1
