DARLINGTON, S.C. — The Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway 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.”
