FanHouse DarlingtonRaceway

Enjoy a look back at Mark Martin's Southern 500 Darlington win from Saturday night from the angle of Sprint Cup Numbers:

1.531 - Martin's margin of victory, in seconds, over teammate Jimmie Johnson

2 - Wins for Martin at Darlington in 43 career starts

3 - Career 'Did Not Finish' results for Martin at Darlington, each of which was for engine problems

Here's a quick-hitting rewind on all of the happenings from Saturday night's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Yellow Fever - Despite 60 years of racing and 106 Sprint Cup Series events at Darlington Raceway, never had the field combined to create as many caution flags as it did Saturday night. The yellow waved 17 times for 73 laps, upping the previous record from 15 cautions.

The number of caution flags wasn't a record though as a race in 1995 had 12 cautions for 94 laps, a race in 1977 had 6 cautions for 93 laps, and one in 1974 with 11 cautions for 101 laps.

Where: Darlington Raceway
Time: Saturday 7:20 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio
Twitter: In-race updates at FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 64 degrees, 20% chance of storms
Distance: 367 laps (500.1 miles)
Pole Winner: Matt Kenseth
2008 Winner: Kyle Busch

NASCAR's gettin' used to this two day show format, it would seem. Both this weekend's action at Darlington Raceway and last weekend's run at Richmond have been run in a quick and simple two day pattern.

Jump in as FanHouse's Holly Cain and Geoffrey Miller go Wheel2Wheel about Darlington, Kyle Busch's audacious goals and the oh-so-lovable Goodyear.

Does NASCAR need more tracks with unusual character like Darlington and what do you think about re-naming the spring event the "Southern 500"?

Geoffrey Miller: Frankly, I'm a little confused. It's not Labor Day weekend, tropical storms aren't brewing off the South Carolina coast and the heat index in Darlington this weekend won't be anywhere near triple digits. Why then, in the name of Richard Petty, is it time for the Southern 500?

Fifty-nine years of tradition returns to Darlington Raceway this weekend, as "The Track Too Tough to Tame" regains its long-running moniker, the Southern 500. And for those who remember watching races there years ago, Darlington officials have also brought back the red-and-white-striped walls this year in a nod to the facility's heritage.

Few tracks are as steeped in tradition as Darlington. Even NASCAR's youngest drivers, by virtue of what they've seen, heard or read, grasp the significance of running well and winning at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. Most of today's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers weren't even competing at this level 20 years ago but those who were can attest to the fact that Daytona, Darlington, Charlotte and Talladega were the tracks at which they wanted to win.

This doesn't make up for a lack of NASCAR racing at the speedway over Labor Day weekend, but the new retro look at Darlington Raceway is certainly a good look.

Darlington, site of Saturday night's wannabe Southern 500 presented by GoDaddy.com -- don't forget that GoDaddy or Danica will go after you -- has drawn up an old-time logo and repainted its walls to commemorate the track's 60th anniversary.

And if I must say so myself, the alternating red-and-white paint job around the track [photos below] isn't such a bad idea for a track that with the history and character of Darlington.

One might have figured that long-time NASCAR fans would have been rejoicing this week thanks to the reincarnation of Darlington Raceway's legendary Southern 500.

The race -- a staple of NASCAR's top series for 54 years -- was traditionally held every Labor Day weekend at the gritty South Carolina track and produced some of the best-known races of NASCAR's modern-era.

It was a place where drivers made a name for themselves and was a place where legends cemented their status as such in stock car racing.

But in 2004, that all disappeared thanks to a track realignment by the higher-ups in NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation that sent the traditional weekend packing to the West Coast in what has turned into a lame, ill-timed attempt to gain fans in the Los Angeles market.

But now, with ratings dropping in 2007, attendance dropping in 2008, growth slowing, and sponsorship troubles occurring thanks to NASCAR being a tourism-based industry that has likely overpriced itself, the legendary Southern 500 at "The Lady in Black" is returning in a much different form -- with lights and in May.

Have you ever seen a more blatant exploitation of tradition?

In case you missed last Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 400 at Darlington Raceway, Greg Biffle was fully dominating the first half of the Mother's Day weekend Sprint Cup event.

After sitting on the pole, Biffle led 95 laps -- the second-most to race winner Kyle Busch -- before being relegated to finish of 43rd due to a broken timing belt. Upon exiting, Biffle was nothing short of heated with the performance put forth by the efforts of his Roush Fenway Racing team.

"It is really frustrating, but, you know what, I've just come accustomed to expecting it because it's just week after week it's something. Something breaks. Something falls off. We've got wheels loose. We had wheels loose twice tonight," said Biffle.

Biffle has become so used to his problems in 2008 -- like these myriad of issues at Texas -- that it's obviously starting to drain on the driver who's up for a new contract after this season. In other words, could greener pastures be on Biffle's horizon?

The FanHouse spoke of this possibility last year, but now more than ever, Biffle seems to putting himself in line to leave the security blanket of racing known as Roush Fenway Racing. Remember, just one week prior to Darlington, Biffle said that he wasn't talking to other teams, and he's told the media that he was 90% sure he'd be back with Roush.

So what's with the harsh words, then?

Jeff Gordon ran a very respectable third on Saturday night in the Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.

The only problem, though, was that Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch was much, much faster and cruised away with the win for the third time in 2008 to tie Carl Edwards for the most this year.

It was Gordon's highest finish since his third-place result at California in February and showed that the extensive testing work that Hendrick Motorsports' teams have combined to do has started to pay some dividends for the new race car.

It still, in Gordon's mind, wasn't enough:

"I wish I wasn't so darn competitive because you have no idea," said Gordon. "I am happy that we have a top-five and we are third, but also how frustrated I am because of how far off we are from winning races right now. We did the tire test here at Darlington and the No. 18 just kicked everybody's tails tonight."

Tails kicked, indeed.

Four of the 2008 season's first 11 races have gone to Joe Gibbs Racing and just one to Hendrick by way of Jimmie Johnson's win at Phoenix. Stats like that are a far cry from 2007 when Hendrick picked up seven wins up this point a year ago.

What: Dodge Challenger 500
Where: Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C.
When: Saturday May 10 (Green Flag Approx. 7:20pm/ET)
Distance: 367 laps, 501.3 miles
Weather: Sunny, then isolated showers after 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 60. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
2007 Winner: Jeff Gordon
Predictions: Keep Reading






Say Hello to the Lady - This will be Darlington Raceway's 58th consecutive year of hosting a NASCAR race after it all began when Harold Brasington decided that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn't the only place in the world race fans would go to.