Yahoo! Qualification Story – Darlington

Three drivers broke last year's track record and that increase in speed is part of the reason why this track has become so tricky this year. Statistically, your best choices will come from drivers starting near the font; check out this week's Yahoo! qualification story to find out who they are.

Play Yahoo! fantasy racing

More Cup newsbreakers

Darlington Raceway: 50th Anniversary

Darlington Stripes

"The Lady in Black" continues to be "Too Tough to Tame" and the first Darlington stripe came barely five minutes into the first session. According to @NASCAR, Joey Logano was the first driver to get a stripe.
 
Our View Here is a ongoing list of who has scraped the wall so far:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (backup) and then he striped the backup as well. Practice 1
Clint Bowyer (backup) Practice 1
Scott Speed (backup) Practice 1
Greg Biffle (backup) Happy Hour
Joe Nemechek, hard crash (backup) Happy Hour
Casey Mears, hard crash (backup) Happy Hour
Marcos Ambrose, crash (backup) Happy Hour

Joey Logano Practice 1
Travis Kvapil Practice 1
Jamie McMurray Practice 1
Kyle Busch Happy Hour and qualification

Juan Montoya, very slight Practice 1
Kurt Busch, spin without contact Happy Hour

Darlington International Raceway 1950-1967



Darlington Raceway: 50th Anniversary

Johnson wins Darlington Happy Hour

Jimmie Johnson had only the seventh fastest single lap in Darlington's Happy Hour, but he was quickest over the long run with a speed of 175.316 mph during 11 laps.

Our View With six top-fives in the last eight Darlington starts—including a sweep of victory lane in 2004—he has to be one of the favorites to win the Showtime Southern 500.

Most importantly, he kept from hitting the wall, which is something 13 other drivers could not report. For a complete list of drivers involved in incidents in the combined practice sessions, check out Darlington Stripes, a rolling list of drivers who have made contact with the wall this weekend.

Play Yahoo! fantasy racing

More Cup newsbreakers

McMurray fastest in Darlington Happy Hour

Jamie McMurray slapped the wall late in the first practice session, but he apparently got the car repaired; he posted the fastest single lap in Happy Hour practice with a speed of 178.064 mph.

Our View His average speed of 171.089 mph during 24 laps wasn't too bad and it ranked him ninth among drivers in the top 35 in owner points.

For a complete list of drivers who hit the wall in the combined practice sessions, check out Darlington Stripes, a rolling list of drivers who have made contact with the wall this weekend.

Play Yahoo! fantasy racing

More Cup newsbreakers

Allmendinger wins Darlington's first practice

#NASCAR |
#FantasyRacing |
#Southern500 |
@TooToughToTame |

A.J. Allmendinger posted the fastest single lap of the first practice session with a speed of 173.271 mph. He also posted the quickest average speed among drivers inside the top 35 in points with a mark of 170.542 mph during 34 laps.

Our View Most importantly, he avoided the wall and was not one of the seven drivers who suffered a Darlington stripe. For a complete list of these drivers, check out Darlington Stripes, a rolling list of drivers who have made contact with the wall this weekend.

Play Yahoo! fantasy racing

More Cup newsbreakers

Truex spends most time in Darlington top five

Martin Truex Jr. spent the most laps among the top five at Darlington, with 235 of 367 laps at the very top of the field. Tony Stewart (214), Ryan Newman (190), Greg Biffle (180) and Kasey Kahne (162) rounded out the top five.

Our View: This data is approximate and based on NASCAR.com's TrackPass, but it is a good gauge of who showed the greatest strength. Put their name in a reminder file for next year's Southern 500.

Keselowski earns respect

Brad Keselowski earned a Darlington stripe or two last weekend, but more importantly, he earned veterans' respect, according to NASCAR.com.

Our View: Rookie success is not unheard of at Darlington, but it is certainly uncommon. After winning Talladega and then finishing in the top 10 at Darlington in consecutive attempts, Keselowski can pretty much write his on ticket among mid-range teams.

Bowyer's streak ends at 83

Clint Bowyer came up one race shy of tying Herman Beam's long-standing record of 84 races in which he was running at the end. On lap 221 of the 367 that make up the Southern 500, he bounced off the wall and was turned into the inside retaining wall. The damage was too great to overcome.

Our View: In some ways, this was karma. Two weeks ago at Talladega, the team waited until two laps remaining to get his crash damaged Chevrolet back on track—most likely because it would not have been capable of meeting NASCAR's minimum speed requirement in that race.

Gordon extends top-five streak

Jeff Gordon extended his top-five streak to six consecutive races, although he overcame long odds en route.

Our View: Gordon was forced to pit on lap 101 when he felt a vibration in his wheel. After that, he circled the track a lap off the pace for more than 110 circuits before getting NASCAR's "Free Pass." He stormed to the front as soon as he was back with the leaders and eventually finished fourth.

Darlington's rapid rookies

Rookies are not supposed to run strong at Darlington and everyone waited for Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano to stumble in the Southern 500. When the checkers waved, however, both of them were in the top 10. Keselowski finished seventh and Logano was ninth.

Our View: It's time to be cautiously optimistic about starting the rookies, especially now that we are closing in on the second half of the season.

Southern 500 Results

Hendrick Motorsports dominated the top five. In addition to Mark Martin winning the race, Jimmie Johnson finishing second and Jeff Gordon in fifth, their engines were in the Stewart-Haas cars raced by Tony Stewart in third and Ryan Newman in fifth. Another HMS driver, Brad Keselowski finished seventh.

Results

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Avg. Fin at track
1	12	Mark Martin	367	46	Running	12.00
2	42	Jimmie Johnson	367	2	Running	6.91
3	18	Tony Stewart	367	1	Running	11.94
4	3	Ryan Newman	367	48	Running	12.45
5	2	Jeff Gordon	367	6	Running	11.28
6	16	Martin Truex Jr	367	61	Running	11.25
7	31	Brad Keselowski	367		Running
8	11	Greg Biffle	367	117	Running	14.00
9	5	Joey Logano	367	19	Running
10	1	Matt Kenseth	367	16	Running	18.00
11	24	Kevin Harvick	367		Running	20.08
12	6	Jeff Burton	367		Running	11.48
13	23	Denny Hamlin	367		Running	8.00
14	19	Elliott Sadler	367	2	Running	18.65
15	40	Paul Menard	367		Running	27.33
16	8	Kurt Busch	367		Running	17.46
17	38	A J Allmendinger	367		Running	26.67
18	27	Bobby Labonte	367	2	Running	15.24
19	41	Reed Sorenson	367		Running	25.50
20	25	Juan Montoya	367		Running	22.00
21	29	Regan Smith	367		Running	25.00
22	20	Jamie McMurray	367		Running	16.44
23	7	Kasey Kahne	366	45	Running	15.29
24	34	David Stremme	366		Running	27.67
25	39	Tony Raines	364		Running	33.67
26	32	Scott Speed *	362		Running
27	26	Dale Earnhardt Jr	360		Running	15.07
28	28	Robby Gordon	353		Running	25.07
29	21	David Reutimann	347		Running	27.00
30	4	Sam Hornish Jr	344		Running	34.00
31	35	Brian Vickers	333		Accident	28.57
32	9	Carl Edwards	314		Running	15.67
33	10	Marcos Ambrose	312		Running
34	14	Kyle Busch	303	2	Running	20.40
35	22	Max Papis	302		Running
36	13	Casey Mears	238		Running	30.22
37	17	Clint Bowyer	221		Accident	21.00
38	15	David Ragan	199		Accident	23.33
39	37	Scott Riggs	101		Quit	29.67
40	36	Michael Waltrip	73		Engine	22.44
41	33	Dave Blaney	56		Quit	24.38
42	43	Sterling Marlin	38		Quit	18.91
43	30	David Gilliland	27		Fuel Pump	31.00
44		Jeremy Mayfield	0		Did Not Qualify	19.91
45		Scott Speed *	0		Did Not Qualify
	32	Joe Nemechek	0		Did Not Start	24.38

* Speed failed to qualify, and then worked out a deal to race Joe Nemechek's car, so he's listed twice in this week's results.

Stewart-Haas sweep top five again

Stewart-Haas Racing placed both Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman in the top five for the second straight week. Tony Stewart finished third and Ryan Newman was fourth.

Our View: Last week, Stewart was second at Richmond and Newman was fourth. These two tracks could not be any more dissimilar, and that underscores just how strong Stewart-Haas is this year. It's only a matter of time until they win, so fantasy owners should treat them both as place-and-hold drivers.

Hendrick dominates Darlington

Hendrick Motorsports dominated Darlington. In addition to Mark Martin's victory in the Southern 500, Jimmie Johnson finished second, Jeff Gordon was fifth and rookie Brad Keselowski was seventh. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running in the top 10 until he hit the wall late in the race.

Our View: There are horses for courses and HMS is one of the best values on nearly any track, and a rough-surface track brings the cream to the top.

Martin wins Southern 500

The "Old Man" did it again. Mark Martin stayed out during a lap 319 caution flag and held the field at bay on old tires and very little fuel to win his second race of 2009.

Our View: Rick Hendrick lured him into the No. 5 with promises that he could win and challenge for the championship. Looks like he was right.

Pit stall selections

Jayski.com has published the pit stall selection for the Southern 500.

Our View: As expected, pole sitter Matt Kenseth took the pit closest to pit exit. Jeff Gordon selected the final pit in the front group, with an opening behind him. Ryan Newman, Joey Logano and Marcos Ambrose are the remaining drivers with an opening in front of them.

Speed to replace Nemechek

Scott Speed will replace Joe Nemechek in the No. 87 car, which will allow him to start the Southern 500 after failing to qualify on Friday, according to a Tweet from Dustin Long.

Our View: Part of Nemechek's stable of cars are some on Red Bull Racing Toyotas, so Speed should be right at home.

Southern 500 Starting Grid

Starting position is critical to running well at Darlington and a race has been won from the front row there 33 percent of the time. Matt Kenseth blistered the asphalt with a new track record, but the biggest news is that he bettered his average start by more than 20 positions.

Jeff Gordon has the best average start among Saturday's starters with a 6.76, and he padded that with his outside pole run.

Starting Grid

Start	Driver	Avg. Start at Track
1	Matt Kenseth	21.38
2	Jeff Gordon	6.76
3	Ryan Newman	9.00
4	Sam Hornish Jr	13.50
5	Joey Logano
6	Jeff Burton	21.30
7	Kasey Kahne	10.00
8	Kurt Busch	11.23
9	Carl Edwards	15.00
10	Marcos Ambrose
11	Greg Biffle	8.22
12	Mark Martin	13.07
13	Casey Mears	19.56
14	Kyle Busch	18.20
15	David Ragan	18.00
16	Martin Truex Jr	25.50
17	Clint Bowyer	14.75
18	Tony Stewart	17.18
19	Elliott Sadler	11.41
20	Jamie McMurray	16.00
21	David Reutimann	21.67
22	Max Papis
23	Denny Hamlin	14.00
24	Kevin Harvick	16.23
25	Juan Montoya	28.33
26	Dale Earnhardt Jr	15.87
27	Bobby Labonte	15.69
28	Robby Gordon	30.86
29	Regan Smith	22.50
30	David Gilliland	33.67
31	Brad Keselowski
32	Joe Nemechek	25.48
33	Dave Blaney	22.54
34	David Stremme	22.67
35	Brian Vickers	20.86
36	Michael Waltrip	23.19
37	Scott Riggs	23.50
38	A J Allmendinger	28.00
39	Tony Raines	38.00
40	Paul Menard	34.67
41	Reed Sorenson	28.00
42	Jimmie Johnson	12.00
43	Sterling Marlin	15.74

Yahoo! qualification story

After two wild practice sessions and an equally dramatic time in qualification, it's hard to find a favorite this week. Here are our best guesses: check out this week's Yahoo! qualification story (.pdf).

Matt Kenseth may be the only truly happy driver on Friday night; he set a new track record and sits on the pole.

Kenseth breaks track record, on Darlington pole

Matt Kenseth earned the Darlington in fine fashion. He eclipsed Greg Biffle's mark of 179.442 set last year and earned a rare pole.

Our View: Kenseth is not known as a strong qualifier, but when he starts up front, he is hard to beat. With a smooth driving style, he has to be considered one of this week's favorites.

Happy Hour stripes

Here is a partial list of the cars that received stripes in Darlington's Happy Hour:

In Happy Hour:

Sam Hornish Jr. scraped the wall and spun
David Stremme slammed the wall; into backup
Denny Hamlin got a light stripe
Max Papis striped his car
Greg Biffle striped his car
A.J. Allmendinger striped his car
Scott Speed got another stripe
Reed Sorenson changed an engine
Bobby Labonte striped his car
Marcos Ambrose big stripe (backup?)