We’ve arrived at Throwback Weekend a little earlier than we have been in recent years, ready for 400 miles at the Track Too Tough To Tame! The walls are already covered in rubber and paint from Practice; who can best the Lady in Black today?
Here’s what to look for:
–William Byron will start 1st today. He’s throwing it back to Jeff Gordon with today’s paint scheme, another driver of the #24 who has had some pretty good success in NASCAR. This isn’t his best track (16.0 average finish over his last ten), but he had a streak of four Top 10s before 30th in September.
–Brad Keselowski was our winner last year, the final of a quartet of “7th or better” finishes for him. He fell to 14th in the, uh, Fall, but has been pictured a lot already this weekend during Practice and Qualifying. Today he’ll start 20th and will have a little work to do.
–Chase Briscoe took the checkers last Fall, our most recent victor on this egg-shaped track. While his last two results are that Win and a 5th, he doesn’t really have much to write home about beyond that. Can he keep the trend going today, or does he throw it back to not-so-favorable finishes?
–Denny Hamlin has 4 Wins here, including two over the last ten attempts (9.2 average finish in that span). He’s also got twelve Top 10s over his last 16 starts. Pretty, pretty, pretty good numbers.
-And we’ve gotta show this one: “You don’t get that paint job to LOSE” I’m told by a good friend of mine, and he’s got a point! Kyle Larson will be rockin’ Terry Labonte’s Frosted Flakes scheme from the early 2000s. The biggest headline attached to Larson today, however, is that he has new pit crew from Justin Haley’s #7. How will that team mesh, and can they get it done today? Larson rolls off 19th.
Coverage of the Darlington race starts on FS1 at 3:00pm, green flag scheduled for 3:12pm.
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