Darlington Raceway

The Race: Dodge Challenger 500
The Date: Saturday, May 10
The Time: 7:20 p.m. (ET)
The Track: 1.366-mile oval
The Distance: 501 miles/367 laps
TV: FOX, 7 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, SIRIUS Satellite Radio

2007 Winner: Jeff Gordon
2007 Polesitter: Clint Bowyer

2008  Driver  Points

1 Kyle Busch             1,495
2 Jeff Burton             1,477
3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.   1,391
4 Clint Bowyer           1,372
5 Kevin Harvick         1,350
6 Denny Hamlin        1,349
7 Jimmie Johnson     1,318
8 Tony Stewart          1,297
9 Greg Biffle             1,269
10 Carl Edwards        1,230
11 Ryan Newman      1,212
12 Kasey Kahne        1,162

RCR Heads Into Darlington With All Three Drivers In The Top Five

Richard Childress Racing’s trio of drivers dominate this week’s top five in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. And, with RCR claiming eight wins at Darlington Raceway over the years, the outlook for that organization is looking up as the series travels to the track deemed “Too Tough to Tame” for the Dodge 500 this Saturday night (FOX, 7 p.m. ET).

Clint Bowyer’s (No. 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet) win at Richmond International Raceway last week moved him up from seventh to fourth in the standings. Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet), the points leader for the previous four weeks, moved down a spot to second, while Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) climbed a spot to fifth.

Bowyer and Burton (Bristol) have each posted wins this year. The three have combined to tally 18 top-10 and eight top-five finishes. Team owner Richard Childress likes the chemistry the three teams are displaying.

“I think it shows the consistency and teamwork we’re working with at RCR right now,” said Childress. “Everyone is trying to be the most competitive they can be and hopefully, have a run at The Chase and the championship. All three teams and all three drivers still have areas to improve on. We’re not resting on what we’ve accomplished at all but it is good knowing we have things headed in the right direction at this point in the season.”

Kyle Busch New Points Leader; Boasts Series-Best Driver Rating

For the second time this season, Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s/Indiana Jones Toyota) sits atop the championship point standings. Busch’s second-place showing last Saturday at Richmond marked his sixth top-five finish of the season. Busch’s 109.4 Driver Rating is best among all series drivers, as is his Average Running Position of 9.0. The Driver Rating, a formula combining a number of Loop Data statistics, gives a clear description of how a driver’s season, or race, has played out.

The 23-year-old has been described by many as a “throwback” driver, as his propensity to drive the wheels off of anything he can plus his competitive demeanor on the race track has propelled him to center stage at this point of the NASCAR racing season. He heads into this week end’s action with seven victories spread across all three of NASCAR’s major series —two in NASCAR Sprint Cup, three in NASCAR Nationwide Series, and two in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Following his on-track tangle with Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet) in the closing laps of Saturday’s race at Richmond, Busch matter-of-factly said “it was just, good hard racing.”

"I mean, if I went out there on that final restart and just gave way to the No. 88 (Earnhardt Jr.), then that wouldn't be a true race car driver," Busch said. "So, you know, I had to do what I had to do to win for my team, to win for (my sponsors). You know, unfortunately circumstances happened."

Kyle Busch/Dale Earnhardt Jr. Rank 1-2 In Driver Rating

Call it the “tap heard ‘round the world.”

When Kyle Busch nudged the drivers’ side door of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond Saturday night, a rivalry was born — and statistics say it’s between the two strongest drivers in the series. Busch and Earnhardt rank first and second in the season-to-date Driver Rating. Busch leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in Driver Rating with a 109.4; Earnhardt is close behind with a 108.7 (a perfect Driver Rating is 150.0). The Driver Rating, a formula combing a number of Loop Data statistics, gives a clear description of how a driver’s season, or race, has played out. During last Friday’s at-track news conferences, Jeff Burton talked about the usefulness of Driver Rating. “We’ve run well this year,” said Burton.

“We haven’t run great this year, but we’ve run really well. If you look at the key components that we look at … the Driver Rating is a pretty smart statistic to look at. If you look at the number of laps that we’ve run in the top 10, the number of quality passes that we’ve had, all of those kind of things, obviously we’re a top-five, top-six, top-seven car. We’ve had less trouble than other people have had and therefore we’re leading the points.”

For this weekend’s race at Darlington, the Driver Rating, and many other Loop Data statistics, suggest a heated battle between another two drivers—Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) and Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge). To the victor goes a top-12 spot. Gordon, in 13th place in the standings, is just six points behind 12th-place Kahne. They are neck- and-neck in a number of statistical categories over the past three Darlington races, with Gordon often holding the edge:

Driver Rating: Gordon leads Kahne 114.7 to 97.8

Average Running Position: Gordon leads Kahne 6.4 to 10.6

Fastest Laps Run: Kahne leads Gordon 55 to 50

Laps in the Top 15: Gordon leads Kahne 1,091 to 802

If those stats continue, Gordon, who has a win and two runner-up finishes over the last three Darlington races, could join the top 12 at race’s end.

Darlington Raceway Features Repave And Other Improvements

Darlington Raceway, a.k.a. the track “Too Tough to Tame,” has undergone a $10 million facelift, the largest one-time investment in the storied 50-year history of the 1.366-mile raceway. Among the enhancements include: a new racing surface; addition of SAFER barrier walls to the interior frontstretch and backstretch concrete walls and extending the length of each pit box by one foot. The addition of a new infield access tunnel in Turn 3 also provided emergency and safety vehicles easy access in and out of the infield area of the race track.

Three veteran NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers — Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford) and Ryan Newman (No. 12 Alltel Dodge) — participated in a pair of Goodyear tire tests in March at Darlington. Gordon is a seven-time winner at Darlington and Biffle has won twice there. All three drivers came away impressed with the new racing surface.

“The basic transitions, the banking and walls haven’t changed,” said Gordon. “The bumps are gone, the grip level is high and it’s awesome; they did a great job.”

Biffle, who won back to back races at Darlington from 2005-06, says “I’m happy with the new surface; there aren’t any bumps or dips that we noticed; I was pretty impressed with how smooth it was.”