500: ‘You have to be a jerk everywhere’ to succeed
DARLINGTON, S.C. --Speeds at Darlington Raceway this weekend are stupid fast.
On a track built in 1950 for speeds less than 100 mph, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers pushed past the 170mph mark in practice for Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500. In the past 10 years, speeds have climbed about 10 mph.
This dynamic comes into play most noticeably in Darlington’s Turn 2, one of the fastest and tightest turns in major league auto racing. At the green flag and on restarts, it’s reasonable to ask if every car that enters the turn also will exit.
“As fast as we’re running here now, Turn 2 is one of the fastest corners in racing,” Jamie McMurray said.
“When you get wide open into two and you’re up on the wall and you start pulling it off the wall and trying to get your left front on the apron, that’s about as fast a sensation of speed as we have in our sport. You’re bouncing, you can’t see and you’re not sure if the tires are going to stick.”
McMurray said Darlington restarts are all about the drivers who are your neighbors.
“When you’re on the outside, you look at who’s on the inside and the history of that person,” he said. “I’m not going to say anyone’s name, but we all know the people who typically would get in trouble in that position and how hard you can race them. And, vice versa, you know people that tend to hug quarter panels.
“If I’m on the bottom, I try to get on the (inside) apron all the way around Turn 2 just to give that person and myself more room. Because here once it starts sliding, it’s basically over with. And we see a lot of wrecks over there.”
Martin Truex Jr., who is on target to lock up the series’ regular-season championship in Sunday’s race, agrees with McMurray’s assessment. Darlington is a track where cooperation can be important, but often is ignored, he said.
“You have to be a jerk everywhere,” Truex said. “You try to give and take, but most guys just take, and it depends on the situation you’re in.
“If you have a spot where you need two or three inches to clear a guy, it’s kind of a gentleman’s agreement on a restart that most people give you that two or three inches or six inches, but if it’s more than that you’re going to stick it in there and you’re going to stay on the gas and hopefully not wreck.
“You know who you’re racing with, and some guys have certain tendencies and you know there’s certain guys where you can stick it out there and certain guys you probably shouldn’t.”
For 500 miles of bad road in one of the roughest races of the season, that’s a lot of interaction and quick-response thinking about which fender goes where.
For Truex, Darlington can be the topper in what has been a fine regular season. He leads the series in wins (four), stage wins (15) and top 10s (16) and will go into the playoffs with at least 35 playoff points, 15 more than current secondplace driver Kyle Busch.
Plus, he’ll receive 15 playoff points for winning the regular season, a title he virtually has in his pocket. After Saturday qualifying; race Sunday At Darlington Raceway Darlington, S.C. Lap length: 1.366 miles (Car number in parentheses) 1. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 177.730. 2. (78) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 177.077 mph. 3. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 176.682. 4. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 176.568. 5. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 176.422. 6. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 176.107. 7. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford, 176.037. 8. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 176.006. 9. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 175.918. 10. (77) Erik Jones, Toyota, 175.403. 11. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 175.372. 12. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 175.022. 13. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 175.830. 14. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 175.391. 15. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 175.328. 16. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 175.291. 17. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 175.060. 18. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 175.022. 19. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 174.948. 20. (24) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 174.910. 21. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 174.662. 22. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 174.618. 23. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 174.007. 24. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 173.712. 25. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 174.804. 26. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 174.718. 27. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 174.556. 28. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 174.482. 29. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 173.761. 30. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 173.705. 31. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 172.978. 32. (15) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 171.824. 33. (10) Danica Patrick, Ford, 171.758. 34. (72) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 171.458. 35. (23) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 171.441. 36. (83) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 170.958. 37. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 170.301. 38. (55) Derrike Cope, Toyota, 167.425. 39. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 166.326. 40. (66) Carl Long, Chevrolet, 165.592.