iNSIDE SCOOP: Eternal Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Darlington Raceway is, for stock car fans, as steeped in history as Indianapolis is for open-wheel people.

It’s deserved, too. The place just oozes history. On the short walk from the TV compound to the garage, you pass through the same tunnel that Richard Petty, David Pearson and Johnny Mantz drove through all those years. It isn’t a showplace, but it’s recognizable for all its history.

The racing, as good as it was then, is probably even better now. The Nationwide Series event last night was a barnburner. Chase Elliott looked more like an Earnhardt coming through the field in the final laps than he did his famous dad, though Bill was a wheelman of note as well.

It was, in a word, magical. Elliott restarted sixth and passed Elliott Sadler  coming of Turn 4 headed for the checkered. He had fresh tires, but so did Kyle Busch. He beat Kyle Busch. Again.

That’s something in this day and age. Busch is the mack daddy of the Nationwide Series, with 65 career victories. That’s a ton, and he wins about every other one he races in. He’s lost the last two to Elliott, and it might be a trend that’s growing.

Darlington had a lot to do with the turnout of the race, I’m thinking. It’s an odd place, egg-shaped and all the racing takes place in the top two lanes. Nobody runs the bottom.

Elliott made the winning pass on the outside, which is odd given how the usual racing goes.

This place is just…Darlington. There’s no other like it, and the way things are in the track building business, there won’t ever be again. It’s got good banking, but it is designed for cars a lot bigger and heavier than these we race today. The driver’s back off just past the last main straight stand and some don’t pick up the gas until the middle of one and two. Others breathe the throttle and just blast on through.

Kyle Larson wadded up a primary Cup car in practice and crashed his car in Nationwide qualifying. He started 38^th and was on a tear from the green. He picked up 24 spots in about 25 laps, and was second when the final green waved. He took two on the final stop and that meant he had nothing for Elliott when it counted. He finished fourth.

He had never seen the place until Thursday.

You either love Darlington or you hate it with a purple passion. Apparently, Larson loved it. Elliott too had not raced here before this weekend, but he’d seen it with his father many times.

Bill was on the radio during the race and was just standing in the pit taking it all in. He won the Winston Million here in 1985, so he’s been here and done that, but seeing his kid win in his first shot at The Lady in Black was “insane,” he said.

Long live Darlington, and I pity the fool who tinkers with the place beyond any but the most superficial of changes.