iNSIDE SCOOP: Unique Tracks Have the Best Racing

All you had to do was watch 10 laps of the Bojangles Southern 500 on Saturday night to realize that diversity is truly the hallmark of success.

At least, it is when you’re talking about race tracks and NASCAR.

Think about the races we’ve seen so far this year. Daytona, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Bristol, Auto Club, Martinsville, Texas and Darlington are the tracks. Daytona is a 2.5-mile tri-oval, Phoenix a little-less-than-a-mile short oval.  LVMS is a 1.5-mile tri-oval, Bristol a true bullring at .533 miles, Auto Club a big honking 2-miler, Martinsville a flat .526 paperclip and Texas is a 1.5-mile D-shaped oval.

And then there’s Darlington. It’s 1.366 miles around and more egg-shaped than oval. It’s the first superspeedway, too, a big, wide scary place where the men are men and the rest are laps down.

In my opinion, the best racing we’ve had all year has been at Bristol, Martinsville…and Darlington.

In addition to being three of the oldest tracks on the circuit, they’re also unique in their characteristics. Bristol is all banking and bravado. Martinsville is about brakes and the bottom groove. Darlington? It’s about stones.

The racing takes place mostly within 20 feet of the wall all the way around. You can pass on the low side, but you better make it stick or you’re either in the wall or at the back. The closer you get to the wall and the more momentum you keep, the better off you are.

The place was built for much larger cars, and they weren’t going near as fast. It’s a big ol’ wide track with a lot of room, but all they ever use is the top 20 feet…unless they’re crashing, and then it’s wide open.

The point I’m trying to dance around here is, the best racing is not always on 1.5-mile ovals (D-shaped or tri-oval). It’s on what you call one-off tracks, where there aren’t any like them.

Darlington takes a special skill. So does Bristol and for darn sure so does Martinsville. Richmond is the same kind of thing. It’s about rhythm, strategy and making your stuff last, and it’s about the ability to pass cars when you come on them.

Forget for a moment that Darlington was built in 1950. Forget that the closest thing to entertainment at the place might be in one of the adjacent campgrounds (those Darlington fans can party a little bit!), and that The Big City is Florence.

It’s the House That Harold Built. It’s the first superspeedway and the crown jewel before Daytona came along. It’s everything that NASCAR is about. It’s also a heck of a place for racing, especially with the new cars.

Friday’s Nationwide Series race was fantastic. Green-white-checkered finish came down to 18-year-old Chase Elliott and veteran Elliott Sadler (on two tires). Elliott won by passing on the outside coming off Turn 4 with the checkered waving in the breeze.

On Saturday, Harvick had the fastest car all night, but had to overcome a late restart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win for the second time this year. The late restarts were awesome. There was more pushing and shoving there than at a Miley Cyrus concert.

It was a great night at the Track Too Tough to Tame, and it was great because it was unique.