2017 Darlington - Bojangles' Southern 500 - Pre Race Thread

TIRE CODES

Tire: Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials

Set limits: Cup:
4 sets for practice, 1 set for qualifying and 12 sets for the race;
Xfinity: 7 sets for the event

Tire Codes:
Left-side -- D-4728; Right-side -- D-4742

Tire Circumference:
Left-side -- 87.24 in. (2,216 mm); Right-side -- 88.58 in. (2,250 mm)

Minimum Recommended Inflation:
Left Front -- 19 psi; Left Rear - 19 psi;
Right Front -- 52 psi; Right Rear -- 48 psi

Storyline - Tire Management Back in Play at Darlington: Before it was repaved for the 2008 season, the track surface at Darlington Raceway was one of the most abrasive on the NASCAR circuit. It has taken several years, but the high tire wear element of the track has returned. Fall off will be more than three seconds per lap over the course of a full fuel run. That means tire management will be a major factor in the race, and those drivers who are easy on their tires early in a run will make up for it later. That will mean more "comers" and "goers" throughout the field and lead to more exciting racing. It also means that with 12 race sets of tires and teams pitting almost every chance they get, the team element of the sport will come more into play as pit stops will directly impact track position and, ultimately, the finishing order.

"While Darlington has hosted 'throwback' weekends over the past several seasons, the track surface is becoming a bit of a throwback as well," said Greg Stucker. "Traditionally, Darlington was always known for having one of the most abrasive track surfaces on the circuit. After its repave in 2007, that feature went away, but has come back into play a little more each year. A track surface that wears tires always leads to good racing and, this weekend, tire management will be a key element in the race."

Notes: Teams in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series will run the same tire set-up at Darlington this weekend . . . this is the first time either of these two Goodyear tire codes will be run . . . for the Cup cars, compared to last year, the primary change is to the right-side construction, which has been updated to align with what is run at other speedways . . . the Xfinity cars, which ran a multi-zone tread right-side at Darlington in 2016, are on a single zone right-side that features the same compound as the one run on the outboard 10 inches last year . . . in addition for Xfinity teams, this left-side features a compound change to give the cars more grip vs. what was run last season . . . this tire set-up came out of a Goodyear test at Darlington on July 18 . . . drivers that participated in that test were Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson and Ryan Newman . . . as on all NASCAR ovals greater than one mile in length, teams are required to run inner liners in all four tire positions at Darlington . . . air pressure in those inner liners should be 12-25 psi greater than that of the outer tire.

Throwback Tires: In support of Darlington's throwback initiative, the tires run at this weekend's races will feature different sidewall markings . . . replacing the yellow Goodyear Eagle lettering that became standard in 1992 is a white, stencil-look design that harkens back to the 1980s.
 
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being a big Rusty Fan I want Brad to win sunday night be awesome to see that black and gold mgd car back in victory lane.
 
Leaning the house tomorrow about 10. Beer is iced down in the cooler, 2lbs of deer burger is being thawed out, sipping on a stiff fireball and Mountain Dew. Bring it on lady in black.


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Darlington "Throwback" theme is genius.

NASCAR makes more sense if you know and understand its history. I'm thoroughly enjoying the respectful and humorous coverage of past characters, cars, and events leading up to the Cup race.
 
Stacy said:
Darlington "Throwback" theme is genius.

NASCAR makes more sense if you know and understand its history. I'm thoroughly enjoying the respectful and humorous coverage of past characters, cars, and events leading up to the Cup race.
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Wow, I actually agree with you on something.
The throwback schemes are awesome.
 
Good to see some of the past greats at the track, I think they should have more of the retired stars of the series highlighted all year long.
 
Stacy said:
Darlington "Throwback" theme is genius.

NASCAR makes more sense if you know and understand its history. I'm thoroughly enjoying the respectful and humorous coverage of past characters, cars, and events leading up to the Cup race.
Click to expand...


Brendan Gaughan was close to tears yesterday talking about how William Byron looks like a spitting image of Ricky Hendrick, especially with Ricky's livery on the 9 yesterday.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
I think that just once a year makes it more special --- something to look forward to.
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not me, I think they should have a small feature about a retired driver every race. What the are up to, or talking about a racing deal at a track. Pretty tired of watching the same re run of Daytona when it rains.
 
F****** women


Running about 2 1/2 hours behind but got about an hour drive to the track and it's party time


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My little great nephew, will be 5 in December, had a great experience yesterday at the track. His pawpaw was with him standing behind a fence watching the cars go through tech. An official came over and got them. He showed 'little man' the lights, told him 2 green lights is good, red is bad. So nephew is watching the lights to let everyone know the results. Green lights came on and he shouts "Green lights! It's good!" :)
 
Pat said:
My little great nephew, will be 5 in December, had a great experience yesterday at the track. His pawpaw was with him standing behind a fence watching the cars go through tech. An official came over and got them. He showed 'little man' the lights, told him 2 green lights is good, red is bad. So nephew is watching the lights to let everyone know the results. Green lights came on and he shouts "Green lights! It's good!" :)
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Awesome story and experience for him
 
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Showing up at Darlington without a throwback scheme is like showing up at a Halloween party without a costume...Dale Jr.
 
18 wins again today. The Toyotas have owned cup since 2015. Cant wait for playoffs to start when everyone starts bringing their best stuff to the track
 
Pre-race segment with Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin in the retro cars was top notch.

Gotta love Petty and Jarrett in the Miami Vice get-ups.
 
pjmolo said:
Pre-race segment with Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin in the retro cars was top notch.

Gotta love Petty and Jarrett in the Miami Vice get-ups.
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Yep
 
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