Darlington Raceway Pre-Race Thread

StandOnIt

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The one-of-a-kind egg shape. The long, sweeping first and second turns that I still want to call turns three and four. They allow so many crossover passes and the cars that can handle will just look like they are eating when they pass a struggling car.
The asphalt grit using up the tires, the Darlington stripe, it is all great stuff. The best.

A driver probably almost always will have to race the track first before worrying about the competition, but it is most apparent at Darlington. The only exceptions might be the road courses.
 

Goodyear Fast Facts — Darlington, Portland​

NASCAR Cup Series teams head to Darlington Raceway for the second time this season, and a largely similar Goodyear Racing Eagle tire setup awaits them.

The right side tire is unchanged compared to the one used in April’s Goodyear 400 and the left side tire is very similar, but has a new tire code due to a minor tread compound update. Goodyear does not anticipate any performance changes around the 1.366-mile oval compared to the previous recommendation. This left side tire has been raced at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while the right side tire has been raced six times this year.

“Returning to Darlington this weekend, we have a very similar Goodyear Racing Eagle tire setup to what was run at the Goodyear 400 in April,” said Justin Fantozzi, Goodyear operations manager for global race tires. “The left side tire features a minor tread compound update designed to deliver equal performance and has been successfully run at other races in 2025.”

NASCAR Cup Series
Race: Cook Out Southern 500 (367 laps / 501.32 miles)
Track: Darlington Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Date/Time: Sunday, August 31, 6 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Tire: Goodyear Racing Eagle

Tire Code: D-5284 left side, D-5222 right side
Previous Usage in 2025: Charlotte; Michigan (LS), Indianapolis (LS); Las Vegas (RS), Homestead-Miami (RS),
Darlington (RS), Texas (RS), Kansas (RS), Nashville (RS)

Tire Circumference: 2,263 mm (89.1 in.) left side, 2,277 (89.6 in.) right side

Recommended Minimum Inflation: LF – 20 psi, RF – 48 psi, LR – 22 psi, RR – 44 psi

Total Sets: 14 (12 new race / 1 qualifying transfer to race / 1 practice)
 
The one-of-a-kind egg shape. The long, sweeping first and second turns that I still want to call turns three and four. They allow so many crossover passes and the cars that can handle will just look like they are eating when they pass a struggling car.
The asphalt grit using up the tires, the Darlington stripe, it is all great stuff. The best.

A driver probably almost always will have to race the track first before worrying about the competition, but it is most apparent at Darlington. The only exceptions might be the road courses.
What I love most about Darlington is how rough it is on tires. You can audibly hear the cars running at a lower tune late in a green flag run. It’s amazing how narrow it is as well, hardly any room out there at all. Also two of the best races I’ve ever seen in person with Hamlin/Larson and Erik Jones’s epic win in the 43

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