The Sprint Cup Series will stage a second consecutive Saturday night race this weekend when they hit the track at Darlington Raceway for the Showtime Southern 500.
Kyle Busch won the Sprint Cup Series’ last race, the Heath Calhoun 400 at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday. Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Carl Edwards followed Busch across the finish line in that event.
Juan Montoya was sixth at Richmond, with Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose, and Jimmie Johnson rounding out the day’s Top 10.
Johnson’s 10th-place finish at Richmond dropped him out of top spot in the driver standings; he now trails Harvick by 10 points on that list. Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Greg Biffle make up the rest of the Top 5 in the current standings.
Mark Martin took the checkered flag in the Southern 500 at Darlington last season; the veteran driver also won the Mountain Dew 500 at the track way back in 1993. Gordon is the active leader in Cup wins at Darlington with seven, most recently in 2007.
Johnson, Burton, and Biffle each have two career Cup wins at Darlington Raceway, while Busch won the Dodge Challenger 500 on the track in the 2008 season.
After competing in the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway the drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will move on to Dover International Speedway, where they’ll race in the Autism Speaks 400 on Sunday, May 16.
