NASCAR just completed their first race of the resumption of the 2020 campaign this past Sunday at the Darlington Raceway. Now, in a rare moment, NASCAR is back on the exact same track, just three days later, for a second race.

TRACK: Darlington Raceway (1.366-mile Oval) DISTANCE: 228 Laps – STAGE 1 (Lap 60, STAGE 2 (65 Laps) LAPS, FINAL STAGE 103 LAPS (500km or 311.14 Miles)
WEATHER: RAIN 90%, 76 degrees high, 64 low

Race Info

Coverage – 5 p.m. ET (Race Hub)

Race Coverage – 6 p.m. ET

TV – FS1

Radio – MRN

Screening – 10 am ET

Final Adjustments – 4 pm ET

Drivers To Their Cars – 5:50 pm ET

Invocation – 6:05 pm ET

Anthem – 6:06 pm ET

Command – 6:13 pm ET

Green Flag – 6:25 p.m. ET

Distance – 228 Laps/311.4 Miles

Stage Lengths – 60/65/103

Race Official – Lap 114

Race – 6 of 36

Finally, A Weeknight Race

After a 70 day hiatus, NASCAR finally returned to action on Sunday at the Darlington Raceway. While the race went off without a hitch, it looked entirely different this time around than it did for their last race on March 8 at the ISM Raceway.

No practice. No qualifying. No fans. Limits on crew members, media and track personnel. The TV booth being done back in North Carolina. Social distancing and tons of screening. This was not remotely close to what we saw the last time out in Phoenix.

Now, we’re back for more. The quick turnaround is the quickest in decades. Wednesday night’s race (6 p.m. ET/FS1/MRN) will be the first scheduled Cup Series weeknight race in years.

Yes, the Truck Series has ran weeknight races recently at Eldora and yes we have had weeknight races that were a result of rain outs, but the Cup Series hasn’t scheduled a race for a weeknight in decades.

For years we’ve been wanting this time happen but it never came to fruition. All it took was oddly enough, COVID-19 to make this happen. So, for the first time in decades, NASCAR has a scheduled weekend night race.

Is this a glimpse into the future? Is the cuts in the weekend schedule something we will see more of?

This race will definitely shape the schedule for years down the road. If the race is a hit with large TV ratings, then NASCAR will surely have to take notice and make sure we have even more weeknight races in the future. I mean, without much competition on normal weeknights during the spring/summer, NASCAR has a chance to go outside of their comfort zone in order to fill a need for a major sport on a weeknight. That can eliminate some weekend races off the schedule too, meaning we end much sooner than November.

While I get it could be tough to plan around fans to attend the weeknight races, without fans in the stands again on Wednesday, there was no need for that factor in a decision to try this out.

Wednesday nights success, or even lack there of, could sway which way weeknight races go for the future.

Favorites

Kevin Harvick (+350)

The only guy with a top 10 finish in all five races so far, has seven straight top 10 finishes in Darlington including six of which inside of the top five. He led 63 total laps led with RCR but 677 in just seven tries with SHR including 238 in 2014, 214 in 2016 and 159 more in his win on Sunday.

Brad Keselowski (+750)

Keselowski, won a race at Darlington in 2018 and has four top 10 finishes, three of which being in the top five, in his last six Darlington starts. He’s been a solid top 10 or 11 car so far in 2020 too but faded to 13th in the end on Sunday after leading 80 laps and finishing fifth and first respectively in the two stages.

Chase Elliott (+900)

Elliott, has been really quick so far this year too but his finishes in the four races aren’t indicative on how much speed he really has. Elliott, won three of the first six stages in 2020 including having five top two finishes over the last eight of them. He’s also led the most laps in two of the last four races. But, Elliott was involved in a crash at Daytona and had an issue during the end of the race in Vegas to go along with a loose wheel in Phoenix. The finishes were 17th, 26th and seventh respectively. In Darlington, he won an NXS race there to go along with scoring a fifth place run in 2018 and four top 11 finishes in his last five tries. Elliott, was fourth on Sunday.

Alex Bowman (+900)

This may be among the quickest cars of the season. Bowman, should have won Vegas back in February, won a week later in Fontana and was runner-up two races later at Darlington on Sunday. He had a car capable of winning in the end as he led 41 of 293 laps this past weekend and was basically in the top three or four all day.

Betting long shots

Kurt Busch (+1400)

I also like Kurt Busch (+1400). He has four consecutive top seven finishes at Darlington to go along with five in the last six overall there. He was third two races ago in Fontana and sixth at Phoenix a week later to go along with a third Sunday in Darlington.

Erik Jones (+2000)

He’s in a contract year again and that scenario produced a win the last time out in Darlington. In fact, Jones has finished fifth (2017), eighth (2018), first (2019) and eighth (Sunday) in four tries there.

Jimmie Johnson (+2500)

Johnson (+2000) doesn’t have recent stats at Darlington that are worth batting an eye at, but he is a past winner there. He’s also had a much better start to the season too. He looked stout in Daytona, was fifth in Vegas, seventh in Fontana and 12th in Phoenix. Johnson, was on the verge of winning the first stage on Sunday before making a rare mistake and crashing. The speed is still around.

Tyler Reddick (+6000)

Stranger things have happened. Reddick, loves to rim ride the walls and has had a stout car in each of the last two races. A blown tire while running in the top 10 in the last race before the COVID-19 break cost him a wrecked car. On Sunday, a banner flying onto his car and a pit stop penalty wouldn’t derail him as he came home seventh in the end. He has a top 10 car, why not here?

Darlington 2 Preview

This race will be vastly different than the one we saw on Sunday. No, there’s no practice nor qualifying for this race either, but that’s not what we can take out of this though. Last Sunday’s race had a 70 day layoff between that and the last run race on March 8 at the Phoenix Raceway. This race will see these drivers have just been in competition only three days ago.

Also, the race is 64 laps shorter than the one ran on Sunday in being 500 km in compared to 400 miles which was run on Sunday afternoon. Then, you have the field being set in an inverted lineup instead of the cars being started on Sunday by virtue of a draw between owners points. That in turn has the quick cars from Sunday coming from mid pack on back.

The biggest change? Wednesday’s race is a night race. Sunday’s race run in the heat of the day.

Still, despite all of that, the NASCAR garage believes that the top drivers that we saw on Sunday will remain that way on Wednesday. The drivers in the top five were there for a reason, no matter the circumstances.

“I think definitely the teams that were good today are going to be good on Wednesday night,” said second place finisher Alex Bowman. “The track is going to be a little different, probably a little more rubbered up. It’s definitely going to be different.  The invert and everything is going to be quite a bit different. I (do) think the guys that were good are going to be good again.  The invert might help some guys in clean air that we didn’t see this week.”

Harvick dominated on the 1.366-mile South Carolina race track on Sunday — again. He’s finished in the top 10 in literally every race run this season as well as all seven times at the Lady in Black since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. He’s also led 677 laps in those seven starts too — including 159 of which in a dominating win on Sunday.

Kurt Busch finished third for his fourth straight top seven result at Darlington and third straight top seven on the season.

Chase Elliott has won an Xfinity Series race at Darlington in the past to go along with two top five finishes now in his last three Cup Series starts there. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five after scoring his fifth top 10 in his last six tries.

Look for the top 10 in the finishing order to be near there again on Wednesday.

That would be good for Toyota to get top 10’s again, but they need to contend for the win. Toyota put three of their four drivers in the Championship 4 a year ago too and three in the top 10 this past Sunday too. They combined to win a NASCAR record 19 of the 36 races run in 2019 including the Daytona 500, Coke 600, Bristol Night Race and the Southern 500. Without much of a change to the aero package in 2020, you would think that they would dominate this season right?

Instead, after five races down, they’re 1-for-5. 293 laps were run on Sunday and Toyota led exactly none of them. For the season, they’ve combined to lead just 108 laps. 93 of those 108 laps were led in the season opening Daytona 500. The only laps that they’ve led since then was all by Martin Truex Jr. who led one lap in Las Vegas, three in Fontana and 11 in Phoenix.

Harvick, will be the leader in the SHR camp but even he says he will approach Wednesday night’s race differently.

Stat To Watch

In 117 past races now at Darlington, just six times (5.12%) has someone won from a starting spot outside of the top 20. That’s how important finishing in the top 20 on Sunday was. Furthermore, 99 of the 117 times (85%) has the winner came from the top 10. Kevin Harvick won from sixth on Sunday.

They Said It

A big question coming into Darlington Raceway for NASCAR’s resumption of their 2020 season was if Hendrick Motorsports still had it. Prior to the 70 day COVID-19 hiatus, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott ranked in the top six of all major driver stats. Would the speed remain after such a lengthy break?

It was. Now, will it remain on Wednesday night? Alex Bowman has his thoughts on why.

“Yeah, I felt great the way we started the season,” Bowman said. “Unloading in Las Vegas, I think we saw our racecars were going to be really strong.  To continue that after we got shut down and firing everything back up, to continue the strength that we had means a lot.

“I think it was an interesting time period, right?  Guys couldn’t really be in their shops developing new stuff.  You weren’t allowed to be in the wind tunnel, simulators, all that stuff.  Everybody is still at home working on their notebooks, trying to piece together what they can do to make their racecars better.

“In a sense it didn’t really give people maybe the complete opportunity to catch up, but it at least gave them some opportunity.  I think for everybody at HMS to stay on top of things, improve our racecars, I think we didn’t just come back with what we had in Vegas and Fontana, I think we came back with something better.  We need to keep working on it because everybody around us is constantly getting better, as well.

“It’s really different than how we started the season the last two years.  I feel like our cars, the biggest thing, when we’re off a little bit, we’re not running 20th any more.  If we have a bad run, we fall back to eighth.

“I think that shows a lot about the strength of HMS right now.  We’re just going to keep gaining on it.”

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NASCAR just completed their first race of the resumption of the 2020 campaign this past Sunday at the Darlington Raceway. Now, in a rare moment, NASCAR is back on the exact same track, just three days later, for a second race.

Covers Experts’ Auto Racing Advisor rolls through the NASCAR odds for the second race since the COVID-19 shutdown and gives his NASCAR predictions and betting picks for the second of the two NASCAR Cup Series races this month in Darlington.