“The Track Too Tough to Tame” somehow is expected to get even tougher this weekend, and that’s just fine with NASCAR drivers who have lobbied for bigger challenges.
It’s also probably fine with NASCAR executives, who have a crowd-pleasing feud brewing in the Cup Series circuit at Darlington Raceway, the egg-shaped oval in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina that has given top drivers fits for 76 years.
Anger and frustration often flare at the tricky 1.366-mile track, and all eyes will be on how Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez race each other Sunday. The former teammates at Trackhouse Racing had a brief-but-animated confrontation after their cars made contact last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and they’ve continued taking swipes at each other this week.
Suarez accused Chastain of being two-faced and later told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that “if I want to fight Ross — and he knows this — it’s not going to last 5 seconds.” Chastain said he regretted sideswiping Suarez’s car before lightly shoving him in the pits but added, “I don’t agree with the way he handles things. What made me so mad was just that there was no accountability.”
With the ill will festering, conditions at Darlington will be ripe for prolonging that rivalry and possibly igniting other fresh squabbles.
A 12% increase in horsepower and a 25% decrease in downforce (the physics that keep cars glued to the track at a high rate of speed) are expected to cause excessive tire wear on an already abrasive surface that’s infamous for chewing up rubber.
Lap times are expected to drop by 4 to 5 seconds over the course of a run — a second more than traditional falloff — as drivers wrestle with tires punished by heavier acceleration from 750 horsepower, heat from higher braking loads and power slides from the lack of traction. A forecast in the high 80s also will make the asphalt slippery.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Suarez said. “Honestly, I’m actually looking forward to it. I’m super excited for the challenge.”
Indeed, many drivers relish the idea of being out of control for 400 laps because they believe the difficult conditions separate the field and provide the most talented with a better chance to shine by managing their tires.
Chase Briscoe, who has won two of the past three races at Darlington, said he was “crashing every corner of every lap” recently testing the track on Toyota’s driving simulator.
“It’s going to be the hardest track we run on all year long,” said Briscoe, who has won two of the past three races at Darlington. “The whole weekend is going to be must-see because of how drastically different this thing drives.”
On what NASCAR is hailing as “Alumni Weekend,” several dozen former Cup drivers are expected to be on hand at the historic track Sunday for a race that, fittingly, will be old school.
It’s so much of a throwback that concerns have been raised about its unknowns.
NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer John Probst said teams have asked for extra tires (beyond an allotted 10 sets) and permission to enhance brake cooling.
Probst said NASCAR declined to grant their requests because unpredictability usually means better racing, presuming the entire field doesn’t exhaust its tire supply or suffer systemic brake failures.
“This isn’t just a regular event where everything is known, and everyone’s comfortable,” Probst said. “That uncertainty is usually the recipe for a very compelling race.”
Tyler Reddick of Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing will be on the pole.