News & Notes: NXS Race at Darlington – Postponed to Thursday May 20, 2020 NASCAR Originally scheduled for May 19; postponed to May 21 by rain. The Place: Darlington RacewayThe Date: Thursday, May 21The Time: 12 p.m. ETTV: FS1Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR RadioDistance: 200.1 miles (147 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 147) New Start Time The start time for this race has been moved ahead two hours (from 8 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. in hopes of avoiding the inclement weather forecast for the Darlington area later Tuesday evening. Back to racing at Darlington Raceway! NASCAR is back and so that means that the NASCAR Xfinity Series is back in action with a 200-mile race at the historic Darlington Raceway on Tuesday, May 19 (6 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Darlington Raceway is one of the most admired tracks by competitors in NASCAR history; largely due to its unique 1.366-mile egg-shaped layout. The famed facility is located in Darlington, South Carolina, and with 25 degrees of banking in Turns 1-2 and 23 degrees of banking in Turns 3-4, the distinctive track offers a one-of-a-kind challenge to the competitors. Darlington Raceway has hosted 59 NASCAR Xfinity Series races dating back to the inaugural event in 1982 (won by Geoff Bodine). The 59 races have produced 31 different race winners and 29 different pole winners. Mark Martin leads the Xfinity Series in poles (8) and wins (8) at Darlington Raceway. He also leads the series in top fives (14) and top 10s (18). Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney won the pole for the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer won the race. Denny Hamlin owns the Xfinity Series Darlington race record at 141.355 mph on September 5, 2015 and Carl Edwards holds the series qualifying track record at 176.994 mph on May 9, 2008. Competition update for Xfinity Series NASCAR officials announced that the field size for the Xfinity Series will be temporarily expanded to a maximum of 40 vehicles. This change is in effect for events scheduled without qualifying. As far as the points structure, the change will not alter the standings much at all. In the Xfinity Series, officials will continue to award a baseline of 40 championship points for first place and one point for 36th (which was formerly the last place) place. As a result, teams finishing 37th through 40th will also receive one point. Standings leader Harrison Burton strives to hold record rookie streak Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Harrison Burton continued to make history during the last on-track event at Phoenix Raceway, notching his fourth consecutive top-five finish to start the season in as many races. This is the seventh time in series history a driver has started the season with four top fives and Burton is the first and only rookie in the NASCAR Xfinity Series to accomplish the feat, and the sixth driver all-time; joining Sam Ard (1984), Kevin Harvick (2005), Carl Edwards (2009, 2010), Elliott Sadler (2012) and Kyle Busch (2014). The series record for the most consecutive top-five finishes to start a season is eight, by Kyle Busch in 2014. In fact, Busch is the only driver to make it to five straight top fives to start a season. With a win (California) and four top fives to start 2020, Burton has a grasp on the series standings lead by three points over second-place Chase Briscoe. When the Xfinity Series hits the track on Tuesday, May 19 (6 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) for the series’ first race back since the COVID-19 pandemic, Burton will be making his track debut. He will also have to do it without any practice or qualifying, making for a very exciting show. 4 For 4: Xfinity winners aplenty Since going to the ‘select a series’ format in NASCAR in 2011, this season is the first to see four different NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contenders visit Victory Lane in as many series races to start the year. At the last Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones added his name to the 2020 wins list, joining his JGR teammate Harrison Burton (California), Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe (Las Vegas) and JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson (Daytona). All four Xfinity drivers have now virtually locked themselves into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs by virtue of their victories. As teams prepare for their first on-track event in two months, padding their points and adding more wins to the boxscore should be their goal going forward. Harrison Burton will be making his series track debut this weekend attempting to defend both his driver standings lead and his rookie standings lead. Gragson has one start to his name at Darlington and it came last season. He started eighth and finished eighth. Briscoe also made his series track debut at Darlington last season and started fifth and finished sixth. Jones has made four starts at Darlington Raceway in his Xfinity career, with two top-10 finishes including last season’s race at the track. Who keeps the Xfinity Series’ different winner streak rolling? The two names jumping to the top of most lists when asked, ‘Who is closest to a win this season?’ are JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric. Both put up wins last season and made it deep into the Playoffs, and now both are back this season running strong. The high-level skills of veteran Justin Allgaier are a consistent theme in his performances on track, and this season has been no different. The 33-year-old from Riverton, Illinois, has run up front leading the most laps (140) and winning the most stages (three) of any Xfinity driver this season. In fact, he has led laps in every race this year, but only has one top-10 finish in four starts to show for the effort. Now, Allgaier is ninth in the series driver standings, 38 points behind the standings lead, but Darlington Raceway could be the track where he finds Victory Lane. In nine starts at the 1.366-mile raceway he has posted two top fives, six top 10s and an average finish of 9.3. In his last three starts at the track, he has not finished outside the top-10. Austin Cindric’s breakout season last year was just a precursor to what he hopes this season can be. The 21-year-old from Mooresville, North Carolina, has already been impressive this year collecting two top fives and three top 10s in his first four starts. He’s third in the standings, the highest ranked driver without a win yet this season, just 21 points back from Harrison Burton in the standings lead. This Tuesday, May 19 at Darlington Raceway should be a continuation of his early success this season. He finished a career-best 10th at the track in last season’s race. Both drivers have a chance to keep the NASCAR Xfinity Series different winners to start the season streak alive. The record for the highest number of different winners to start a NASCAR Xfinity Series season is 13 back in 1988; followed by 1987 with 10 different winners, then 2018 with nine and 1998, 2006 with eight. The 1988 and 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons are tied for the series-most different winners for the entire season with 18 each. Goodyear Fast Facts For the Xfinity Series fifth race of the season at Darlington Raceway, the series will utilize Goodyear Eagles Speedway Radials. The series will get six sets for the race with approximately 24.5 laps per set. The tire allotment was originally built for the race weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway but because teams use the same combination of left and right-side tires, they have been reallocated for the first three races back. Like all NASCAR ovals greater than one-mile in length, each team is required to run inner liners in all four positions. Approaching Milestones Mike Harmon Racing’s Joe Nemechek is just two starts away from becoming just the sixth different driver to make 450 or more NASCAR Xfinity Series starts. He currently has 448 Xfinity Series starts dating back to 1989. … Motorsports Business Management’s driver Chad Finchum is expected to attempt to make his 75th NASCAR Xfinity Series start this Tuesday at Darlington Raceway.
