Once again, NASCAR has decided to put Darlington in its crosshairs.   The sport that has made the huge mistake of over expanding at the expense of historic tracks like Darlington and Rockingham wants to tweak its schedule again.  Apparently places like Las Vegas and Kansas want to add Sprint Cup race dates and that could affect Darlington.

Darlington president Chris Browning insists this situation isn’t as dire as it was several years ago when it appeared Darlington was going to come off the NASCAR schedule.  The Lady in Black didn’t come out of that unscathed though, she lost one of her two dates as they took away the historic Southern 500 Labor Day race and moved the track’s lone race to Mother’s Day weekend.

Browning doesn’t think the track will lose its lone race next season.  Others aren’t so sure.

Darlington president Chris Browning on potential of new race date

Browning

Browning and his people have done an amazing job of taking the Mother’s Day race and turning it into a great event.  Browning and his staff  worked nonstop to promote and upgradeDarlington Raceway and that hard work enabled the track to get off the NASCAR chopping block.

Or so we thought.

Browning and his people made Mothers Day weekend at Darlington the new NASCAR tradition and as a reward it looks like NASCAR may make him do it all over again.  As of July 13^th, we still don’t know if Darlington will be racing on Mother’s Day or any day in 2011.

 Browning is confident they WILL be racing, he’s just not sure when.  It’s doubtful the track will get Labor Day weekend back (that date was snatched for a half empty track in California and is now in Atlanta) and there really is no telling what date the track will get. 

If Darlington does get a new date I have no doubt Browning and his staff will do a great job embracing it and making it a wonderful  race and experience for the fans.  Maybe  after this ends the powers that bewithin NASCAR and the various track owners  will stop treating  Darlington like the red headed stepchild.   

I doubt it though, and that is a shame.

Denny Hamlin won the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Saturday night.  It’s his first Sprint Cup win at Darlington, the 11th victory of his career and his third of the season.  Hamlin also won the Nationwide Series race Friday night become the first to sweep at Darlington since Mark Martin in 1993.  Jamie McMurray finished second followed by Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya. 

Complete story

Final results

Kevin Harvick remains the points leader by 110 points over Jimmie Johnson.  Kyle Busch is third 113 points back.

Points report

The Sprint Cup Series moves to Dover next weekend.

Denny Hamlin post race news conference

hamlin 5-8

Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch post race news conference

macmurray and busch 5-8

Harvick on pole

Rain all Sunday afternoon forced NASCAR officials to call off Sunday’s running of the Sprint Cup race at Martinsville.  The race was rescheduled for a noon start on Monday.  It’s the second year in a row the spring race at Martinsville was pushed back a day due to rain.  Qualifying  also was rained out Friday so  the starting lineup was set by the points standings.

Starting lineup

Mark Martin addresses the media Wednesday in Florence

NASCAR Sprint Cup star Mark Martin made a visit to the Florence Civic Center Wednesday to help promote the Southern 500 at Darlington.  Martin took questions from several hundred fans and then met seperately with the media.  Martin, who has won a total of 12 races at Darlington in his career, will be at Bristol this weekend as the Sprint Cup Series resumes after a weekend off.

AUDIO:  Mark Martin news conference

mark martin 3-17

Darlington Raceway president Chris Browning joined us on SportsTalk last night and he informed us that the “Track to Tough to Tame” is close securing a title sponsor for this year’s Mother’s Day weekend race. Browning said the contract is in hand and all that is left to do is cross the t’s and dot the I’s .

Browning did not reveal the name of the sponsor because the contract has not been signed, but he said it is a group that everyone will recognize. His only hint was the sponsor is in the entertainment business. Browning also said it will be a multi-year deal.

Darlington President Chris Browning talk about new sponsor for May race

browning

This is great news for the track that just a few years ago was in danger of losing its race date. Big kudos to Chris Browning and his staff at Darlington Raceway for working hard to spruce up the “Lady in Black” and draw huge crowds to the race their each year. Browning is as good of a promoter as you will find in the sport.

To me, there isn’t a more special track than Darlington. It is the Wrigley Field or Fenway Park of NASCAR and its rich history and tradition is what makes it my favorite place to go watch a race. If you have never been to a race I encourage you to check it out. It will give you a chance to experience just how incredible the sport is and to see firsthand one of the most unique tracks in NASCAR. Last, but not least, you will be supporting a true gem that we are lucky to have in our state.

Even better, it won’t cost you much to go! NASCAR hasn’t lost touch with its fans and Darlington offers great prices for its race weekend. And remember, you can bring your own food and drink in to races so you save there too. The bottom line is, there isn’t a better bargain in pro sports than a NASCAR event. If you’ve been, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t been, you need to add it to your sports bucket list.

The race is Saturday,  May 8th.

Busy show tonight.  Here are some our highlights.

• Tony Stewart, winner at The Glen (2:13)
• C.J. Spiller (2:15)
• Stephen Garcia at Media Days (5:48)
• Monday night’s Recruiting Report (4:50)

Tonight’s highlights.

• USC Frosh RB Jarvis Giles (3:25)
• nascar.com’s David Caravello (9:10)
• Friday night’s Recruiting Report (2:48)

Here are tonight’s highlights on a busy show.

• Mark Martin (5:50)
• SportsTalk Correspondant Bill Pollock at the All-Star game (9:08)
• Monday night’s Recruiting Report (4:57)

Busy show tonight with lots of highlights.

• Clemson assistant baseball coach Tom Reginos (7:58)
• Kyle Busch (9:31)
• Legendary football coach Willie Jeffries (12:37)
• USC football’s latest commit OL Cody Gibson (9:23)
• Thursday night’s Recruiting Report (5:03)

Kasey Kahne

For the first time in over a decade, Richard Petty celebrated a victory by one of his cars Sunday at Sonoma, CA.Kasey Kahne held off Tony Stewart on a restart with two laps to go on the road course and won for the first time in 37 races.

Stewart finished second and was followed by Marcos Ambrose, Jimmy Johnson and Denny Hamlin.

Stewart’s lead in the points standings increased to 84 on Jeff Gordon. Johnson is third 157 points back. Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards round out the top five.