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Dale Jarrett paces Darlington field in Cale Yarborough’s 1978 Southern 500-winning car

Nick Profile Picby:Nick Geddes•09/01/24•

NickGeddesNews

Cale Yarborough
NASCAR on NBC

There is no driver more synonymous with the Southern 500 and Darlington Raceway than Cale Yarborough.

The NASCAR Hall of Famer won five Southern 500’s during his legendary career and the garage at Darlington is even named after him. Yarborough won his fourth Southern 500 in 1978 and ahead of Sunday’s race at Darlington, Dale Jarrett honored Yarborough, who passed away this past December, by pacing the field in his historic No. 11 Oldsmobile.

Jarrett, the Hall of Famer and current NBC Sports analyst, got his start in the Cup Series with Cale Yarborough Motorsports, so you can imagine how special this moment was for him. To add the cherry on top, Jarrett wore Yarborough’s 1978 Southern 500 race-winning helmet during his ceremonial lap.

Ahead of Sunday’s race, former championship-winning crew chief Jeff Hammond and members of Yarborough’s family gathered at the Darlington Raceway Stock Car Museum to unveil the car, built in 1977.

Cale Yarborough’s career accomplishments

In addition to his success at Darlington, Yarborough, the Timmonsville, South Carolina, native, is statistically one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. In a career spanning over three decades, Yarborough raced his way to victory lane 83 times in the Cup Series, tied for sixth all-time with Jimmie Johnson.

He won three consecutive Cup Series championships from 1976-78, the first driver to accomplish the feat and only done since by Johnson, who won five in a row from 2006-10. Yarborough notched four Daytona 500 wins (1968, 1977, 1983, 1984). Only Richard Petty (seven) has claimed more victories in the “Great American Race.”