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NASCAR insider: Racing at Darlington has taken a step back

Brian Jones Profile Picby:Brian Jones•04/08/25•

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Darlington Raceway (2)
Apr 6, 2025; Darlington, South Carolina, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) takes the checkered flag for the win during the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

A NASCAR insider was not impressed with the Cup Series race at Darlington on Sunday. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic explained why racing at Darlington has taken a step back.

“This is a one-groove racetrack, whereas, like a Kansas or Vegas or Charlotte, multiple grooves,” Bianchi said. “Here it’s one groove, so you really don’t have options to find that line and make passes. The other thing is the tire fall off. The tires are falling off how they should. The tires are doing their job.

“The problem is all the teams are essentially hitting that moment at the exact same time, so they’re really isn’t any comers and goers. It isn’t like these three teams are hitting on it five laps earlier or these teams over here are not, and then these guys are passing each other, that kind of thing. It’s a continuation of that, and then these cars are equal. It’s all of these things and it combines to make a race that we saw where it’s track position, track position, track position.”

It looked like William Byron was going to win the Darlington race as he led 243 of the 297 possible laps, but Denny Hamlin came through late in the race to earn his second consecutive victory.

Denny Hamlin explains why racing at Darlington can be difficult

During his post-race press conference, Hamlin was asked why it’s difficult to race side-by-side at Darlington, but that’s not the case at another mile-and-a-half track like Kansas. “This has the same intermediate package that those tracks have. The speeds are so much higher at those tracks, there’s more grip, the draft plays more of a factor. Draft isn’t as big a factor here,” Hamlin said.

“Aerodynamics, when you think how you’re going to set up your car, you think – I’m going to throw out generic numbers – 80% of the grip you’re going to get is going to come from aerodynamics. Here at a track like this, I don’t know, it’s 50/50 mechanical to aerodynamics. You don’t have the draft to keep things bunched up. You don’t have the long straightaways to allow the guys that are behind to close.”