Who Will Tame Darlington            

From a NASCAR Fan’s View

It’s Springtime in South Carolina, and that means the Cup teams are taking on the Darlington Raceway. You know, the “Track Too Tough To Tame.” Well, at least that’s how the advertising talks about it. I will also admit that I agree with the phrase, and it is that way for several reasons. The problem with advertising is that there always seems to be someone who does tame it and almost makes it sound like false advertising.

This fan can only wonder if that might be the case this weekend. After the way Tyler Reddick has started the 2026 season, and the way he qualified, he might have it tamed before the race even starts. Look, I know the track is a challenging track, and it tends to eat tires almost as fast as the crews can put them on, but, like I just said, sometimes one or more of the teams show up with the track tamed right off the truck. Well, off the truck and with a little bit of practice time.

I have already mentioned Tyler Reddick, and his qualifying lap was extremely fast, but that doesn’t always mean he, or any fast qualifier, will dominate the race even if they start on the pole. From what I know about racing – and I have been around it since I was about five or six years old – is that things can go wrong even with what looks like the most prepared team. I suppose it is possible that this race could an exception, but there is another problem with assuming that. Bubba Wallace, also of  23XI racing, is starting on the front row with his teammate. Perhaps they have something figured out. Perhaps they don’t. All I know is that 400 miles is a long time and that leaves a lot of room for something, big or small, to go wrong. It could be a tire failure, a parts failure, or even a driver failure. After all, there were several drivers who brushed the wall in practice and qualifying and killed their lap time speed.

I know the Toyotas have been fast so far this season, and I also know that Tyler Reddick has three wins. I also know that Bubba has been running quite well here at the beginning of this season and is in second place in the points. That speaks very highly of the 23XI camp, and this fan wonders whether they will maintain this pace over the rest of the field or begin to falter in the next four to six races or so.

There is also another noticeable thing that could make it hard for the 23XI teams to take home the win when the day is done. All one has to do is look at the second row and see which drivers occupy those next two starting spots. Yeah, that’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? Two of the Hendrick teams, namely Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.

Yes, it’s true, the Chevys have been struggling a bit this season. Their reasonable excuse is that they got a new body style this year, and most people agree with that assessment. This generation of cars is quite finicky, and it does take a bit of time to get the balance right. The Toyotas had a similar problem over a year ago, and it took them time to find the balance so their drivers could compete on par with the others. They did adapt, and what they learned about their cars has carried over to this season, as shown by the way they’ve been running.

Now, I know I was talking about the struggles of the Chevys with their new body style, but I wanted to make it clear that they are making headway, and Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott seem to be a little ahead of their teammates and most of the other Chevys. William Byron is also close but seems to still be slightly behind his other two teammates. He could break out at any time, and the same goes for Kyle and Chase. Even though this is a very challenging track, they do have time to try a lot of things over the course of the 400 miles.

So, what happens if the Chevys do get dialed in and start catching and passing the Toyotas? That could change the whole outcome of the race this weekend and for the season ahead. All it takes is finding that little bit of balance and extra speed to better compete against the JGR and 23XI Toyotas. When that begins to happen, look out because that means the Chevys will be back in it.

I can’t close without at least mentioning the Fords. There are a couple of them running quite well, and of course, that would be Ryan Blaney in particular, and I would even include the RFK Fords. They have been showing long-run speed and could pull off what this fan would call a surprise win this weekend. That’s not a cut. It’s a compliment, and they generally show up as the races and the season progresses.

Actually, there are many more Chevys, fords and Toyotas I could mention, but let’s just wait and see how things go and how many more we will need to talk about in the future…