This weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race is at Darlington Raceway, a track more entrenched in NASCAR tradition than any other on the circuit. Darlington was the first track to run on asphalt and also the first track to have a 500 mile race. The odd egged shaped 1.36 mile track built on a whim of competing with Indianapolis Motor Speedway is what NASCAR tradition is all about amid all the new similar facilities sprouting up across America over the last 13 years.

This weekend’s race is run on Mother’s Day weekend again for the 5th straight year, which was an initial off limits rule demanded by NASCAR’s creator Big Bill France. You see, France never wanted to co-mingle fan loyalty with disrupting major religious days or honoring one’s Mother. He also didn’t want to see any Mother have to suffer pain of seeing their son suffer possible injuries up to and/or including death or her special day.

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Fast forward to 2005 when NASCAR’s economics and growth were clouding their judgment and decisions where all they saw were dollar signs instead of respecting the sports tradition and values. NASCAR changed the Darlington dates, which included removing the venerable Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend that had run since 1950, longer than any other, and sent that date to California which NASCAR and its subsidiary ISC thought would create better ratings across America. In the process, NASCAR eliminated one of the two races that had been run annually at Darlington since 1957.

The irony of the whole switch and change of dates at Darlington is that it was moved to Mother’s Day weekend and the nickname of the track is “The Lady in Black.”

My, how things have changed, and what a perfect testament to NASCAR and their changes, for better or worse.

This Saturday night’s race on the crazed oval of Darlington is unlike any other. Each of the entries into the turns are different in circumference and banking make it so unique. Because of the high banking, teams will need a car balanced somewhat like Texas, Las Vegas, and Atlanta, but because of distance and variance of corners, it will have to handle like a Bristol or Phoenix. It’s a different mix altogether and what makes Darlington so special amid all the replica tracks recently built.

The king of the facility and 7-time winner on the track labeled, “Too Tough to Tame”, is Jeff Gordon who is 3 wins shy of tying the David Pearson for the tracks all time leader in wins. Gordon set a record by becoming the only driver to 5 straight Southern 500’s from 1995-99. Prior to that, the most anyone had won in a row was two. After last weeks race in Richmond and a one week relegation to 2nd place, Gordon is again back in the points lead by a slim 10 point margin over Las Vegan Kurt Busch.

To further illustrate how great Gordon is at Darlington in all phases of his career is that he’s had 28 career starts on the track and finished in the top 5 on 16 occasions. His last victory was in this race two seasons ago. This season things have gone all too well for the four-time Cup Champion despite suffering through nagging back injuries. His car has been too good to allow any personal defects get in the way of a well revamped team that struggled through 2008. Kyle Busch may be the favorite to win this week, but Gordon may be the best bet based on pedigree and experience.

Kyle Busch now has three wins on the season after last weeks win at Richmond on his birthday. He won this race last season and shunned the “Lady in Black” like she wasn’t even there as he led the most laps and dominated the last third of the race. Nothing seems to have changed from last year to 2009, other than he has combined a sick sense of aggression with an equally intelligent game plan that makes him possibly more dangerous than the first 26 races last year. While sulking and free falling in the last 10 races of the Chase last season, Kyle may have learned a valuable lesson in humility which seems to have fueled him to another level that no one is on. They’re all professionals out there, but for some reason Kyle has his moments whether its on a restart, a classic outside pass, or just a gutsy maneuver that separates him from everyone else.

Until last season, Kyle had some trouble with the “Lady” while garnishing his “Darlington Stripes” as a newcomer to the tough track. His win last year doesn’t necessarily say he’s all cured from the famed wall, but it definitely gives him more confidence.

Kurt Busch was part of perhaps the greatest Darlington race of all time when he and Ricky Craven battled for the five laps side by side, sliding, banging, and bumping all the way to the finish until Craven finally won. That second place finish was the best run Kurt Busch has ever had at Darlington. His Penske tenure has been has been rocky since coming over, but it appears everything is well now on all types of tracks. Darlington should get Kurt’s blood flowing and is the type of track he likes, at least with a good car. Even though neither will say much about it, Kurt wants to beat his brother Kyle as much as he wants to win. Kyle has gotten a bit mouthy about his brother in the press because of his recent success with Gibbs. There’s nothing more than the more mature Kurt Busch would like than to knock his brother’s cocky block off himself, on the track.

Jimmie Johnson swept the 2004 season when Darlington ran two races, including taking the final Southern 500, not the refurbished Southern 500 NASCAR is throwing to the fans this week. Unless the Southern 500 is on Labor Day weekend, it cannot be the Southern 500. Those two wins remain Johnson’s only of his career on the track, but overall has eight top 10’s in his ten career starts. Johnson dropped three positions in points after a poor run in Richmond last week and doesn’t appear to have it all together at this juncture as he has in the past. You never want to count Jimmie out, but he doesn’t look like the Jimmie that should be going for a 6th straight title this season, despite capturing three straight.

Oh Roush, where art thou? Not quite sure what is going on with the team, but it’s obvious despite winning the first two races of the season with Matt Kenseth that the team is struggling. Greg Biffle, who is a two time winner at Darlington, is having a terrible time even though he’s sitting 11th in points. Carl Edwards only has one top 5 this season, while Kenseth with the two wins sits 12th in points. This is a track where several Roush drivers have done very well, not necessarily in the win category with only 5, but in top 5 finishes. Last season Roush had 4 of his drivers finish in the top 11 with Edwards charging late and finishing 2nd.

Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman had great runs last week at Richmond which should serve well for this week’s race. They have all kinds of momentum going their way after starting slowly, in particular Newman. Stewart is currently 3rd in points while Newman has moved into 10th. Stewart has finished 2nd in two of the last three races and is looking for not only his first win with his new team he owns, but also his first win at Darlington. The track is on of only 3 Stewart hasn’t won on during his career. Should Stewart win, he would become the first driver since Ricky Rudd in 1998 to win a race with a car he drove and owned.

Drivers that should also have good runs this week are Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin TruexJr., and Denny Hamlin. Junior has never done anything special at Darlington, but the Junior Nation has to have some impact after all his struggles thus far, No?

Happy Mother's Day to all!

TOP 5 Finish prediction:
 
1) #24 Jeff Gordon (8/1)
2) #18 Kyle Busch (5/1)
3) #2 Kurt Busch (13/1)
4) #48 Jimmie Johnson (7/1)
5) #16 Greg Biffle (18/1)