If there is one race besides the Daytona 500 that I’m very much looking forward to this upcoming season, it is certainly going to be the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Several Sprint Cup stars were at the Darlington Raceway as part of a Goodyear tire test for the new Gen-6 race car. The Gen-6 race car will debut in the Sprint Unlimited Saturday, February 16th.
Carl Edwards was one of the drivers that gave two thumbs up in regards to the tire test saying that his digital speedometer on his Ford Fusion hit as high as 193 mph. That is a speed unheard of at this track. Several years ago Michael Waltrip sat down with Jeff Gordon on the program NASCAR Thunder 2004. One of Gordon’s comments was, “We go around here around 180 mph.” The conversation dealt with Gordon, then a 6-time winner at the track, talking about how you survive at Darlington. This will be a brand new monster for Gordon as well, who last won here in 2007.
Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard, and Juan Montoya were also on hand for the Goodyear tire test. Edwards is predicting much faster speeds and tighter racing when the Bojangles Southern 500 comes to FOX on May 11th.
I’m expecting every single driver that qualifies at the track later this season to completely shatter the previous qualifying record. Darlington’s fast lap speed was set by Kasey Kahne in 2011. Darlington is known to be tricky. It’s egg-shaped corners will make it very treacherous, so qualifying, pit strategy, and staying out of trouble will be the keys to winning the race.
In other words, expect a lot of crashes and excitement. The new car has also shown to have better grip than the previous models, so we might see a lot of crashes, and we might not.
But there is no denying it, the Gen-6 car has been far much quicker at each place it has been tested thus far. And the fans are anxious to get the 2013 season under way! Are you all ready? Follow me on Twitter at SirRyanTheOHara for more NASCAR updates.
