LEGACY MOTOR CLUB:
DARLINGTON PRE-RACE ADVANCE
EVENT: Goodyear 400

DATE: March 22, 2026
RACE: NASCAR Cup Series 6 of 36
TRACK: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway | 1.366-Mile Oval

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
NO. 42 DOLLAR TREE TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
JOHN AT DARLINGTON: John Hunter Nemechek has seven starts at Darlington Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series. He earned his highest finish of fourth in last year’s Southern 500. In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, he has six starts at Darlington, earning three top-five finishes and two poles, earned in May 2023 and September 2023. He also earned his highest finish of third in the May 2023 race. Nemechek also has three starts at Darlington in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he won in May 2022, earned two poles in May 2021 and 2022, and never finished lower than eighth, including two top-two finishes.

TRUCK SERIES WINNER AT DARLINGTON: In May 2022, Nemechek took home the checkered flag in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race after starting on the pole. He led 69 out of 147 laps and won with a .552 margin of victory over Carson Hocevar. Nemechek was running a fulltime season in the Truck Series in 2022, and Darlington marked his first of two wins that season.

T-MACK AT DARLINGTON: Sunday afternoon’s race will be crew chief Travis Mack’s 11th NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington. His first outing at the 1.366-mile oval came in May 2021 with Daniel Suárez, and the duo competed for six total races between 2021 and 2023. Mack’s highest finish of fourth came with John Hunter Nemechek in the pair’s second Darlington race together in August 2025. In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Mack made four starts at Darlington with Michael Annett between 2018 and 2020, earning two top-10 finishes and a best result of eighth in September 2020.

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK QUOTE:
“I’m looking forward to it. Obviously tire wear is going to play a huge role at Darlington this year, but I enjoy being able to manage tires. I think our LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota Camrys have been better for that, especially when looking back at how we did at Phoenix. We were able to pass under green and carry speed through the long runs and work our way forward. I’m looking forward to the higher horsepower package and the higher tire degradation. Should be a fun one.”

TRAVIS MACK QUOTE:
“It’s tough to run really well last year and have to come back this year with a different aero package. It’s going to be a challenge to hit that balance and have a similar car to what we brought last year in the fall, but LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is strong at intermediate tracks, so we’re ready to adapt to the new packages and have a solid showing at Darlington this weekend.”

ERIK JONES
NO. 43 ADVENTHEALTH TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
“THAT JONES BOY” DARLINGTON STATS: Sunday afternoon’s Goodyear 400 will mark Erik Jones’ 17th NASCAR Cup Series start at historic Darlington Raceway. Jones made a name for himself at the 1.366-mile oval where he owns two Southern 500 victories, six top-fives, and nine top-10s. He has led 132 laps in his career at Darlington, the second-most of any track in his career behind his 293 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Between his first start in the 2017 Southern 500 and the 2020 Southern 500, Jones never finished worse than eighth in the Cup Series. He has an additional two starts at Darlington in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series where he never started worse than sixth. In his first start there in September 2016, Jones started 10th and finished an impressive sixth. He followed that up in September 2017 when he started 11th and earned a fourth-place result.

TWO-TIME SOUTHERN 500 WINNER: Jones is not only a winner at Darlington, but a two-time Southern 500 winner. The crown jewel race has been kind to the Byron, Michigan native in his career. His first Southern 500 victory came in September 2019. Jones started 15th and led 79 laps en route to a 4.058 second victory over Kyle Larson. After a couple of top-10s, Jones found victory lane at Darlington once again in the September 2022 Southern 500. He once again started 15th and led a total of 23 laps to find victory lane with a .252 second margin of victory over Denny Hamlin.

ALEXANDER AT DARLINGTON: Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington will mark Justin Alexander’s 14th race on top of the box in the NASCAR Cup Series at the 1.366-mile track. In his prior 13 starts, he earned two top-fives and four top-10s at the track. His best finish of second came in the 2020 Southern 500 with Austin Dillon, where the duo finished just .434 seconds behind race winner Kevin Harvick.

THROWBACK TO WALLY: Despite there being no official NASCAR Throwback weekend this year at Darlington, AdventHealth and Erik Jones will bringing back some familiar colors from the 1994 NASCAR Cup Series season. Jones’ No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE will throw it back to Wally Dallenbach Jr.’s 1994 No. 43 STP car. Dallenbach Jr. drove the historic No. 43 car for 20 races during the 1994 season where he earned a best finish of fourth at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.

ERIK JONES QUOTE:
“I’ve always been comfortable at Darlington in my career, and I think my stats there show that. It’s a place where I’ve done well and had a lot of speed in the past, no matter what team I was with. It reminds me of a lot of the tracks I grew up racing on which helps. I’ve been lucky to be able to not only win two Southern 500s in my career, but also just have really strong runs at this track. That includes last year’s Southern 500. There are some places that you just get that feeling and Darlington is one of them for me. I know the No. 43 team will bring me another strong car, and I’m excited to get to Darlington and build off of what we did last fall.”

JUSTIN ALEXANDER QUOTE:
“I’m really looking forward to Darlington with the high tire falloff and the new aero and engine package this year. Erik has had a lot of success there and really understands how to manage that track. Intermediates were a strong area for us at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB last year and we’re hoping to build on that. The new package may throw everyone a bit of a curveball, but we feel prepared for it and have high expectations going into the weekend.”

CLUB MINUTES:
JJ – TWO-TIME SOUTHERN 500 CHAMP: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB owner and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson has 24 Cup Series starts at Darlington Raceway. In his career, Johnson is a two-time Southern 500 champion and a three-time winner at Darlington. He has earned nine top-fives and 13 top-10s at the track nicknamed “The Lady in Black” as well as led 563 laps. His first win at Darlington came in March 2004 when Johnson started 11th and led 69 laps en route to a .132 second margin of victory over Bobby Labonte. He followed that up in the November 2004 Southern 500 when he started fourth, led 124 laps, and bested Mark Martin by .959 seconds. His final win at Darlington came in the 2012 Southern 500 when he started second, led 134 laps, and beat Denny Hamlin seconds.

KENSETH WINS AT DARLINGTON: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB competition advisor and 2003 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Matt Kenseth owns 28 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington Raceway. He earned one win, three top-fives, and 13 top-10s in these starts and led 193 laps. Kenseth is also a Southern 500 winner. A year after Johnson’s win in 2012, Kenseth started seventh and led 17 laps en route to a 3.155 seconds margins of victory over Denny Hamlin.

THE KING AT DARLINGTON: Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB ambassador Richard Petty owns 65 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington Raceway and is also a Southern 500 champion. In total, he accumulated three wins, 25 top-fives, and 34 top-10s at Darlington. He also led 2,391 laps at the 1.366-mile oval. His first victory came in April 1966 where Petty started on the pole and led 281 of 291 laps to find victory lane. He found victory lane again in May 1967 when he started second behind David Pearson and led 266 laps to win his second race at the track. His final win came in the September 1967 Southern 500 where Petty once again started on the pole and led a total of 345 laps to best David Pearson once again.

LAST YEAR’S SOUTHERN 500: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB had a strong outing last September at Darlington Raceway that the team is hoping to build off of this time around. Jones and Nemechek finished third and fourth respectively in the 2025 Southern 500. Jones started the Southern 500 in 19th and earned stage points with a third-place finish in Stage 2. In the final stage, he ran solidly inside the top-10 to earn his best finish of the 2025 season. Nemechek start 30th but made moves early in the race. The No. 42 team used strategy to earn stage points in both of the opening stages and bring home a fourth-place finish.

CLUB APPEARANCES:
Nemechek will be at the trackside merchandise trailer for an autograph session at 11:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, March 21.

Jones will visit the trackside merchandise trailer to sign autographs at 12:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 21.

TUNE IN:
Fans can tune in to watch the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m. EDT on FS1, MAX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is a premier auto racing organization owned by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, Jimmie Johnson and Knighthead Capital Management, LLC. Drawing from a rich tradition of success, LEGACY MC is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of motorsport and setting new standards of excellence. The CLUB competes under the Toyota Racing banner in the NASCAR Cup Series with the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE piloted by Erik Jones and the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE driven by John Hunter Nemechek. Johnson also races on a limited basis in the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE. With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Richard Petty, “The King”, serving as CLUB Ambassador, LEGACY MC blends timeless racing traditions with a new forward-thinking vision. As an inclusive community for motorsport enthusiasts, LEGACY MC honors both its storied past and the promising future of its members, always striving for victory and championship glory at the pinnacle of NASCAR competition.

CONCORD, N.C. (March 17, 2026) – Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, will not compete in at least the next three NASCAR Cup Series races as he continues to recover from vertigo. He will miss events at Darlington Raceway (March 22), Martinsville Speedway (March 29) and Bristol Motor Speedway (April 12).

Bowman, 32, began experiencing symptoms during the March 1 race at Circuit of The Americas before exiting the car at lap 71. The Tucson, Arizona, native was also unable to compete earlier this month at Phoenix Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Alex continues to experience symptoms, so we are following the guidance of the medical team and giving him the time he needs to recover,” said Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports. “We see how hard he’s working to get back behind the wheel, and we’re looking forward to his return when he’s medically cleared. Everyone at Hendrick Motorsports is 100% behind Alex.”

Justin Allgaier will pilot the No. 48 Chevrolet through Bristol. The 39-year-old driver started 22nd and finished 25th Sunday while subbing for Bowman at Las Vegas. He has earned NASCAR O’Reilly Series victories at each of the next three tracks, including three at Darlington, one at Martinsville and two at Bristol. Allgaier competes full-time for Hendrick Motorsports affiliate JR Motorsports.

“Justin is a true professional and someone we have tremendous confidence in,” Andrews said. “He’s had success at the upcoming tracks, and we appreciate him stepping in to help the No. 48 team. We’re also grateful to our partners at JR Motorsports for understanding the situation and making Justin available.”

• In 28 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Spire Motorsports has logged two top-10 and three top-15 finishes. Corey LaJoie (September 2024) and Carson Hocevar (August 2025) both earned team-best ninth-place results at “The Lady in Black”. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the Cup Series with Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell and Hocevar, respectively.
• The Goodyear 400 will be televised live on FS1 Sunday, March 22 beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The sixth of 36 points-paying races on the 2026 Cup Series calendar will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Daniel Suárez – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Suárez will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
• The Monterrey, Mexico native has made 16 starts at Darlington, earning one top-10 and six top-20 finishes. His series/venue-best finish came in May 2022 where he finished 10th. Suárez holds an average starting position of 22.0 and an average finishing position of 23.1 at the famed “Lady in Black.”
• Last Spring in the Goodyear 400, Suárez started 30th and after battling handling issues early in the race, rallied to finish 15th.
• In the Cup Series most recent visit to the “Track Too Tough to Tame” last Fall, he started 17th but was involved in an early incident and relegated to a 25th-place result.
• Last week in Las Vegas, Suárez finished 18th to earn his third top-20 finish of the season.
• Five races into the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series season, Suárez sits 17th in points.
• NationsGuard is an innovator in the Automotive F&I space. Its programs are designed to maximize sales, profit, CSI and customer retention. NationsGuard delivers consistent, measurable results through disciplined monitoring and continuous improvement. The process measures every key element of a dealer’s program – from vehicle inspection efficiency to service advisor performance. NationsGuard targets and eliminates waste and inefficiency wherever it’s found, maintaining process improvements, making changes where necessary and relentlessly pursuing perfection.
• The two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner has made two NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at Darlington, earning two top fives and two top 10s while leading 14 laps. He notched third-place finishes in September 2015 and 2016.
• The 34-year-old driver is a veteran of 328 Cup Series starts and has notched two wins (Sonoma Raceway in 2022 and Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2024), 25 top fives, and 76 top 10s in NASCAR’s premier division. Suarez has led a total of 907 laps and has earned three poles since entering the series full time in 2017.

Daniel Suárez Quotes
What are your thoughts heading into Darlington?
“Darlington is going to be a very interesting race. It will be very low grip with a low downforce package and high horsepower. It’s going to be a challenge for everyone – one I’m looking forward to. Hopefully, we can continue to have good speed and have a good race in the No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Ryan Sparks

• Ryan Sparks has called 207 NASCAR Cup Series races, earning five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes since making his Cup Series debut atop the pit box in 2020.
• The Winston-Salem, N.C., native’s best finish at Darlington came in Fall 2024, where he led driver Corey LaJoie to a ninth-place finish. Sparks has called 12 races at Darlington and, overall, has led the charge in 99 races on intermediate tracks, resulting in two top-five and three top-10 efforts.
• Sparks joined Spire Motorsports in 2021, where he served as both Crew Chief and Competition Director, leading the organization’s competitive and technical efforts. In 2026, Sparks serves in a singular role as crew chief for Daniel Suárez.
• Sparks brings more than a decade of experience across all three national series, highlighted by 13 seasons at Richard Childress Racing and contributions to title-winning campaigns in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (2011) and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (2013).

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
• McDowell has secured three top-10 finishes in 21 career starts at “The Lady in Black,” all of which have come in the six events with NASCAR’s seventh generation Cup Series car. He has also made two NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at the venue.
• To pair with his trio of top-10 finishes, the two-time Cup Series winner has registered seven top-20 finishes at “The Track Too Tough to Tame”.
• In the Cup Series’ most recent visit to Darlington, McDowell’s Travis Peterson-led team started 25th and found themselves running one position shy of the top 15, as the run progressed and rubber faded. The duo ultimately settled for a 33rd-place result.
• The Glendale, Ariz. native, earned a pair of top-10 Darlington finishes in 2022, when he came home seventh in the spring and sixth in the summer.
• Last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, McDowell started deep in the field and soldiered home to a 26th-place finish.
• Across the first five races of the 2026 season, the 2021 Daytona 500 Champion currently sits 14th in points, the highest of Spire Motorsports’ three NASCAR Cup Series entries and has earned one top five, two top 10s and led 15 laps.
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Michael McDowell Quote
There is a lot of conversation about the tires and fall off in Darlington, what are you expecting?
“I try not to predict what it’s going to be like. It’s not that I don’t prepare—we had no downforce in 2014, so you’re slipping and sliding around, and you get used to what that feels like. After that, you had low horsepower and high downforce. We’ve had everything. So, I try not to predict too much because a lot of the time we think that it’s going to be huge and then oversell it. Then you have other times where you think the changes won’t make that much of a difference, and it’s a big deal. I don’t know where it will fall. It is a difficult track already, so if you take away downforce, I think it will make it more difficult, which is pretty obvious, but when you take away downforce, you won’t be able to utilize that power as much, either. It will be interesting to see. I think Darlington will be a fun weekend. On top of that, the weather is going to play a part; it could be 60 degrees, or it could be 80, but I am excited to see what the new package is going to be like. It will be fun.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

• Across 118 starts serving in the crew chief role, Travis Peterson has called eight poles, one win, eight top-five and 25 top-10 finishes.
• Peterson is a mechanical engineering graduate of the Williams States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The West Bend, Wis., native earned his degree in 2012.
• The 34-year-old contributed to several victories during his tenure at RFK Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports. He played a key role in Chase Elliott’s 2014 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship. Peterson was also part of Earnhardt’s three-win 2015 Cup Series team.
• As a race engineer at JR Motorsports, Peterson was part of Chase Elliott’s 2014 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Darlington win. After lining up sixth for a green-white-checkered restart, Elliott made the race winning move on Elliott Sadler entering Turn 3 on the final lap. The win came one week removed from his first series victory at Texas Motor Speedway and seven months prior to clinching the 2024 division championship crown.
• The duo of Peterson and McDowell secured a 10th-place finish in the 2024 Goodyear 400.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Carson Hocevar will race Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chili’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, marking his sixth start in NASCAR’s premier division at the historic venue. Hocevar will sport a throwback design this weekend, “The Marg Machine”, honoring Dale Earnhardt’s iconic 1981 blue-and-yellow paint scheme.
• Hocevar will pull double duty on the weekend and also race Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet Silverado RST in Friday’s CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Buckle Up South Carolina 200.
• The No. 77 team is currently 15th in the series’ point standings, thanks in part to a collection of 23 stage points through the first five points-paying races of the year. Hocevar was also awarded nine points for a second-place finish in the America 250 Florida Duel at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
• Last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 23-year-old driver started 19th and worked his way inside the top 10 by Stage 2. Unfortunately, a tire issue with five laps remaining in the segment forced the young driver to pit road under green-flag conditions where he lost a lap to the leaders, ultimately leaving him 22nd in the final rundown.
• In the series’ most recent stop to the famed egg-shaped oval last August, the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year earned a venue-best ninth-place result. Hocevar started 26th and recovered from a spin early in Stage 2 to match Spire Motorsports’ best result at Darlington.
• In last April’s Goodyear 400, the Portage, Mich., native turned the fastest lap in practice and qualified 13th. A punctured tire in the opening laps of the 400-mile race caused Hocevar to spin, forcing the team to pit under green-flag conditions where they fell a lap down, leaving them 32nd when the checkered flag waved.
• Hocevar hit the ground running at “The Track Too Tough to Tame.” In his first Cup Series start at Darlington in the 2023 Southern 500, he started 15th and finished 17th in a race that marked just his second start in NASCAR’s premier division. He returned in 2024 with Spire Motorsports and qualified second, becoming the youngest driver to start on the front row at the facility. Hocevar ran inside the top 10 most of the evening until damage sustained with 32 laps to go forced the team to retire prior to the race’s scheduled distance.
• In CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition, Hocevar owns four previous starts at “The Lady in Black”, tallying three top fives, including a runner-up finish in May 2022.
• Hocevar contested Spire Motorsports’ O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut at Darlington in May 2023. He secured his first top 10 in the series with a sixth-place result.
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Carson Hocevar Quotes
What do you think about your paint scheme heading into Alumni Weekend?
“It’s cool that Chili’s, a huge consumer-facing brand, had the idea to honor Dale Earnhardt on Alumni Weekend with a really cool scheme. They basically changed all their brand guidelines to replicate the original car as much as possible for this specific race. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to watch him race, but I watch a ton of old races and have great respect and admiration for those who have come before me. It will be really cool to honor him this weekend.”

How does Darlington fit your driving style?
“I’ve always been comfortable at Darlington. There’s just not a lot of grip and you have to save your stuff as much as possible. We’re always fast in qualifying at Darlington but I’ve gotten caught up in incidents that keep us from getting the finishes. This weekend is a little bit of an unknown with more horsepower and our new Camaro body, so the pressure will be on the crew chiefs and engineers. I know Luke (Lambert) and the No. 77 guys will bring us a really good car and we will have the opportunity to run well.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert

• Crew chief Luke Lambert enters his third season at Spire Motorsports and fourth with Carson Hocevar. The duo has logged one pole award, four top-five and 16 top-10 finishes in 85 races together.
• The 16-year veteran crew chief has called 18 NASCAR Cup Series events at Darlington, earning six top 10s, most recently with Hocevar in the 2025 Southern 500. He tacks on a trio of top-10 results between 2007-2010 as a race engineer for Jeff Burton during his time at Richard Childress Racing.
• The Mount Airy, N.C., native led Noah Gragson to Victory Lane at “The Lady in Black” in September 2022. Gragson led 82 of the event’s 147 laps but was running third when the field took the white flag. He survived a thrilling finish with Sheldon Creed and Kyle Larson, passing both drivers in Turns 3 and 4.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.

The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on Feb. 21, 2026, when Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in the Fr8 Racing 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

In 2026, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization will also field the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.

DARLINGTON 1

Friday, March 20 – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, March 21 – NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, 5:30 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, March 22 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (FS1)

All three of NASCAR’s top national series will be in action this weekend as Darlington Raceway hosts a tripleheader beginning Friday night with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Ford Racing has won two of the season’s first three races with F-150 drivers Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs while Mustang Dark Horse driver Ryan Blaney owns a win on the Cup side.

BLANEY THIRD IN STANDINGS

Ryan Blaney continues to be the highest Ford Racing driver in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings as he sits third after five races. Even though he saw his streak of three straight top-10 finishes come to an end in Las Vegas, Blaney was more a victim of an ill-timed caution that resulted in a 16th-place result. In the last three weeks, Blaney has shown consistent speed, which includes being Ford’s best qualifier at Circuit of The Americas and Las Vegas, and a victory at Phoenix Raceway sandwiched between.

RFK STILL ROLLING

The RFK Racing trio of Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece continued their solid start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season as all three finished 11th or better in Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Buescher finished a Ford-best sixth while Keselowski was 10th and Preece 11th. That marked the second time in five events that at least two RFK Mustangs finished in the top 10 (Daytona), which doesn’t include the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in which Preece won and Buescher was eighth. All three drivers are currently in the top 16 overall with Buescher ninth, Keselowski 12th and Preece 13th in the point standings.

BRAD KESELOWSKI: “My eyes are wide open. The biggest thing I’m thinking about at Darlington is to go 50 laps on a set of tires was almost impossible with the Next Gen car in the last two or three seasons, and now that we have more horsepower and less aero, I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to go 35 laps. So, keeping up with the tires is going to be a big challenge. The drivers managing it, the teams putting our setups to where it can do it. Darlington is going to be a heavy lift. It’s always a heavy lift, but it’s a heavier lift now, I think, with these circumstances and a lot of unknowns entering the race at Darlington. It might turn out no different, but I don’t think that will be the case. I think it’s gonna be a really difficult race.”

KESELOWSKI SCORES FIRST WIN FOR MUSTANG DARK HORSE;

FIRST AS DRIVER/OWNER

Brad Keselowski passed Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick with nine laps to go after those two made contact battling for the lead to capture the Goodyear 400 in 2024 at Darlington Raceway. It was the first race win for the Ford Mustang Dark Horse. The win represented the first for Keselowski since he became co-owner with Jack Roush and snapped a 110-race winless streak. Keselowski qualified second and was a fixture at the front of the field all afternoon. He finished third in Stage 1, second in Stage 2, and completed the progression as he led five times for 37 laps on the day.

LOGANO PICKS UP FIRST DARLINGTON WIN

Joey Logano passed William Byron with two laps to go to win the Goodyear 400 in 2022 for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season and first at Darlington Raceway. Logano dominated the Throwback Weekend, capturing the pole on Saturday and then winning the first stage before green flag pit stops and race strategy took over. He went on to lead eight times for 107 laps, most among all drivers, and dueled with Byron for the win over the final 26 laps.

A TOP FOUR FORD SWEEP

Ford Racing is coming off a sweep of the top four positions in the inaugural St. Petersburg Street Race two weeks ago in which Layne Riggs drove his Love’s Travel Stops Ford F-150 to victory with Ty Majeski second, Ben Rhodes third and Chandler Smith fourth. The last time Ford achieved that kind of sweep was on Oct. 11, 1998 at Sears Point for the Kragen/Exide 151 in which Boris Said won with Mike Bliss second, Tony Raines third and Joe Ruttman fourth.

QUALIFYING HOT STREAK

Ford Racing has gotten off to a fast start in 2026, having won two of the first three events with Front Row Motorsports teammates Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs. But that also pertains to qualifying, where the Blue Oval is 2-for-2 after ThorSport Racing teammates Ty Majeski and Jake Garcia claimed the pole at Daytona and Atlanta, respectively. Qualifying in St. Petersburg was canceled due to weather.

FOUR OF THE TOP FIVE

After three races, Ford F-150 drivers make up four of the top five spots in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings. Chandler Smith, the only driver in the series who has posted top 10 finishes in all three events, leads the way by 34 points over Ben Rhodes, who is the only Ford driver with a series win at Darlington. Ty Majeski is third while Layne Riggs is fifth.

FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS

AT DARLINGTON

1956 – Curtis Turner

1960 – Joe Weatherly (1)

1961 – Fred Lorenzen and Nelson Stacy

1962 – Nelson Stacy and Larry Frank

1963 – Fireball Roberts (2)

1964 – Fred Lorenzen

1965 – Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett

1968 – David Pearson (1)

1969 – Lee Roy Yarbrough (2)

1970 – David Pearson (1)

1981 – Neil Bonnett (2)

1982 – Dale Earnhardt (1)

1985 – Bill Elliott (Sweep)

1988 – Bill Elliott (2)

1992 – Bill Elliott (1)

1993 – Mark Martin (2)

1994 – Bill Elliott (2)

1997 – Dale Jarrett (1)

1998 – Dale Jarrett (1)

1999 – Jeff Burton (Sweep)

2001 – Dale Jarrett (1)

2005 – Greg Biffle

2006 – Greg Biffle

2018 – Brad Keselowski

2020 – Kevin Harvick (1) and (3)

2022 – Joey Logano (1)

2024 – Brad Keselowski (1) and Chase Briscoe (2)

FORD NOAPS WINNERS AT DARLINGTON

1993 – Mark Martin (2)

1994 – Mark Martin (Sweep)

1995 – Mark Martin (2)

1996 – Mark Martin (1)

1997 – Jeff Burton (2)

1999 – Mark Martin (2)

2000 – Mark Martin (Sweep)

2001 – Jeff Green (1) and Jeff Burton (2)

2002 – Jeff Burton (Sweep)

2004 – Greg Biffle

2005 – Matt Kenseth

2009 – Matt Kenseth

2018 – Brad Keselowski

2019 – Cole Custer

2020 – Chase Briscoe (1)

FORD NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT DARLINGTON

2020 – Ben Rhodes

As the spirit of America, the Ford Mustang is the world’s best selling sports car and one of the planet’s most popular race cars. With Mustang-based race cars competing in international sports car competition (GT3 and GT4), NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, in Supercars, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and in its own bespoke regional one-make series – Mustang Cup and Mustang Challenge – the platform has an unprecedented global reach. This weekend, 46 Mustang race cars are scheduled to race across all disciplines. Learn more about Mustang at www.FordRacing.com.

Cody Ware on Tackling the Track ‘Too Tough to Tame’

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 17, 2026) – If you’re going to drive a racecar at Darlington Raceway, you’re going to earn a “Darlington Stripe.” It is a rite of passage at the South Carolina track, not just for rookie racers in their first visit to the 1.366-mile oval, but also for veteran wheelmen who have logged thousands of laps around its iconic egg-shaped layout.

The ubiquitous red-and-white scrape marks that eventually appear across the right-rear quarterpanel of drivers’ racecars are Darlington’s seal of approval. If you have them, you’re doing it right. If you don’t, you’re leaving speed on the table. Known as the track “Too Tough to Tame,” Darlington is where drivers literally earn their stripes.

“Riding the wall is the fast way around Darlington. It’s always been that way around turns one and two, and now it’s that way in turns three and four,” said Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Jacob Construction Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing.

“There’s a lot of risk versus reward there, but if you want to make lap time and you want to be fast, it’s right by the wall, almost kissing it. It’s the place to be, for sure.”

It is a delicate balance, trading speed for security.

“There’s no room to give yourself any cushion if something goes wrong,” Ware said. “At a lot of other tracks, you have a couple of car widths to kind of catch it and collect yourself. But a single mistake at Darlington will have you up in the fence, where the whole right side of your car is damaged, not just some scrapes on the quarterpanel. You’ve definitely got to be on your ‘A’ game from start to finish.”

Darlington is one of NASCAR’s oldest venues and arguably its quirkiest. Built in 1949 by Harold Brasington, the track has hosted NASCAR Cup Series races since 1950, and Sunday’s Goodyear 400 will mark its 130th Cup Series race.

Its egg shape, where turns three and four are definitively tighter than turns one and two, came from when Brasington plowed up fields formerly bearing peanuts and cotton and purposely shaped the track narrower at its west end so it wouldn’t disturb a minnow pond belonging to Sherman Ramsey, the man who sold Brasington the property.

The layout that debuted on Sept. 4, 1950 when 75 stock cars took the green flag three-wide for the inaugural Southern 500 is essentially the same layout today.

“They call it the track ‘Too Tough to Tame’ for a reason,” Ware said. “The way that place is built, it’s just tough, no matter how many times you’ve been there.”

Darlington’s asphalt is aged, and its gritty surface places a premium on tire management, a concept that’s easier said than done while barreling 180 mph into the track’s corners, where turns one and two are banked at 25 degrees and turns three and four are banked at 23 degrees.

“It’s always brutal,” Ware said. “There’s never a time where you unload off the trailer and fire off for practice and qualifying that you feel comfortable. Even if you have speed and you’re competitive, you’re still on edge. And when your car isn’t where you want it handling-wise, you’re even more on edge. You’re always white-knuckling it, sawing at the wheel, manhandling the racecar every lap.”

The Goodyear 400 will be a race within a race. Drivers will be racing each other while racing to keep up with track conditions.

“This year, for sure, is going to be more about racing the track and racing the tire. We have more horsepower, less downforce, and the tires are going to wear out faster. It’s going to make for a wild Sunday afternoon,” Ware said.

“Just focusing on what we need to manage our tires, where we have as little tire degradation and lap-time falloff as we can throughout a run, that’s going to be the key to having a successful day at Darlington. And, of course, being smart when you’re up against that wall, and also navigating restarts. Turn two is always a pretty tricky place, and getting through those first couple of laps on the start and on restarts is going to be very important to having a good day.”

The road to a good raceday begins Saturday at 2:30 p.m. EDT with a one-hour practice before qualifying at 3:40 p.m. Prime Video and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide live coverage of both. Sunday’s Goodyear 400 goes green at 3 p.m. with live, flag-to-flag coverage delivered by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

About Rick Ware Racing:

Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age 6 when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware transitioned out of the driver’s seat and into fulltime team ownership. He has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that competes full-time in the elite NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning winning teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track (AFT), FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) and zMAX CARS Tour.