Background

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

First practice

Kurt Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.714 seconds and a speed of 171.261 mph (275.618 km/h).^[11]

Final practice

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.125 seconds and a speed of 168.845 mph (271.730 km/h).^[12]

Qualifying results

Stage results

Stage One Laps: 100

Stage Two Laps: 100

Final stage results

Stage Three Laps: 167

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 13 among 8 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 7 for 35
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds
• Average speed: 133.825 miles per hour (215.370 km/h)

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, two–time Darlington winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were in the booth to call the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race. Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty also called a portion of the race as part of the Throwback Weekend.

Radio

The Motor Racing Network (MRN) called the race for radio, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Rusty Wallace called the action for MRN when the field raced down the front stretch. Dave Moody called the race from a Billboard outside of turn 1 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2, and Mike Bagley called the race atop of the Darlington Raceway Club outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Winston Kelley, Steve Post, and Kim Coon called the action on pit road for MRN.