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.

Events leading up to the race

When the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule was announced on September 30, 2020, a second race at Darlington was added for May 9, 2021, marking the first time since 2004 that the track had two races on the schedule (the 2020 season, changed by the pandemic, had three races).^[8]

On December 11, 2020, Darlington Raceway announced its highly popular NASCAR Throwback weekend would move to the new May 7–9 weekend, effectively making a lineal swap of the two race meetings at the track.^[9] On April 14, 2021, longtime NASCAR tire provider Goodyear announced a race sponsorship deal to call the race the Goodyear 400.^[10]

Starting Lineup

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 90

Stage Two Laps: 95

Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 108

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 19 among 10 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 6 for 36
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 3 hours, 14 minutes and 21 seconds
• Average speed: 123.562 miles per hour (198.854 km/h)

Television

The race was carried by FS1 in the United States. Mike Joy, five-time Darlington winner Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.