NASCAR returns to Darlington Raceway for Sunday afternoon’s race (3 p.m. ET on FS1).
The race concludes NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend, an annual celebration of the race’s history. This is the first of two races at Darlington this season.
The weekend in Kansas was the closest NASCAR has come to a Cup finish.
Here are the drivers to watch in Sunday’s race.
front runner
Denny Hamlin
Point location: 4th
Best finish of the season: 1st place (Bristol I, Richmond I, Dover)
Statistics for 2024: 3 wins, 4 top 5 finishes, 5 top 10 finishes. The average finish was 13.4 after completing 606 laps.
Past in Darlington: 23 starts with four wins, 12 in the top five, and 16 in the top 10. Hamlin led 978 laps at Darlington.
Kyle Larson
Point location: First place
Best finish of the season: 1st place (Las Vegas I, Kansas I)
Statistics for 2024: 2 wins, 6 top 5s, 6 top 10s. He completed a series-best 634 laps and had an average finish of 10.8.
Past in Darlington: 12 starts with one win, 6 finishes in the top 5, and 8 finishes in the top 10. He led 770 laps at Darlington. Larson won last season’s playoff race at Darlington.
Kansas state champion Kyle Larson has had more close Cup finishes since 2022 than any other series driver.
William Byron
Point location: 7th place
Best finish of the season: 1st place (Daytona 500, Circuit of the Americas, Martinsville I)
Statistics for 2024: 3 wins, 4 top 5 finishes, 7 top 10 finishes. The average finish was 13.0 after completing 185 laps.
Past in Darlington: Thirteen players started with one win, four top-five finishes, five top-10s, and seven DNFs. Byron led all Cup drivers with 898 top-five laps at Darlington in the Next Generation car. He leads all drivers with 1,083 laps in the top 10 in the next generation Darlington.
eric jones
Point location: 27th
Best finish of the season: 8th place (Daytona 500)
Statistics for 2024: Average finish is 21.0 with one top 10 finish. He missed two races due to injury.
Past in Darlington: Twelve starts with two wins, five in the top five, and eight in the top 10. Average finish is 11.8.
Michael McDowell won the 2021 Daytona 500 with Front Row Motorsports and last year’s race on the Indy road course.
questions to answer
ryan blaney
Point location: 6th place
Best finish of the season: 2nd place (Atlanta I)
Statistics for 2024: He finished in the top five four times and in the top ten five times for an average finish of 13.7. Blaney led 122 laps.
Past in Darlington: 14 has three top-10 finishes and starts with an average finish of 17.2. Blaney led just 21 laps at Darlington.
Ross Chastain
Point location: 10th
Best finish of the season: 4th place (Las Vegas I)
Statistics for 2024: He finished in the top five once, and in the top ten four times, for an average finish of 13.8. Chastain led 108 laps.
Past in Darlington: Nine will start with two top-five finishes and two top-10 finishes. Chastain has one top-five finish and three finishes below 20th at Darlington in the Next Generation era.
Joey Logano
Point location: 17th
Best finish of the season: 2nd place (Richmond I)
Statistics for 2024: He finished in the top five once, and in the top ten three times, for an average finish of 18.7. Logano led 199 laps.
Past in Darlington: 20 starts with one win, 6 finishes in the top 5, and 10 finishes in the top 10. Logano finished first and fourth in the 2022 Darlington race. He finished 18th and 12th in the Darlington race last season.
alex bowman
Point location: 9th place
Best finish of the season: 2nd place (Daytona 500)
Statistics for 2024: He finished in the top five four times and in the top ten seven times for an average finish of 13.1.
Past in Darlington: The 12 starts with one top-five finish and three top-10 finishes. Average finish is 19.6 points. Bowman has 101 tops and two DNFs in his first three Next Gen starts at Darlington. He missed last spring’s race at Darlington due to injury.
