Darlington, S.C. — Save a few scuffs on the sides of a few cars following Saturday’s practice the new Steel and Foam Energy Reduction barrier system installation here at Darlington Raceway doesn’t seem to have totally robbed the racers of their groove.
The lost 30 inches of groove following the SAFER installation will certainly make things far more interesting in the turns of this historic track. But all is not lost at one of the most demanding tracks on the tour as these drivers work to adapt to the hand dealt them.
It was Mark Martin who showed his followers, or the 42 other drivers who will compete in Sunday’s event, how it’s done. He proved the point after setting the pace early in the final Happy Hour session, after he toured Darlington’s worn surface with a 29.571 (166.298 mph) second lap.
Martin busted off the lap, breaking the Dodge logjam at the top of the speed charts, on the second of the 65 laps he ran in the early Saturday session.
Greg Biffle and Dale Jarrett, both of whom ran more than 50 laps each, were the only two other Ford drivers in the top-10 at the conclusion of the final session on Saturday. Biff was fifth, with a 29.792 second lap, while Jarrett snared the sixth spot with his 29.803-second lap.
One of the better judges of what’s going on here at Darlington is Jim Hunter, NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications. Hunter’s unique ability to offer insights on this tough old track comes from his numerous years as the manager of this property before being called to Daytona, Fla., to help in the sanctioning body’s media liaison role.
“I talked to some of the drivers [Friday], a few of them say [the SAFER barriers have] messed up the groove and that’s probably true depending on the line they use to get around here,” said Hunter. “But in talking to some others, Terry Labonte for an example, who said, ‘Look, this is Darlington. It’s the narrowest piece of real estate that we race on and it was made more narrow but you get past that stuff and you race on it.’”
“Driving styles will change and you’ll see that tomorrow I think,” Hunter admitted. “Some of the less experienced drivers will probably have more problems with it than the others.
“The key to Darlington is being smooth,” notes Hunter, who has watched men including David Pearson wear this track down in the Wood Brothers Ford in years gone by. “It’s not how fast you get in the corner, it’s how fast you can get through the whole corner and if that means backing off a little bit earlier and getting back in the gas … well it’s smooth.
“It’s almost a contradiction. The toughest tracks on circuit favor the smoothest drivers. Here, Bobby Allison, Jeff Gordon, of course Pearson, the list goes on. There have been some examples like Cale Yarborough was a bull in a china shop but he had a tremendous record here of adjusting as the race goes on.”
Hunter says in his years as the manager of this track he’s seen drivers psyche themselves out before the team even leaves for the track.
Guys say, ‘Oh no, we’re coming to Darlington,’” Hunter said then laughing. “Then a lot of those same guys will tell you ‘We’ll have had a successful weekend at Darlington if you can roll your car back on the trailer after the race.’”
“I think it also has a lot to do with whether guys truly enjoy racing here,” Hunter adds. “I’ll give you an example. Kurt Busch, in the big scheme he hasn’t run that many races here but he loves racing here.”
