NASCAR at Darlington 2017: Start Time, Ticket Info, Lineup, TV Schedule and More
After a brief hiatus, the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series returns on Sunday for a sprint to the playoffs.
Kyle Bush and others head to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles' Southern 500 as the series continues to even itself out. After a wild start featuring unexpected names pulling in checkered flags, Busch has hit victory lane twice over the past four races.
Indeed, the usual suspects continue to turn it on when it matters most, besting a deep field and the new rules implemented this year.
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This time of year's trip to Darlington always means a lot for the entire series, though this is especially the case on Sunday with one driver capable of seizing the regular-season title.
Viewing Details
Where: Darlington Raceway
When: Sunday, 6 p.m. ET
Watch: NBCSN
Live Stream: NBC Sports
Tickets: StubHub.com
Bojangles' Southern 500
- AJ Allmendinger
- Aric Almirola
- Austin Dillon
- Brad Keselowski
- Carl Long
- Chase Elliott
- Chris Buescher
- Clint Bowyer
- Cole Whitt
- Corey LaJoie
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Danica Patrick
- Daniel Suarez
- David Ragan
- Denny Hamlin
- Erik Jones
- Gray Gaulding
- Jamie McMurray
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Jimmie Johnson
- JJ Yeley
- Joey Gase
- Joey Logano
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Busch
- Kyle Larson
- Landon Cassill
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Matt Kenseth
- Michael McDowell
- Paul Menard
- Reed Sorenson
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ryan Blaney
- Ryan Newman
- TBA
- Trevor Bayne
- Ty Dillon
2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Standings
| 1. Martin Truex Jr. | 951 |
| 2. Kyle Larson | 845 |
| 3. Jimmie Johnson | 628 |
| 4. Kyle Busch | 850 |
| 5. Brad Keselowski | 728 |
| 6. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 528 |
| 7. Kevin Harvick | 824 |
| 8. Denny Hamlin | 753 |
| 9. Ryan Blaney | 623 |
| 10. Kurt Busch | 586 |
| 11. Ryan Newman | 574 |
| 12. Kasey Kahne | 451 |
| 13. Austin Dillon | 437 |
| 14. Chase Elliott | 711 |
| 15. Matt Kenseth | 703 |
| 16. Jamie McMurray | 700 |
Drivers to Watch
Kyle Busch
Over the span of four races, Busch has gone from the guy everyone wonders about because of his lack of wins to the guy everyone has to worry about each time out.
He didn't plan it this way, but Busch finally found his form at Pocono at the end of July, leading 74 laps there before taking his first win of the season. Fast forward to the last event, which went down in Bristol, and Busch bumped the laps led to 156 en route to the victory.
The sequel to his long-awaited win was fitting enough. It was his 20th win at Bristol, and a sign things might finally keep falling his way.
"It's just kind of starting to turn around a little bit. Things are going a little bit better in our direction," Busch said, according to Jim Utter of Motorsport.com. "Some of those lucky breaks are kind of floating our way rather than somebody else's way. That's kind of the way it goes. Take 'em when you can get 'em is my mentality."
Now the rest of the series has to worry about Busch's sudden leap in momentum, even if Busch only sees it as luck starting to smile in his direction.
Either way, he's a threat to take any race he enters at this point as the conversation shifts toward his looking at the top spot on the leaderboard.
Joey Logano
Few names face more pressure than Joey Logano going into Sunday.
Logano has a win but remains on the outside looking in because of a penalty dished out by NASCAR, making the checkered flag irrelevant when it comes to the playoffs.
In mid-July, it looked like the Penske Racing driver had finally turned things around, landing fourth at The Brickyard. Since? Four consecutive finishes outside of the top 10, three of them 24th or worse.
"I wasn't expecting to be in this situation after the season started and even after the first few races," Logano said, according to NASCAR.com's Holly Cain. "We had a good start to the season and then went through quite the downturn for a while and have just been trying to dig out of a hole."
Performance aside, Logano is one of many racing for a good cause over the weekend following Hurricane Harvey, as captured by ESPN.com's Bob Pockrass:
At the least, Logano and others will use one of the season's biggest events in a way to help others.
If Logano call pull out of a funk and get into the playoff conversation, it'd make for a nice cherry on top.
Martin Truex Jr.
As series leader and the defending champion at this event, Martin Truex Jr. finds himself in a power position few get to experience.
He also happens to be the guy hinted at in the intro who has a shot at pulling in the regular-season title.
As Pockrass broke down recently, all Truex needs to do is finish 17th or better to secure the so-called title, which is more important than usual this year because it doles out some extra playoff points in the new format.
And though the rest of the series might not want to hear it, Truex happens to enjoy the challenges Darlington presents.
"Darlington might be one of the most fun race tracks we compete on, but it's also one of the toughest," Truex said, per Pockrass. "As we all know, there's not much room between the track and the concrete wall.
Based on how well he ran the track last year on the way to the checkered flag and how he has talked about this weekend, it sounds like Truex won't come up with anything short of the aggressive style fans like to see from him.
With so much at stake other than an arbitrary spot atop a leaderboard, the No. 78 Toyota is once again one of the top factors to watch in a major event.
Stats and info courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise specified.
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