Darlington International Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina has long been known in the NASCAR ranks as the 'Track To Tough To Tame'. It has been the nemesis of many of the NASCAR greats and when the green flag dropped on Saturday night for the Southern 500 it certainly was singing that same old familiar song. In the end though, it was Reagan Smith being able to hold off season points leader Carl Edwards to gain his first career NASCAR win.
It was certainly redemption for Smith. The only other time that he came close to victory lane was back in 2008 at Talladega Superspeedway in which a late last lap past of Tony Stewart caused him to go below the yellow inside line thus disqualifying him from the win. Saturday at Darlington was a case of a green-white-checkered finish as Smith held a firm win in the end and made his first official trip to Victory Lane.
Brad Keslowski finished in third, followed by the pole sitter Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin. Stewart, then Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, and Martin Truex, Jr. finishing in tenth. The big story of the night came at the end. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch have had a well known rivalry on the track and their dislike for each other came to a head at Darlington. At the end of the race, Harvick, Busch, and Clint Bowyer got involved in a three car wreck.
It ended up with Harvick and Busch getting into a confrontation, one that seen punches thrown and a heated argument. Both Harvick and Busch were called back to the NASCAR trailer but as of the end of the race there were no penalties that were handed down.
Next weekend that NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will make its first stop of the year at Dover Downs International Raceway for the Autism Speaks 400. The following weekend will be the annual All Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Edwards still holds the series point lead going into next weeks race.
