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Winston Cup preview -- Southern 500
| NASCAR Winston Cup Series -- Southern 500 |
| When: Sunday, Sept. 3 -- 1 p.m. ET on
ESPN |
| Where: Darlington Raceway |
| Distance: 367 laps/500 miles |
| Posted Awards: $2,602,838 |
| The Field: |
| Field consists of the fastest 36 cars through time
trials. Also,
seven provisional starting positions based on 2000 owner points,
for maximum 43-car field. The 43rd position is reserved for a
past
NWCS champion, if needed. If unused, it will go to the next
eligible
owner.
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| The Schedule: |
| Friday, Sept. 1 |
| 11:30am Practice until 1:55pm |
| 3:30pm Qualifying (pos. 1-25, one lap) |
| Saturday, Sept. 2 |
| 11:30am Qualifying (pos. 26-36, one laps) |
| TBD Final practice following Busch event |
| Sunday, Sept. 3 |
| 1pm Start of the Southern 500 |
| Track facts |
|
Darlington Raceway is a 1.366-mile banked paved oval hosting the
51st Southern 500 since 1950. The track has 25-degree
banking in turns 1 and 2 and 23-degree banking in turns 3 and 4.
The length of the front and backstretch is 1,229 feet.
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| Southern 500 Notes |
- The NASCAR Winston Cup Series Leader Bonus is worth
$40,000
this weekend at Darlington Raceway.
- 800 for DW? -- If Darrell Waltrip starts in this
weekend's race at
Darlington, it would be his 800th NASCAR Winston Cup Series
career start. Only two drivers are ahead of him with career
starts:
Richard Petty (1,177) and Dave Marcis (874 - note: Marcis has
752 Modern-Era starts and 122 career starts prior to 1972).
- Dale Jarrett has a chance to join an elite list of
those that have
won what some dub "the Crown Jewels" in NASCAR Winston Cup
Series racing: the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte),
Winston 500 (Talladega) and the Southern 500 (Darlington).
Jarrett has won the spring race at Darlington, twice, but never
the fall event. If he wins, he would join Buddy Baker, Bobby
Allison, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff
Gordon as those that have accomplished this feat.
- Jeff Burton swept both races at Darlington in 1999. His
older
brother, Ward, won there in the spring (ending a five-year
drought
since his last victory). Should Ward win this weekend's race, it
would mark the first time brothers have swept races at Darlington
in the same year.
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| Other Notes |
- Bobby Labonte's lead in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series
point
standings was cut to 91 points ahead of second-place Dale
Jarrett. This is the 14th straight race that Labonte has led the
point standings.
- The top five in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point
standings
are separated by 290 points.
- Rusty Wallace leads all drivers with four victories in
2000 and
has led the most laps in six races this season, more than any
other driver.
- Sterling Marlin made the points move of the race
climbing from
21st to 17th in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point standings.
- Matt Kenseth continues on his quest for the Raybestos
Rookie of
the Year title -- he leads by 25 points over Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Dave Blaney is third, while Stacy Compton and Scott Pruett are
tied with a total of 157.
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