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Bojangles Southern 500

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Almirola Emerges As A Contender

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The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series goes to South Carolina on Saturday for the Bojangles Southern 500 (6:45 PM ET Fox). It’s been another tumultuous week with decisions on driver penalties and back-and-forth in the media in the wake of last Sunday’s wild finish at Talladega. And sliding under the radar is the performance of a new contender.

Aric Almirola has running a steady eighth in the overall points standings. The 29-year-old driver spent most of his early career on the Nationwide Series, something that’s akin to a Triple A team in baseball. Almirola did a few races here and there at the Sprint Cup level, but never really made an impact. 2012 saw him do his first full year at the highest level and he placed a respectable 20th.

This year has been even stronger, as the driver for Richard Petty’s team has been steady and consistent from the outset. The one thing Almirola does not have on his resume yet is a win, and he’ll take his next shot at Darlington Raceway on Saturday night.

THE TRACK TOO TOUGH TO TAME

Darlington is a good place to be for Almirola, or any other driver looking to upset the applecart and get a breakthrough win. Its nickname, noted in the subhead, comes from the challenging track conditions and the unpredictability that creates.

“One corner is wider than the other,” TheSportsNotebook’s NASCAR junkie, my brother Bill, informed me. “The racing is very tight.” He went on to add that the racing is tight enough that a phenomena called “The Darlington Stripe” has developed—it’s the scrapes across the side of the car that come from them rubbing against each other, and it’s seen as a badge of honor.

In our previous NASCAR Sprint Cup series coverage, we’ve noted how other tracks that have tight racing, make it important to get off to a good start, for the obvious reason than when it’s difficult to pass, you can’t get far behind. We should also emphasize the flip side of this, and it’s that it can be hard for one driver to pull away from the pack. Over the last seven years, seven different drivers have won at Darlington. While it includes the usual suspects, including Jimmie Johnsons last year, it also includes upstarts like Regan Smith in 2011.

Kyle Busch is coming in as the betting-line favorite at 5-1, with Johnson and Matt Kenseth right behind at 6-1. Kasey Kahne and the now-healthy Denny Hamlin are at 8-1, with Carl Edwards sitting on 10-1. If you want to take a shot with Almirola for his breakthrough win, you can fetch a 100-1 price tag.

PENALTIES REDUCED

I’ve harped very strongly on what I see as the unfairness in the penalties NASCAR has levied against Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano this season. At least Kenseth got some justice—his 50-point penalty was reduced to 12, and his crew chief is only suspended one race. Unfortunately, Keselowski and Logano did not get the same justice, and there is a good chance this is going to cost Logano a spot in the playoffs—or at least the chance to be right in the race as September gets closer.

NASCAR Faces The Track Too Tough To Tame

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“The Track Too Tough To Tame” is what TheSportsNotebook’s NASCAR consultant, my brother Bill, called the Darlington Raceway in South Carolina that will host this week’s installment in the Sprint Cup Series on Saturday night (6:30 PM ET, Fox). And the recent history here backs that nickname up. Over the past five years, we’ve had five different winners of the Bojangles Southern 500 and with those winners including Regan Smith in 2011 and Mark Martin in 2009, it hasn’t just been the big names taking turns.

“It’s a really unique track,” Bill told me this afternoon as he ran his long-haul truck run through Wyoming. “One corner is wider than the other and it’s very tight.” As we’ve discussed in previous articles, the tight track makes passing difficult and that means for NASCAR drivers, getting an early lead is as important on a track like Darlington, as it would be for the Phillies and Giants in a game with Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum on the mound. The track in fact, is so tight that drivers are known to get “The Darlington Stripe”, the scrape marks that come across the side of the car from rubbing up too close to the side.

There’s also been some exciting finishes at this track—the flip side of it being hard to pass, is that it can also be hard for a frontrunner to pull away—so perhaps we might see a repeat of last week, when Brad Keselowski first overtook Matt Kenseth, then nipped Kyle Busch at the wire in Talladega. According to Bill, Keselowski’s win had big consequences in the overall race for the Cup. At the start of September, the top 10 drivers will qualify for the final Sprint For The Cup. There will also be two wild-cards added, and straight up wins tends to be the dominant factor in wild-card selection. Keselowski has two wins to his credit. He’s not in the Top 10 now and it’s safe to say a lot of drivers will be rooting for him to get there and open up a wild-card slot over the summer months.

The top of the standings have started to see some separation. The top three of Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are starting to create space between themselves and the next batch of drivers, which are led up by Denny Hamlin. The driver to keep an eye on right now is Kyle Busch. He’s still sitting down at ninth and trailing by 70 points is more likely concerned with strengthening his position for the Sprint For The Cup. But he’s coming on right now, with a close second last week and a win the week before. Much like the Miami Marlins, whom we discussed here at TheSportsNotebook today, the woes of early struggles have given way to surer footing for Busch.

If there’s anything history tells us about Saturday night it’s that history can tell us nothing. The difficulty in taming a track that also has the nickname “The Lady In Black” has given Darlington the variable of unpredictability, so here’s a good chance for drivers to move up in the standings, or at the very least, bag a nice purse for their team.