After 26 races, NASCAR’s Cup Series championship fight officially begins with 500 miles at one of the most unforgiving tracks on the schedule.
There are certainly easier places NASCAR could have chosen to start a championship fight, but the 2026 Chase opens with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, where managing tires can matter just as much as outright speed and running inches too close to the wall can change an afternoon.
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Darlington’s 1.366-mile egg-shaped layout is part of the problem. Turns 1 and 2 are wider and more sweeping, while Turns 3 and 4 are tighter, leaving teams to find a setup that works around two very different...
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