Motorsport News

2023 Goodyear 400 at Darlington

Denny Hamlin stands outside his car at Darlington Raceway prior to the Cook Out Southern 500, 9/4/2022 (Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

It’s a date with the Lady in Black this Mother’s Day weekend, as NASCAR Cup Series teams bring their throwback (and non-throwback) liveries to Darlington Raceway. Let’s get your daily fantasy NASCAR DraftKings rosters ready for the Goodyear 400, airing Sunday, May 14 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

There’s a lot of prestige and celebration of the sport’s history in this event, perhaps even more so as NASCAR commemorates its 75th anniversary this season. Many teams bring cars with paint schemes honoring drivers like Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett and Kevin Harvick. Others have special designs specifically for their sponsors. You can look at all the throwback schemes here.

Above all the festivities is each driver’s desire to win at this racetrack, which is no easy feat. Darlington is 1.366 miles and has an egg shape, where turns 3 and 4 are much tighter than turns 1 and 2. This, plus its aging surface, really makes it the Track Too Tough to Tame.

Drivers tend to run up close to the wall there, and if they aren’t careful, they’ll earn what’s known as a Darlington stripe — a mark on the side of their car after brushing against the wall.

Yet many drivers have seemingly tamed the track over the years, with Joey Logano claiming the win in this race last year, while Erik Jones won in the fall.

For DraftKings, you’ll want to play the drivers that have historically run well at Darlington, since it’s so tough of a track to master. Also, Homestead-Miami Speedway could be worth looking at, especially last year’s stats, since Homestead’s surface is rough as well. The same can be said for Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway, specifically this year’s races.

And, as usual, examine the practice and qualifying results from Saturday, as they can help you know which drivers look to be fast in Sunday’s race. Practice is set to air on May 13 at 10:35 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Qualifying will start at about 11:20 a.m. ET, also on FS1.

Before I move on to my picks for Darlington, let’s look back at the results from Kansas Speedway:

DraftKings Salary Driver DraftKings Score
$10,900 William Byron 49.15
$10,200 Christopher Bell -14.2
$9,000 Bubba Wallace 62
$7,700 Josh Berry 21
$7,000 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 52
$6,500 Austin Cindric -5.1
$5,800 Justin Haley 37.9

Well, you win some, you lose some. Four of these drivers did well, including Bubba Wallace who drove from 17th to fourth. On the other hand, Wallace’s Toyota cohort

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