They call this 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval “The Lady in Black� and “The Track Too Tough to Tame.� And any veteran will tell you Darlington is one place where you have to beat the track first and your fellow drivers second. Dale Earnhardt put it best when he said, “There’s no victory so sweet or so memorable as whipping Darlington Raceway.�

Darlington is tough on drivers because it’s tough on tires. After a couple of laps you start to slip and slide around—and what makes things even tougher is a narrow racing groove that runs right up against the wall. To keep up to speed, drivers will use up every inch of track coming out of the corners. Get a little bit off line or a little out of shape, and you’ll pick up the old Darlington stripe—which isn’t too bad unless you hit the wall too hard. And if the drivers don’t give each other some room, you tend to see a lot of wrecks.

Darlington favors drivers who can stay smooth to save tires, and cars that can stick to the track. For crew chiefs that means finding downforce and getting the right shock and spring package to help save those tires. And remember, each end of the track is different, with a wider radius and 25 degree banking in one and two and a tight radius and 23 degree banking in 3 and 4. That means it’s tough to be perfect the whole way around.

For 2008 Darlington will have a new racing surface, which will likely not be as tough on tires, so that may change strategy significantly, depending on how quickly tires do indeed wear.

This place is really too small for the cars these days, and that's what makes it so much fun--you've got to have some serious skill to get around Darlington. Everyone says race the track first, your competition second. The surface has been so rough that tires wear in a hurry and you start slipping around. That may change with new asphalt next year.