South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway adds a second NASCAR race
A second race is coming back to Darlington Raceway.
Darlington will host two Cup Series races in 2021, NASCAR and track officials announced Wednesday morning. The first race will be May 9 on Mother’s Day and the Southern 500 will be Sept. 5 on Labor Day weekend.
The Mother’s Day race will be in the afternoon and Southern 500 will be a night race and the first of the Cup Series playoffs. Times will be released a later date.
“One of the most momentous days in the history of Darlington Raceway,” Darlington Raceway president Kerry Tharp said Wednesday morning.
Tharp was joined at the SC Governor’s mansion with NASCAR Executive Vice-Chair Lesa Kennedy, Gov. Henry McMaster and other state officials.
The full 2021 NASCAR schedule will be announced Wednesday afternoon.
The Darlington addition will be part sweeping changes to the usually predictable schedule, including eliminating races at Kentucky and Chicagoland. Other changes include addition of Nashville Speedway, two more road-course races at Circuit of The Americas in Texas and Road America in Wisconsin, a second race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and shift from the oval layout to the road-course layout at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bristol Motor Speedway’s spring race will be a dirt race on the track’s half-mile paved oval. The All-Star race will be moved to Texas Motor Speedway.
“The 2020 schedule had a few wrinkles and those worked out very well,” Tharp said. “I absolutely agree there needs to be changes to the schedule. The sport needs to keep growing and adding new fans so you can’t be afraid to shake things up.”
All races on the NASCAR schedule are awarded on a yearly basis and events could change in future seasons, but Tharp is hopeful the track will continue to have two races going forward.
Darlington Raceway is a legendary track in NASCAR and regarded as one of the crown jewel races by the drivers. It also is a big source of income for the Pee Dee region where it is located and for the Palmetto State.
According to a 2017 study commissioned by Darlington Raceway and conducted by the USC Darla Moore School of Business, a normal Darlington race weekend (with spectators) generates $53 million for the state so adding a second date will be big for the state’s economy.
South Carolina also will host the PGA Championship in May at Kiawah Island along with the RBC Heritage, the PGA’s regular stop on the schedule.
“It is bringing money back to the state and the excitement of competition,” SC Gov. Henry McMaster said. “We got a great state and great people. And the announcement of a second race at Darlington Raceway proves what we have known all along that the The Lady in Black is one of the finest in the country.”
Darlington hosted two NASCAR Cup races from 1960-2004 before one of the races was moved to Fontana Speedway in California. At that point, Darlington’s place in NASCAR was very much in doubt.
Darlington hosted races on Mother’s Day weekend from 2005-13 and then hosted a race in April before moving back to its traditional Labor Day weekend date in 2015. The venue also has hosted the sport’s popular throwback weekend every year since 2015 and drew a near sellout crowd in 2019.
This season, Darlington played a pivotal role in NASCAR’s schedule. It hosted three Cup Series races, including NASCAR’s first Cup Series race after the sport returned from its COVID-19 hiatus in May, followed by a mid-week race. It also hosted two Xfinity Series races and a Truck Series race this year.
The Xfinity and Truck Series schedules aren’t out yet but it is likely they will be held as companion races on one or both of the weekends.
Tharp said those May weekends and helping NASCAR return helped its case and show the importance of the track for the sport.
“Darlington has withstood the test of time,” Tharp said. “A lot of it has to do with the tradition of the track and our fan base. If our fans hadn’t supported us back when we had to go back to one race in spring years ago there could have a situation where NASCAR would look elsewhere.
“So, Darlington being able to withstand test of time and fans hanging in were big positives in our favor.”
About 8,000 to 10,000 fans attended the Southern 500 in September. The attendance was limited because of COVID-19. Tharp hopes the track, which seats 47,000, won’t have any restrictions for its two dates but will have to adjust if it happens.
“We are going to plan to have as many fans as we can next year, likely knowing we will have to make adjustments,” Tharp said. “We are best served to have the philosophy that we are open for business like the governor said and scale back if we have to.”
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 10:10 AM.
