Why is Darlington considered a NASCAR crown jewel track? Everything you need to know

Darlington Raceway, located in Darlington, South Carolina, is home to one of NASCAR's four "crown jewel" races, the Southern 500. That is the reason the 1.366-mile racetrack, also known as "The Lady in Black" and the "Track Too Tough to Tame", is regarded as a crown jewel track.

Other crown jewel tracks on NASCAR's annual roster are the Daytona International Speedway, which hosts the Daytona 500, the Charlotte Motor Speedway, which hosts the Coca-Cola 500, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which hosts the Brickyard 400.

Since its inclusion on the NASCAR schedule in 1950, Darlington Raceway has been considered as NASCAR's original superspeedway, even before the ushering-in of other restricted plate tracks like Talladega and Daytona. The circuit features a unique egg-shaped structure due to an adjacent pond, whose owner Sherman Ramsey refused to relocate when the track was being built. Ramsey was the farmer who sold the land on which the track stands to Harold Brasington, the original builder of the track.

Brasington said in 1933 (as reported by racingcircuits.info),

"I wanted a race where a local grocer, mechanic, or baker could drive their car off the street and compete with their neighbor."

However, when Ramsey refused to sell up the location of his winnow pond, Brasington was forced to tighten one of the corners of the racetrack to pull it away from Ramdey's pond. This led to a challenging straightaway, with difficult turns on both ends.

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What makes winning at Darlington so special?

Winning a crown jewel race is considered a remarkable achievement for any NASCAR driver. A victory brings prestige along with the winnings for the driver as well as their team. According to a recent X (formerly Twitter) statement by renowned journalist Bob Pockrass, this year's purse for the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington is a whopping $8,644,143.

As per Pockrass, the winner will receive about 8 to 10 percent of the total purse. This means the winner will receive a check of around $600,000 to $800,000. The rest of the purse will be distributed among the chartered entries in the competition based on factors like finishing positions and charter status.

Fans can check out the full schedule of the weekend at Darlington Raceway here, and also take a look at the qualifying order of the coveted Cup Series event.

As the last regular season event, it is safe to say that today's race will be a tough battle between the Cup Series drivers to bag precious playoff spots. It will also be the final chance for the two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch to make the playoffs.

"This race in the spring, we did not run well, but we don’t come in this weekend holding our heads low and thinking that we’re going to not run well again," the Childress Racing driver said, recalling his P27 finish in April (via Yahoo Sports). "We put our heads to paper and try to figure out why and said we’re going to go there with the best piece we can and try to kick their butt and get a win."

"It‘s just been a long year for a lot of different reasons," said Erik Jones, driver of the No. 43 Toyota for Legacy Motor Club. "But I think if you told me I had to pick one track other than a superspeedway, I‘d probably pick Darlington to go win."

This is the first time in the last three years that NASCAR is about to run its Cup Series regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway. Daytona International Speedway hosted the said event in 2022 and 2023. According to NASCAR's 2025 schedule, Daytona will host the regular season finale again next year.

Fans can watch the race live on NBC Sports and USA Network from 6 PM ET onwards. Radio updates for the same will be available on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.