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NASCAR Sprint Cup - 2011 Feed

Nov 17, 2011

Red Bull's NASCAR team set for final run Nov 17, 2011

When the chequered flag flies on the 2011 Sprint Cup season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, the finish line of the Ford 400 will also signal the end of Red Bull's NASCAR team...

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Aug 26, 2011

NASCAR driver Brian Vickers goes swimming with sharks Aug 26, 2011

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran Brian Vickers is known for his daredevil antics, but he had never swum with sharks, at least not until his arrival in Atlanta, Georgia, ahead of the Labour Day race...

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May 19, 2011

Then and Now: NASCAR Dream Machines May 19, 2011

Stock car racing is the ultimate American expression of motorsport. Cars in NASCAR have always been spectacularly fast... but they were once even speedier than they are now

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Apr 7, 2011

The Little Questions: Kasey Kahne Apr 7, 2011

So far in NASCAR 2011, Red Bull Racing driver Kasey Kahne has a top 10 finish and a Daytona 500 wall prang to his name. The Red Bulletin asked Kasey some tasty little questions...

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Event Details

Location

Darlington, South Carolina, USA (Map this address )

Start

MAY 5, 2011 at 12:00 AM

End

MAY 8, 2011 at 11:00 PM

About

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pulls into Darlington Raceway, South Carolina and brings with it all the action that has helped make the 'Lady in Black' the NASCAR Tradition that it is. The circuit is a unique egg-shaped designed, an oval with two very different ends. This situation is what makes it so challenging, crews struggle to set up their cars' handling in a manner which will be effective at both ends. Harold Brasington was a retired racer in 1948, he quit racing in the late 1940s to concentrate on farming and his construction business. On noticing the huge crowds that were attending the 1948 Indianapolis 500 he embarked on the construction of a new raceway. Having purchased 70 acres of land from a local farmer, mainly cotton and peanut fields, he was forced to adopt the unusual and iconic oval shape in order to honour a promise to the farmer that he would not disturb his minnow pond at the west side of the property.

In recent years the track has been reconfigured; what was the front stretch is now the back stretch, from late 2003 to early 2004 lights were installed for night racing to beat the heat, and the turns have been renumbered accordingly. Seating has been increased to approximately 65,000, although it has been limited by the proximity of a highway behind the back stretch and another pond; sadly the original minnow pond is now long gone. Darlington has something of a legendary status among drivers and older fans. This is probably due to its long track length in relation to other NASCAR speedways of its era. No one knows for sure how the track earned the moniker 'The Lady in Black', but is allegedly due to the fact its walls are always painted white prior to a race, but are largely black by the end of it because of tyre contact. It is also known as 'The Track Too Tough To Tame', and when a rookie hits the wall he's considered to have earned his 'Darlington Stripes'.