While every track on the NASCAR calendar has its own set of challenges, there are a few that stand tall as extremely tough to conquer. Among them is the 1.3-mile oval in Darlington. Cup Series stars Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin were recently asked for their choice of the hardest oval in their experience and their uniform response was the Darlington Raceway.
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Faced with the question in his pre-race interview in Kansas, Reddick said that Darlington seemed to be one of the most difficult. “It’s just so easy to get yourself in the wall anywhere around the racetrack,” he quipped. “With the shape and your approach you have to turn into those corners. You kind of have to thread the needle by the wall every lap to have a good arc.”
Nicknamed “The Lady In Black”, the track has a unique egg-oval shape in which one of its ends is narrower than the other. This configuration makes it extremely challenging for cars to be set up to handle well on both ends. Reddick continued, “And then just how turn three and four is shaped, [how] the wall is shaped, it’s a bit wavy.”
“So if you get on the corner chasing the wall you’re going to end up hitting it about a third away.” Considering the difficulty in turning through the corners at high speeds and not crashing into the wall, he ruled that Darlington was the toughest oval for him. His team’s founder, Denny Hamlin, had opinions along similar lines.
Denny Hamlin explains why the Darlington Raceway is tough for him
Hamlin expressed that Darlington was the most difficult oval because of the heightened focus that it takes to run there. He put a finger on the changes in the track’s grip, the proximity to the wall, and the differences between the ends of the track to make his case. He said, “All those things are just really difficult to wrap your head around and why it takes guys sometimes a long time to get good there.”
Once the action is done in Kansas this Sunday, the grid will start preparing for the first of the two races in Darlington. Going to this illustrious part of NASCAR’s history, even the most experienced on the field is sure to struggle to get a grip on their cars.
