NASCAR Media Group: 60th Anniversary Of Darlington Raceway (Full Frame)

Last Minute Sales & Specials

Fifty-year-old Mark Martin, a throwback to the old days, charged from ahead of three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson and other younger drivers to win the Southern 500, a 367-lap marathon on what is known as NASCAR's toughest track. Physically fit and pumped up for the season in a Hendrick Chevrolet, Martin ran with the big dogs up front all night, keeping his car in one piece and saving the best for last. It was a record-setting night for cautions under a full South Carolina moon. Seventeen times the caution waved as driver after driver made contact with Darlington's famous walls. Most of them didn't just get a Darlington Stripe as is the norm for this 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval. They hit hard enough to take the paint off the whole right side of the car. It was a typical Saturday night spectacle with the second-oldest track in NASCAR taking a larger-than-usual number of prisoners, including race leader Greg Biffle, who wound up eighth after leading many of the 367 laps before spinning and hitting the wall with 70 laps to go. Tony Stewart finished third, just ahead of teammate Ryan Newman, another race leader. The third-fourth finish position for the Stewart-Haas cars speaks volumes of Stewart as the circuit's newest owner-driver. Jeff Gordon, a four-time champion who has won seven times at Darlington, finished fifth. Another race leader was sixth, Martin Truex, Jr. Talladega winner Brad Kewelowski wound up seventh ahead of Biffle. Rookie Joey Logano was ninth and Matt Kenseth finished 10th. Martin, one of NASCAR's longest-running superstars, was greeted afterwards with a thundering roar from the crowd of more than 70,000, who obviously appreciated Martin's unbelievable run on a muggy night when most men his age would be out of breath if they walked a mile, much less race 500 miles. Martin proved once again he still has what it takes to get the job done.