The race was situated on the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend in mid-May. The event's traditional moniker "Southern 500" was dropped for the time being. Officials replaced Darlington's two Cup Series events with one 500-mile race. Starting in 2005, Darlington was forced to contract down to one race per year. The case was settled in his favor, and NASCAR was forced to give up one of its Darlington dates so that a second race could be held at Texas. In 2004, Francis Ferko, a shareholder of the company that owned Texas Motor Speedway, sued NASCAR, saying they had violated antitrust laws by refusing to have a second race at Texas Motor Speedway, as many other tracks had. Rockingham lost its fall date to Fontana, and the Pop Secret 500 was moved to the prestigious Labor Day weekend date. Also, it meant the race would be part of the new Chase for the Championship. Track management believed the November date would allow for cooler, more comfortable weather for fans, who had increasingly voiced concerns about the hot, humid, weather. In the entire history of the pageant, only two Miss Southern 500s ever won Miss South Carolina (Amanda Spivey: 1995, Janet Powers: 1997).įor the 2004 season, a realignment of the NASCAR schedule saw the race move to November. įrom 1953 to 1996, there was a Miss Southern 500 beauty pageant where the event winner competed in the Miss South Carolina Pageant the following year. In the years before 1984, the race was held on Monday, Labor Day itself. From 1992 to 2004, it was sponsored by PepsiCo products ( Pepsi or Mountain Dew).įrom 1950 to 2003, this annual event was traditionally held on Labor Day weekend (typically the first weekend of September). In 1989, the race added Heinz as a title sponsor, but kept the traditional "Southern" moniker in its official name. The Southern 500 was one of the last races on the circuit to embrace naming rights in its title. Two drivers, Bill Elliott (1985) and Jeff Gordon (1997), clinched the Winston Million with victories in the Southern 500. From 1985– 1997, it served as the fourth race of the popular Winston Million. Through most of its history, the race was one of NASCAR's premier events, and was known as one of four majors on the NASCAR circuit. The race began in 1950, as NASCAR's first 500-mile race, and it was the only race of such distance until the Daytona 500 debuted in 1959. History 1950–2003: Original run on Labor Day Weekend The trophy features photos of all the past winners of the race. Since 2020, the event is currently scheduled to take place as the first race of the NASCAR playoffs. From 2015 to 2020, the race weekend has been themed "NASCAR Throwback," with many cars fielding "Throwback" paint schemes (the revitalised spring race has taken that role in 2021). The event re-assumed the Southern 500 name in 2009, and in 2015, moved back to its traditional Labor Day weekend date. ![]() ![]() The race was held as a night race under-the-lights during this period. The 500-mile race was moved to the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend in May and renamed for the sponsorship of Dodge. The following year, as the result of a settlement in the Ferko lawsuit, Darlington lost one of its two dates. In 2004, the Southern 500 was moved to November and was run as the second-to-last race in the inaugural Chase for the Championship. Through 2004, Darlington held two Cup series races annually, the Southern 500 in the fall, and a 400-mile event in the spring. ![]() It is also the site of Darrell Waltrip's final career victory (1992). The Southern 500 has a storied history, including Bill Elliott famously winning the Winston Million in 1985, and Jeff Gordon doing the same in 1997. Darlington Raceway itself has a long and storied reputation as the "Track Too Tough to Tame." The Southern 500 is largely considered one of the Crown Jewels of the NASCAR calendar, and has been nicknamed NASCAR's "oldest superspeedway race." For decades, the race has been considered by competitors and media as one of the more difficult and challenging races on the NASCAR schedule, owing much to the track's unusual, asymmetrical egg-shape, rough pavement, and overall unforgiving nature. From 1950 to 2003, and again since 2015, the race has been held on Labor Day weekend. The race distance is 501 miles (806 km) and consists of 367 laps. The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. Auto race held in September in Darlington, United States Cook Out Southern 500ĭarlington, South Carolina, United States
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