The Daytona 500 is NASCAR’s Crown Jewel. The Great American Race, the Super Bowl of stock car racing, has earned quite a few nicknames, but Mark Martin differs here. His son, Matt, seems to have some doubts about the race’s running legacy, as he feels the Southern 500 is a more prestigious race, and Mark doesn’t disagree, but he has his reasons.

Mark Martin reflects on the Daytona 500’s legacy

“I’ve never understood the hype for that race,” said Matt Martin about the season-opener, who also argued that he is perhaps not old enough to relate to the race’s history.

But there’s more to it. He brings some strong points to the table, claiming the older history of Darlington and the challenging environment it provides. Safe to say, Mark Martin agrees with his son.

“I mean, you make all great points, and I don’t disagree with any of it,” Martin said, speaking on his namesake podcast.

While he does bring some history into the perspective as to why the Daytona 500 was so celebrated, Mark Martin feels that the developing sport has also changed the race: “It has changed so much because the cars have outgrown it. The cars outgrew the racetrack in the mid-80s, and the way I say that is because they got to running 200, which was too fast for it to be safe for the fans.”

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Martin’s observation detailed how the racing developed at Daytona, and it certainly wasn’t in a way he appreciated. When the 67-year-old first raced at Daytona in the early 1980s and returned in 1988, the racing was different. Despite the introduction of restrictor plates in 1988 to slow the cars down, the track would still get slick enough on race day that drivers couldn’t simply hold the throttle wide open the entire time.

And as the 1990s hit, everything changed. The cars became more equal, the packs tightened, and Daytona transformed into what Martin called pack racing.

Even though Darlington did give NASCAR its first 500-mile event, Daytona replicated the race in fewer laps, being a 2.5-mile superspeedway. For the teams and the drivers, it was more than just a test of skills and reliability.

Following some deadly incidents, NASCAR had to mandate restrictor plates on the track, which significantly reduced engine horsepower, thus making it safer. This is another point that Martin argued is problematic: “When you start having to restrict the cars from 900 horsepower to 400, 425, you got a problem. I mean, it’s just a different race.”

The Daytona 500 is treated as the most important Cup Series race, partially because the first-ever NASCAR race was held nearby at Daytona Beach. However, Darlington carries more history. It has challenged the drivers differently and has been around for longer than the 2.5-mile beast.

Notably, known as ‘Too Tough To Tame’ on social media, Darlington Raceway has an extremely abrasive surface, which causes some intense tire wear. Besides this, the track is ‘egg-shaped,’ a design that requires drivers to brush the wall to maintain high speed. As a result, they need to race at high speed with intense focus, along with managing the tires, making it one of the hardest tracks to race on.

The history of Darlington Raceway

The Darlington Raceway is more than just a piece of asphalt for drivers. The 1.366-mile track challenged drivers’ endurance for the first time in 1950, introducing a 500-mile race. Up until 2003, the race was held on Labor Day Weekend, hence becoming an important part of both the sport and the country’s history.

While that tradition was dropped for over a decade, NASCAR moved the race back to the Labor Day weekend in 2015. The grand event was so awaited that it featured a Miss Southern 500 Beauty Pageant between ‘53 and ‘96. The winner then competed for the Miss South Carolina title.

Despite all the history it carries, Daytona took all the fame in the blink of an eye with its giant layout and the sport’s origin history. Yet, Darlington remains one of the hardest races to win in the Cup Series.

Competed over 367 laps, it wouldn’t be wrong to call it an endurance race. There are fewer caution flags, the car handles differently, and focusing on the right throttle and brake input for hours on end is a challenging task. The smallest of mistakes ends races here.

While both of the grand events have their reasons to be popular, the season-opener is still the Daytona 500. Matt Martin does bring some strong points to the table, but as Mark Martin suggested, what makes Daytona so special is that “part of it is tradition and the history when that racetrack was built.” At the same time, however, Darlington Raceway is just as honored.