NASCAR Insider Shares Curious Origin Story Behind Darlington’s One-of-a-Kind Shape

This weekend marks the start of the 2025 Cup Series playoffs for the 16 title contenders. The venue that kickstarts the pointy end of the competition is the Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway. This 1.3 mile oval has been on the NASCAR Cup calendar since 1950, making it one of the oldest superspeedway races. But what truly sets Darlington apart is its peculiar egg shape — born out of an unusual compromise that gave the track its legendary character.

The track has a number of nicknames, like “The Track Too Tough to Tame”, “The Lady in Black”, among others. However, the race track itself has a unique asymmetric egg shape, with the first two turns having 25° banking. Meanwhile, the last two turns have 23° banking, and the two straights have 6° banking. And as one current Cup driver recently pointed out, there’s a quirky backstory behind why Darlington ended up with such an unusual layout.

Mystery behind the odd-shaped Darlington

In a recent episode of the Stacking Pennies podcast, co-host Ryan Flores quizzed the guests, including fellow co-host Corey LaJoie, on the mystery behind the track’s unusual shape.

Flores said, “So there’s a minnow pond when they first built the track. The farmer next door to the minnow pond would not let them have it, so that’s why it’s that funky shape.” This traces back to 1949, when Harold Brasington, founder and builder of Darlington raceway, began building the track on a farm owner Sherman Ramsey’s farmland in South Carolina. Brasington had envisioned a true 1.25-mile oval modeled after Indianapolis, but Ramsey insisted that his minnow pond on the west side of the property could not be touched.

Owing to that, Brasington respected Ramsey’s wishes and made the necessary tweaks to avoid disturbing the pond. Brasington had to squeeze the west end of the oval into a tighter, more awkward configuration than the east end. Finally, construction was complete, and the acid test was a 500-mile race on Labor Day in 1950. The result was a 1.366-mile track with two ends of completely different radii and banking. As co-host Corey LaJoie said, “3 and 4 is a much tighter radius now than 1 and 2. They wanted to make it the same as 1 and 2 but they couldn’t, cause the guy was like, ‘I’m not moving my pond. You’re going to have to figure out what you’re going to do.'”

Owing to the unusual layout, the first two turns have a wider radius compared to the final two turns. Turns 1 and 2 are wide and sweeping, while Turns 3 and 4 are narrow and sharp. This unusual compromise gave Darlington its legendary one-of-a-kind layout, forever challenging crews to balance cars for two very different corners and cementing its identity as “The Track Too Tough to Tame.” Since then, the track has been going strong and is well beloved in the community.

Who is the most successful NASCAR driver at Darlington?

With Darlington getting two dates, drivers had more chances to race at ‘The Track Too Tough to Tame’. Taking the Goodyear 400 and Southern 500 together, the most successful NASCAR driver was David Pearson. He had a remarkable 10 victories at the track with seven Goodyear 400 and three Southern 500 wins. He also holds the track record for most poles, with 12, further underscoring his dominance. But right on his heels is another legend.

Following closely behind is the late legend Dale Earnhardt, who notched nine wins at Darlington — three in the Southern 500 and additional victories in spring events — cementing his legacy there.

In the modern era, Denny Hamlin leads the active drivers. By 2025, he had scored three Southern 500 wins and two Goodyear 400 wins, for a total of five Darlington victories, making him one of the most dominant ones on the track still competing.

This year, Hamlin’s strong form was once again seen when he won the Darlington race in April. And now, he ousted JGR teammate Chase Briscoe for winning the pole and the Busch Light Pole Award at Darlington. With his consistency at the ‘Lady in Black,’ Hamlin now has a strong chance to add another Darlington victory to his already impressive record.