Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway Guide

Over Labor Day weekend every September, the Southern 500 runs at Darlington Raceway — the “track too tough to tame,” NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway, opened in 1950 and shaped like a lopsided egg because the original owner had to bend the far turns around a neighbor’s minnow pond. That quirk makes Darlington brutal: the racing groove runs right up against the outside wall, and drivers who scrape it earn the “Darlington Stripe” down the right side of the car as a badge of how close they had to run. The Southern 500 is one of NASCAR’s crown-jewel races and now kicks off the playoffs, so the field runs it flat-out. It’s history, heat, and 1.366 miles of the most respected pavement in stock-car racing.