AP Photo/Lou Krasky

Seven-time Darlington Raceway winner Jeff Gordon: "The Darlington we all love is still there."

Start Your Engines

On a handful of weekends in Sprint Cup, the track, rather than the drivers, is the star of the show.

The coliseum of Bristol Motor Speedway comes to mind, along with fellow short track Martinsville. At the other end of the spectrum is Talladega, the longest track on the circuit. Indianapolis is another track whose reputation looms larger than the cars, and certainly the prestige of Daytona is notable.

Then there's the 1.366-mile bundle of trouble in South Carolina on tap for Saturday night.

Darlington Raceway is old-school NASCAR, from its "Darlington stripe" battle scars picked up by drivers to the "Too Tough to Tame" slogan that the track parades at every opportunity.

You can flaunt it when it's true.

"I could probably run backward and run about the same as I do going forward. That's how close I feel like I am to figuring out Darlington," said Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart, who has yet to win there. "We've run decent at Darlington. I mean, I've run in the top five there before, but every time I think I have something figured out, I normally whack the wall and go, 'Oh boy, I really did figure it out, didn't I?' I don't know that I'll ever feel like I've got Darlington totally figured out."

That sentiment will be prevalent this weekend as the egg-shaped oval hosts its first race since a repaving. The new surface won't eat tires anymore, but it will push teams to speeds never seen before at the 58-year-old track.

Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman tested Goodyears there in April and clocked 200 mph near the end of the backstretch. A tire test in 2007 showed speeds of about 182 mph in the same spot. The track record of 173.797 mph, set by Ward Burton in qualifying in 1996 after the last Darlington paving, may not survive the weekend.

"The track is unreal, and I had a blast during the test," said Gordon, a seven-time Darlington champion including last year. "The bumps aren't there and you're going much faster, but you run the same line you always have and the track has the same characteristics.

"The Darlington we all love is still there."

"Love" may be a strong word for a place where cars frequently brush the wall and drivers have their hands full, yet that is the prevalent sentiment in the garage. Darlington is old-school, therefore so are the drivers who can handle it.

"I love racing at Darlington. Obviously I've had some success there so that helps, but it's just a fun track," said Roush Fenway's Biffle, a two-time winner in 2005-06 and currently ninth in points. "The new surface will make for an entirely different race there than we've ever had before, though, so we'll see how it goes. Passing will be difficult, but I think there should still be some good racing. Tire wear won't be nearly as much of a factor as it was before the repaving. We ran just as fast on Lap 30 at the tire test as we did on the first lap out. I hope what we learned at the tire test gets us off on the right foot this weekend.

"A good run at Darlington would be exactly what we need."

Rocket Man

Clint Bowyer: Gotta give the Richard Childress driver some love after the quietest of wins at Richmond. Kyle Busch vs. Junior was the story of the race, certainly more than a model of consistency like Bowyer. Too bad -- he hasn't finished outside the top 10 since the third race of the year at Las Vegas, and with the win he moved into fourth in points, putting all three RCR cars in the top five.

Good stuff for a Chevrolet that started 31st, the first winner this season to start outside the top nine.

"You just have to be patient," Bowyer said. "We had a fast race car, but you know, you can too many times. I've seen people, and I've done it myself, push too hard, and spin their tires, and sooner or later deep into a run, you're really loose and don't have any forward drive and can't pass anybody underneath of them. That's the hardest thing."

John Schwarb is a motorsports contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at johnschwarb@yahoo.com.