2014 Southern 500 @ Darlington Raceway ~ 4/12/14 (My POV)

Here are several pics from my POV of the Bojangles Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC. I would’ve taken more pictures but I missed the incidents that happened on the track, like the Vickers spin at the entrance to pit row.
Please note that these were taken with my IPhone 4s camera, so the night photos didn’t come out right

From Harry Byrd Hwy (Hwy 151, 34)

Grandstands (Pearson Tower, right; Tyler Tower, left)

Turns 3 and 4 (from my seats in Pearson Tower)

Other end of the track

Pre-race ceremonies

Driver intros and ride-around

Fly over

Cars starting to head onto the track after command to start engines

Pace lap

Just before the green flag (do you see your favorite driver here?)

My favorite driver (Dale Earnhardt Jr.)

pit stops

Night racing at the “Lady in Black”

One of the final restarts of the night

Tony Stewart congratulating his teammate on winning

Harvick’s winning burnout

Celebrations at Darlington Raceway

Harvick’s after win salute to fans

Great pics and great race last night. I was happy to see Harvick get the win over Johnson, but disappointed the way Gordon’s night ended. I mean, yes, he got yet another top 10 finish and still leads the points, but for a while through the race, I thought he was going to have the car to beat at the end. He just needs to really nail those restarts better. But all around, great night race and looking forward to Richmond in 2 weeks.

I love the classic look that they have tried to keep at Darlington.

I also like that no line separate the apron and the track, just a smooth transition.

Thanks Slimy! If Gordon didn’t spin the tires at the restarts, he would definitely have a shot at winning!

@Lumpiest: same here, that was the best decision they made for the 60th anniversary of Darlington!

Happy Harvik won, as long as ANYONE other than Jr or Gordon wins, it’s a great race day.

Dissapointed me VerrucktSchakal

Sorry man! I just can’t stand either of them. Ran into Gordon in person and he was just a royal jerk. Ever since then I’ve not liked him. And something about JR just rubs me the wrong way with how he drives.

Haha it’s all good, ever since I saw his cars from when I was younger I have always been a fan, too bad he hasn’t got the DuPont paint schemes anymore, Axalta just isn’t the same.

Ambrose is my other favourite, since he’s an Aussie. Funny though, I absolutely hated him in the V8supercars.

I’ve actually got a diecast of Gordon’s Busch series Bill Davis Ford “Baby Ruth” #1 car. That car is pretty cool just because it was his only year in Busch(Nationwide).

On another note, how about that Elliot kid. 2 in a row in 7 starts. That’s crazy. Maybe they got it wrong thinking Joey was the best thing since sliced bread. I see Chase becoming a much better driver than Joey will ever be.

Was a great race, as much as I don’t like Harvick, I’m cool with him winning over Jimmie. I just wish Kenseth had a better car. He nailed the first two restarts before the final one where he spun the tires pretty bad. He just couldn’t hang after they got going.
Either way it was a sick race!
Can’t wait til the Nationwide guys stop here in Wisconsin for Road America, have gone to every race since they started there. More and more people each year.
Now they just need to get the Cup guys racing there. That would be cool. Could always use more road courses instead of revisiting tracks so much.
But that’s just my opinion haha.