Johnny Benson

A repaved track surface at Darlington Raceway will add intrigue to Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series event at the South Carolina intermediate track. The $7 million resurfacing will have drivers working hard at getting the track freed up and good for long runs. Given the circumstances Carl Edwards is my pick to make it to Victory Lane.

Working in Edwards favor
In his fourth full year of Cup racing Edwards has been running with a lot of confidence and he competes well on new surfaces. The team of the No. 99 Ford, which is led by crew chief Bob Osborne, has shown it has a bunch of things already figured out this season as Edwards has chalked up wins at California, Las Vegas and Texas. Darlington falls into the category of those three tracks – all of them intermediate layouts -- so I’ve got to like Edwards’ chances at crossing the checkers first at the 1.366-mile oval.

This will be the fifth Cup start for Edwards at Darlington and with the exception of an engine problem two years ago he has impressive results at the venue. In 2004 he finished seventh in this event. Another top-10 followed the next year when he came home ninth. And last year Edwards began fourth at Darlington, led the race for 33 laps, and wound up fifth.

While he has yet to win at Darlington, Edwards wouldn’t want to be anywhere else this weekend as the South Carolina track is by far his favorite stop on the Cup circuit. Osborne knows that his driver is pumped to race Darlington and if given a stout car there may be no stopping Edwards.

In addition to his three wins this season, the 28-year-old has four top-fives and six top-10s. He has consistently qualified well as his average starting position is 10th. His efforts have been good enough to put him 10th in points and he’s looking to move up in the standings with a top finish if not a win on Saturday night.

Other drivers to watch
The top threat to Edwards winning could come from Jeff Burton, who knows how to win at Darlington having done so twice – both of those victories coming in 1999. Besides his wins Burton’s South Carolina resume also includes eight top-fives and 14 top-10s with only one DNF and only three results outside the top 20.

Interactive Resurgent Kahne headed for the Chase

The Richard Childress Racing driver, who earlier in the season led in points (he is currently second, 18 markers off the lead, is optimistic over the chassis he’ll be in this weekend. It’s the one he drove to a 12th-place finish at California and a third-place finish at Martinsville.

Besides Burton some others who could make strong bids at a win are Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson. Of the three only Johnson has been to Darlington’s Victory Lane but the two-time defending Cup champion has been racing longer in NASCAR’s top series than have Hamlin and Busch.

Hamlin had a stout car last week at Richmond, where he started from the pole but lost his chance at a win due to a late tire issue. This will be only his third Cup start at Darlington (finishes of seventh in 2007 and fifth in 2006) but he’s won two of his four Nationwide races at the South Carolina track.

INTERACTIVE Dodge Challenger 500 Loop data, track and overall season stats for some favorites in the upcoming race in Darlington.

In three Cup starts at Darlington Busch’s best finish is seventh. Having taken over the points lead after last weekend’s race, Busch looks to continue a super early-season that already includes two wins, six top-fives and seven top-10s. Busch continues to have trouble steering clear of controversy but when behind the wheel there’s no doubt he’s been steering his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota towards a huge season.

Johnson, a Darlington winner twice in 2004, was third in this event last year. He’s led this race in seven of the nine years he’s run it. At this venue the Hendricks Motorsports driver has five top-fives and eight top-10s in nine starts.

Others who figure to be in the thick of things are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick. Any one of them could take the race but only Gordon has won at Darlington.

Earnhardt Jr. battled for a win last week before colliding with Kyle Busch with just over two miles to go before the finish line. That twist of fate was real disappointing for Junior, who was attempting to snap a 71-race winless streak. He‘ll get another crack at that at Darlington, where he has six top-10s in 13 Cup starts.

Junior and Busch getting tangled up paved the way for a win by Bowyer at Richmond, the second of his brief Sprint Cup career, which began on a full-time basis in 2006. Bowyer will be racing for just the third time at Darlington but he’ll do so having moved up to fourth in points. He took the pole in this event last year and crossed the checkers ninth.

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