Johnny Benson

For the second straight weekend, the Sprint Cup Series goes Saturday night racing, this time at Darlington (S.C) Raceway, and I don’t believe the winner will be different from a week ago at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway as Kyle Busch celebrated a special evening by getting to Victory Lane on his 24th birthday.

Working in Busch’s favor
He won this event a year ago, and he’s got some momentum off last weekend’s win. Before that he had been scuffling for a month, follow up a March 22 win at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway with disappointing finishes of 24th, 18th, 17th, and 25th. The Richmond win was his third of the season, and he has climbed to fifth in points. With 15 career wins, Busch is tied with Jeff Gordon for the most Cup victories before the age of 25.

Busch has shown an increased level of maturity this season. If he starts out a race and his car isn’t performing well, he’s not compounding the problem by doing something stupid, which he did all too often earlier in his career. Last week was a perfect example of how far he has come. He was good but not great early in the race, but worked with crew chief Steve Addington to make the adjustments needed to eventually best the field.

Busch is a better driver this year than in 2008. He’s being a little bit smarter about his approach to racing. And both Addington and Busch are a bit more calculating on their race strategy. He’s not missing out on picking up valuable experience because of being stubborn or thinking he knows it all. That’s in part why fellow drivers are finding more respect for Busch and his accomplishments.

Given his win last year at this 1.366-mile oval, it wouldn’t seem all that important that Busch doesn’t have much experience running this venue. This will be just his fifth Cup start at DS, where in addition to his win he has one top-five, and two top-10s. His average start is 19.3, and his average finish is 17.0. He’s led for 11.5 percent of the laps he has run.

Other drivers to watch
Jeff Burton admits DS has special meaning to him. He likes racing at the venue because he feels it’s a track where the performance of the driver can really make a difference. Burton and Jeff Gordon stand out as two drivers who have figured out that to do well at DS a driver has to race the track and not the other drivers.

Both Burton and Gordon know what it takes to run well at DS. They both do not take risks. They’ll push their cars, but they will be careful not to push them to the point where it ends up hurting their chances. They’ll explore what they can get from the track, but they’ll go about doing that in a very smart manner.

Burton has risen to seventh in points. This will be his 27th Cup start at DS. He’s never captured a pole, but has two wins (a sweep in 1999), eight top-fives, and 15 top-10s. His average start is 21.9, and his average finish is 11.5. He’s led for nine percent of the laps he has run.

Gordon has moved back into the points lead. His DS resume sparkles. The idea he’s super tough at this oval has long ago turned into fact. In 28 Cup starts, he had four poles, seven wins, 16 top-fives, and 19 top-10s. His average start is an eye-popping 6.9, and his average finish is 11.5. He has led nearly 17 percent of the laps he’s run at DS.

Kurt Busch, Kyle’s older brother, has never won at DS, but for his latest phase of racing at this venue he’ll debut a new Dodge Charger chassis. It’s one of the new line of cars from Penske Racing. Busch’s crew chief, Pat Tryson, says he has a lot of confidence the car will run great for his driver, who will be making his 13th Cup start at DS, where he has two poles, one top-five, and four top-10s. His average start is 11.5, and his average finish is 17.6. He’s led for 4.4. percent of the laps he has raced.

I picked Tony Stewart to win last week at RIS, and he finished second. He has another good shot at a win Saturday night. In 16 career Cup starts at DS, Stewart is winless with two top-fives, and eight top-10s. His average start is 17.1, and his average finish is 12.5.

My dark horse is David Ragan, fifth in this event a year ago. Ragan’s crew chief, Jimmy Fennig, has always had the No. 6 Ford of Roush Racing running well at DS, and I don’t look for that to change.

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