The 122nd NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway will be underway this weekend, with the 2022 Goodyear 400. Who will take the checkered flag in South Carolina? Check out some of the favorites, sleepers, and a long shot for this upcoming race.
You got to have Larson in the conversation about favorites in any race at Darlington Raceway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has six top 10s and five top 5s, including a win in the 2022 Wise Power 400 last February, in eight starts this season. He has never finished outside the top 15 in eight career starts at Darlington Raceway. While he’s not won there yet, he has finished no worse than third in five of his total appearances at Darlington Raceway. Moreover, he has finished second in each of his last three appearances in Darlington.
Truex is another driver who always shows up with a strong performance whenever he’s revving his engine at Darlington Raceway, where he finished fourth last year during the 2021 edition of the Cook Out Southern 500. Months before that, Truex collected his second career win there by taking the checkered flag in the 2021 Goodyear 400. In 19 total starts at Darlington Raceway, Truex has racked up a pair of wins, four top 5s, and 10 top 10s with a career average finish of 10.8
Fresh off a win at Dover, Elliott has some momentum going for him heading into this weekend’s race. So far this season, Elliott has two top 5s in eight starts and he’s also finished inside the top 10 in each of his last three starts. He’s got quite an erratic track record at Darlington Raceway, but with the way he’s been performing this year, Elliott is always going to be a threat to win any race.
Here’s what we said about Byron in our 2022 Goodyear 400 sleepers article:
Tied for third thus far this season with 353 points, Byron will look to make a much better performance this time around than his 22nd-place finish at Dover in the last race. Byron has not cracked the top 10 in three starts, but the last time he did, he won the 2022 Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway. He’s got a total of two wins and four top 5s this season. Considering his odds to win this weekend, he’s someone who should be eyed by those looking for value.
Here’s what we said about Jones in our 2022 Goodyear 400 sleepers article:
Coming off a 10th-place performance in the 2022 DuraMAX Drydene 400 presented by RelaDyne at Dover Motor Speedway, Jones is hoping he could sustain his momentum. Prior to the Dover Race, he placed sixth in the 2022 GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Jones is also historically a good driver at Darlington Raceway. While he was not able to finish his last race there due to engine problems during the 2021 Cook Out Southern 500, his overall body of work on that track remains impressive. In eight NASCAR Cup Series appearances at Darlington Raceway, Jones has managed to collect four top 5s, including a win in the 2019 Bojangles’ Southern 500.
With 214 points so far, Wallace has a lot of catching to do in order to book a spot in the playoffs – unless he wins a race, of course. Wallace is coming off a 16th place at Dover and he’s now cracked the top 20 in three of his past four starts.
