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Here’s a look at the top five in points and five drivers to watch in Saturday night’s Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.
1. Kyle Busch, 85.7 driver rating. Busch hasn’t distinguished himself at Darlington (one top 10 in three races). But he also hasn’t had a season like the one he is having.
2. Jeff Burton, 83.6. From 1997 to 2000, Burton was the man at Darlington—eight races, eight top fives with two wins.
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 99.6. Junior is winless in 13 races but has finished in the top 10 the past three years. In those three races he has had the most green-flag passes (176).
5. Kevin Harvick, 75.5. Since finishing second in the fall race in 2003 and eighth the following spring, Harvick hasn’t done much.
Five to watch
6. Denny Hamlin, 119.2. Hamlin has the third-best driver rating behind Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson. He has top-10 finishes in both of his starts, and last year, when he finished second to Jeff Gordon, he led a race-high 179 laps.
7. Jimmie Johnson, 122.0. Johnson has a terrific record at Darlington with only one finish outside the top 10 in nine races. He has finished in the top five in five of the past six races (with two wins) and always runs with the leaders.
8. Greg Biffle, 126.1. Biffle has won two of the past three races and has led the most laps, 346, during that stretch. An issue for Biffle—and other dominant drivers at Darlington such as Gordon and Johnson—is whether the new track surface has negated whatever advantage they have had at the track.
9. Ryan Newman, 116.4. Although winless in nine races, Newman is very competitive at Darlington. He qualifies well—no surprise there—and has six top 10s, including five top fives.
10. Jeff Gordon, 114.7. Only David Pearson (10) and Dale Earnhardt (nine) have more wins than Gordon’s seven. No. 7 came last year, which was his fourth straight finish in the top three.
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