Goodyear 400 — Race Summary
- Darlington Raceway is used to hot temperatures for the Southern 500 in September. However, 90-degree heat in March is not the norm. Indeed, when the green flag dropped just after 3pm on Sunday, temperatures were on the verge of setting a record.
- The weather could have been a factor, but Tyler Reddick refused to let it keep him from the win. Reddick dealt with a battery issue early in the race, which forced him to unplug his cool suit and other “creature comforts.” Nonetheless, Reddick claimed his fourth win of the season after passing Brad Keselowski in the final 30 laps of the race. He went on to win by nearly six seconds
- Keselowski, who finished second, led 142 of the 293 laps and won both stages. Ryan Blaney came home third, with Carson Hocevar and Austin Cindric rounding out the “Top 5”
- It is Reddick’s fourth win of the season, after sweeping the first three races of the year (Daytona, Atlanta, and Circuit of the Americas). He joins Dale Earnhardt (1987) and Bill Elliott (1992) as drivers who have won four of the schedule’s first six races. It is also Reddick’s first victory at Darlington
- Keselowski’s stage wins were his first two of the season
- The “Track Too Tough to Tame” didn’t display its typical difficulty, as the race featured just four yellow flags, including only one for a multi-car incident. That’s the fewest caution periods at Darlington since there were three in the March 21, 1999, race that was shortened by rain. The last full-length race at Darlington with fewer than four cautions was the 1998 Southern 500, which had two yellows on Sept. 6, 1998
- The NASCAR series shifts to Martinsville next weekend
