DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) The Latest on the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (all times local):
6:10 p.m.
Heavy rain has delayed the start of the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
NASCAR officials had no time for a restart.
Air drying machines had dried the surface after a rainstorm earlier in the afternoon. Drivers came out to their cars and it looked like the race would go under overcast skies. But a short time before the green flag was set to drop, strong storms sent crews covering up cars and racers carrying umbrellas as they went to wait out the weather.
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3:50 p.m.
If you don’t have a seat yet for the Southern 500, you’re too late.
Track officials announced they had sold out all of the 47,000 reserved seats for Sunday night’s event at Darlington Raceway.
The track dubbed ”Too Tough To Tame” had come close in recent years to filling up but had always come up shy of a sellout.
Darlington’s last sellout was in 2008, the last of four straight years every ticket was sold when the race was run on Mother’s Day weekend.
The race was a crown jewel of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series when it was run on Labor Day weekend from its inception in 1950 until 2003. After 12 years of shifting on the NASCAR calendar from November to May to April, the Southern 500 moved back to Labor Day weekend, where it’s become the sport’s official throwback weekend.
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2 p.m.
No one’s been as hot as Denny Hamlin in NASCAR. He believes he can keep that going Sunday night in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Hamlin has won four races this season, including two of the past five events. He captured the last NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol two weeks ago and will start ninth here.
Hamlin looked like he had gone from last to first to capture the Xfinity race at Darlington on Saturday until NASCAR disqualified him because his car did not meet ride-height guidelines.
Defending Southern 500 champion Brad Keselowski starts second next to pole sitter William Byron.
Points leader Kyle Busch will start from the back of the field after changing an engine.
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