NASCAR Darlington Southern 500 2015: Start time, lineup, TV schedule
DARLINGTON, S.C. — It's NASCAR race night at Darlington Raceway, and we've got some essential information you need to get ready for tonight's Bojangles' Southern 500.
START TIME: NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte and Bojangles' CEO Clifton Rutledge will instruct drivers to start their engines at 7:12 p.m. Eastern time tonight, followed by the green flag at 7:20 p.m. So if you want to skip the pre-race show and just tune in for the race, turn on your TV at 7:20 p.m.
RACE DISTANCE: The Bojangles' Southern 500 is 367 laps around the 1.33-mile Darlington Raceway for a total of 501.3 miles. This is the first time the Southern 500 will run on its traditional Labor Day Weekend race date since 2003.
NATIONAL ANTHEM: Continuing with the weekend's throwback theme, country singer Tanya Tucker will perform the national anthem before tonight's race.
TV/RADIO SCHEDULE: NBC will broadcast tonight's race and has a pre-race show beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will call the race on the radio, which can also be heard on Sirius/XM Radio channel 90.
WEATHER: The National Weather Service is calling for a scattered thunderstorms and temperatures in the 70s for most of tonight's race. The race isn't expected to be rained out, but the skies will be worth watching due to the 30% chance of rain.
LAST TIME: Kevin Harvick won his first Southern 500 last year thanks to an overtime pass of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had older tires. Harvick made his pass on the second-to-last lap of a second green-white-checkered last year and never looked back.
STARTING LINEUP: For the first time all season, Brad Keselowski will start from the pole position. Keselowski, who had five poles last year, won his first pole of the season Saturday afternoon.
Here's the starting lineup for tonight's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway:
- Brad Keselowski
- Kurt Busch
- Kevin Harvick
- Joey Logano
- Jeff Gordon
- Denny Hamlin
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ryan Blaney
- Kyle Busch
- Aric Almirola
- Paul Menard
- Carl Edwards
- Matt Kenseth
- Kasey Kahne
- Kyle Larson
- Tony Stewart
- Trevor Bayne
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jamie McMurray
- David Ragan
- Chase Elliott
- Ryan Newman
- Greg Biffle
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Justin Allgaier
- Clint Bowyer
- Austin Dillon
- Danica Patrick
- Landon Cassill
- Casey Mears
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- AJ Allmendinger
- Alex Bowman
- JJ Yeley
- Cole Whitt
- David Gilliland
- Michael Annett
- Brett Moffitt
- Jeb Burton
- Mike Bliss
- TJ Bell
PHOTOS: Darlington throwback paint schemes