2011 Showtime Southern 500

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2011 Showtime Southern 500 — Short recap

The race was the 10th stop in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, held on May 7, 2011, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. It covered 370 laps, about 505 miles, on Darlington’s distinctive egg-shaped 1.366-mile track.

Pole position: Kasey Kahne of Red Bull Racing Team with a qualifying lap of 27.131 seconds.

Winner: Regan Smith driving for Furniture Row Racing. It was Smith’s first Cup win, and Furniture Row Racing’s first win as a team. Carl Edwards finished second and Brad Keselowski third.

Race story: Regan Smith pulled off an upset by holding off Edwards on a late restart after 11 cautions. The race featured a notable incident with four laps to go involving Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Tony Bowyer, with Bowyer hitting the inside wall. After the race, Harvick and Busch confronted each other, and Harvick punched Busch through the window of Busch’s car. Both were fined $25,000 and placed on four-race probation, including the All-Star Race.

Weather: Partly cloudy and chilly in the evening, around 64°F.

Track background: Darlington Raceway is known for its egg-shaped design, which makes the turns very different from one another. Turns 1–2 have steeper banking (25°) than Turns 3–4 (23°); the front and back stretches are banked 3° and 2°, respectively.

Season context: Carl Edwards led the points standings entering the race with 326 points.