2021 Goodyear 400

2021 Goodyear 400
Race details
Race 12 of 36 in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
	Layout of Darlington Raceway, the track where the race was held
Date	May 9, 2021
Location	Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility; 1.366 mi (2.198 km)
Distance	293 laps, 400.238 mi (644.121 km)
Average speed	123.562 miles per hour (198.854 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Brad Keselowski;
	Grid positions set by competition-based formula
Most laps led
Driver	Martin Truex Jr.
Laps	248
Winner
No. 19	Martin Truex Jr.
Television in the United States
Network	FS1
Announcers	Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden and Jeff Striegle
Turn Announcers	Dave Moody (1 & 2) and Mike Bagley (3 & 4)

The 2021 Goodyear 400^[7] was a NASCAR Cup Series race was held on May 9, 2021, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 293 laps on the 1.366-mile (2.198 km) egg-shaped oval, it was the 12th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the 65th running of the race.

Report

Background

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Events leading up to the race

When the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule was announced on September 30, 2020, a second race at Darlington was added for May 9, 2021, marking the first time since 2004 that the track had two races on the schedule (the 2020 season, changed by the pandemic, had three races).^[8]

On December 11, 2020, Darlington Raceway announced its highly popular NASCAR Throwback weekend would move to the new May 7–9 weekend, effectively making a lineal swap of the two race meetings at the track.^[9] On April 14, 2021, longtime NASCAR tire provider Goodyear announced a race sponsorship deal to call the race the Goodyear 400.^[10]

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.
(i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Sponsor or Throwback
00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	Bos Klein/RCA – John Andretti's No. 98 paint scheme from 1997.^[11]
1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	Monster Energy
2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	Freightliner Trucks
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops – NASCAR Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts' Pontiac paint scheme from 1959.^[11]
4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	Mobil 1 – Harvick's No. 29 GM Goodwrench paint scheme from his Cup debut at Rockingham following the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001.^[11]
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	HendrickCars.com – Scheme paying homage to Larson's first race car.^[11]
6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	Kohler – Scheme paying homage to Kohler Generators' 1976 SCCA Runoffs win.^[11]
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	Valvoline – Alan Kulwicki's Zerex Antifreeze paint scheme from 1989. Spire Motorsports has alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, which is currently sponsored by Valvoline. The Valvoline division of Ashland, Inc. acquired Zerex from BASF in 1994, and the entire Valvoline division was spun off in 2017 to its own separate company.
8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	Joe Nichols/Quartz Hill Records – Scheme paying homage to Grammy Award winning singer and NASCAR driver Marty Robbins.^[11]
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Hooters – Team manager Brian Whitesell's first NASCAR Cup Series Championship, as a mechanic on the 1992 Championship team whose No. 7 paint scheme is used. Whitesell was a part-time mechanic on the team of Alan Kulwicki.^[11]
10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	Smithfield Foods/Winn-Dixie – Mark Martin's No. 60 paint scheme from the 2000 NASCAR Busch Series Texas race that was not televised after rain delays and a request by MTV Networks management.^[11]
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	Sport Clips – Slick Johnson's No. 18 Seamless Machine paint scheme from 1983.^[11]
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	Advance Auto Parts – Scheme paying homage to Blaney's 2010 PASS Series Late Model car.^[11]
14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	HighPoint.com - A. J. Foyt's Copenhagen paint scheme from 1986.^[11]
15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	Strategic Wealth Partners/Smart Sanitizer – Dick Johnson's No. 38 Redkote paint scheme from 1989 (Davison and Johnson are Australians).^[11]
17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	Fifth Third Bank
18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	M&M's – 80th anniversary.^[11]
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	Auto-Owners Insurance matte black (a reference to matte black cars Truex drove for Furniture Row Racing).^[11]
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	Rheem
21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	Menards/Dutch Boy Paint (Alternate sponsor Motorcraft was not scheduled to be the primary sponsor on the car for this weekend; announced on May 28 the team will run the throwback scheme from the 2001 season where Elliott Sadler won the Food City 500 at Bristol during the September race.)
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	Shell – Scheme paying homage to Mario Andretti's first F1 win at Kyalami, South Africa (Shell also sponsors Scuderia Ferrari in F1).^[11]
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	Root, Inc. – Scheme paying homage to NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott.^[11]
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Valvoline – Neil Bonnett's No. 75 paint scheme from 1987.^[11]
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	FR8 Auctions – Bill Elliott's No. 9 Coors paint scheme that won the 1985 Daytona 500.^[11]
37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	Velveeta – Crew chief Trent Owens' No. 15 Dickies paint scheme from the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.^[11]
38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	We Care/Fr8Auctions – Alan Kulwicki's No. 38 Hardee's paint scheme from 1985.^[11]
41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	HaasTooling.com – Special Mother's Day paint scheme honoring Margaret Haas, mother of team owner Gene Haas.^[11]
42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	McDonald's – Hut Stricklin's No. 27 paint scheme from 1993.^[11]
43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	STP – Scheme paying tribute to John Andretti's 1999 Goody's Body Pain 500 at Martinsville race-winning car. It was the last win for Petty Enterprises.^[11]
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	Kroger/Tide – Ricky Craven's No. 32 Tide paint scheme from 2001 to 2004. Among the races won includes this race in 2003.^[11]
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	Ally – Scheme paying homage to crew chief Greg Ives' Super Late Model car.^[11]
51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet	Nurtec ODT – based on Darrell Waltrip Motorsports' No. 17 Exxon Superflo paint scheme used in Xfinity Series races.^[11]
52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	Insurance King – Lennie Pond's No. 54 Burger King paint scheme from 1979.^[11]
53	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	FatBoy Ice Cream/Tunnel to Towers Foundation
77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	Fraternal Order of Eagles – Robert Pressley's Jasper paint scheme from 1999.^[11]
78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	Keen Parts/Corvetteparts.net – Scheme paying homage to NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Weatherly's last win at Darlington in 1963.^[11]
99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	Camping World – 55th anniversary.^[11]
Official entry list

Qualifying

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.^[4]

Starting Lineup

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer
1	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford
2	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
3	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
4	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
5	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
8	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford
9	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
10	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet
11	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
12	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford
13	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
14	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
15	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet
16	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford
17	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
18	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet
19	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet
20	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford
21	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota
22	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
23	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota
24	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
25	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford
26	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet
27	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford
28	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
29	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet
30	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
31	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet
32	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford
33	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet
34	53	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet
36	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet
37	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford
Official starting lineup

Race

Brad Keselowski was awarded the pole for the second straight race. Aric Almirola slammed the wall after a flat tire while Kyle Busch spun while leading with a flat tire. Martin Truex Jr. dominated by leading the most laps and winning both stages. Cole Custer slammed the wall after contact with Anthony Alfredo while Kurt Busch got into the wall and caught fire after making contact with Bubba Wallace. Drivers split the final stage by pitting for green flag pit stops three different times. Kyle Larson was the only driver to challenge Truex for the lead as lapped traffic caused issues. Truex was able to pull away from Larson and win for his third win of the season.

Stage Results

Stage OneLaps: 90

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	10
2	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	8
4	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	7
5	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	6
6	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	5
7	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	4
8	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	3
9	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	2
10	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	1
Official stage one results

Stage TwoLaps: 95

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Points
1	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	10
2	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	9
3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	8
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	7
5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	6
6	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	5
7	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	4
8	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	3
9	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	2
10	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	1
Official stage two results

Final Stage Results

Stage ThreeLaps: 108

Pos	Grid	No	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Points
1	4	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	293	60
2	14	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	293	48
3	3	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	293	43
4	5	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	293	43
5	7	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	293	48
6	2	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	293	37
7	6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	293	33
8	16	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	293	35
9	11	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	293	29
10	20	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	292	27
11	22	14	Chase Briscoe (R)	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	292	26
12	10	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	292	36
13	12	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	292	33
14	21	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	292	28
15	18	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	291	22
16	9	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	291	21
17	19	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	291	21
18	26	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	291	19
19	8	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	290	18
20	28	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	290	17
21	23	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	290	16
22	30	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	290	15
23	15	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	290	14
24	1	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	290	13
25	29	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	290	12
26	25	38	Anthony Alfredo (R)	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	289	11
27	13	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	288	10
28	31	77	Justin Haley (i)	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	288	0
29	34	53	J. J. Yeley (i)	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	286	0
30	35	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	286	7
31	36	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	286	6
32	32	78	B. J. McLeod (i)	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	285	0
33	37	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	245	4
34	33	51	Cody Ware (i)	Petty Ware Racing	Chevrolet	188	0
35	17	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	106	2
36	24	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	97	1
37	27	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	5	1
Official race results

Race statistics

Lead changes: 19 among 10 different drivers
Cautions/Laps: 6 for 36
Red flags: 0
Time of race: 3 hours, 14 minutes and 21 seconds
Average speed: 123.562 miles per hour (198.854 km/h)

Media

Television

The race was carried by FS1 in the United States. Mike Joy, five-time Darlington winner Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

FS1
Booth announcers	Pit reporters	In-race analyst
Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy Color-commentator: Jeff Gordon Color-commentator: Clint Bowyer	Jamie Little Regan Smith	Larry McReynolds

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

MRN Radio
Booth announcers	Turn announcers	Pit reporters
Lead announcer: Alex Hayden Announcer: Jeff Striegle	Turns 1 & 2: Dave Moody Turns 3 & 4: Mike Bagley	Steve Post Kim Coon

Standings after the race

Manufacturers' Championship standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Ford	428
2	Chevrolet	427 (–1)
3	Toyota	422 (–6)

Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

References

Previous race: 2021 Buschy McBusch Race 400	NASCAR Cup Series 2021 season	Next race: 2021 Drydene 400

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