In 25 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-10 and two top-15 finishes. Corey LaJoie earned a team-best ninth-place result at Darlington last August. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the NCS with Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
The 500-mile race will be televised live on USA Sunday, Aug. 31 beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 27th of 36 points-paying events on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.<\/p>\n
Justin Haley \u2013 Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1<\/p>\n
Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports\u2019 No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series event at Darlington Raceway.
In nine previous Cup Series starts at the historic 1.366-mile track, Haley has earned one top-five and three top-10 finishes, highlighted by a venue-best third-place run in May 2022. His other top-10 showings came in the May 2023 (eighth) and April 2024 (ninth) events.
Haley has also found success at \u201cThe Lady in Black\u201d in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition where he\u2019s logged one pole award, one top five and two top10s in five starts. Haley owns a 4.6 average start and a 10.4 average finish at the legendary South Carolina venue.
Last Saturday at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, Haley finished third in the No. 7 Gainbridge Chevy to earn his first top five of the season. He narrowly avoided trouble early in the race as he worked his way to the front of the field and raced his way into the top-five with 26 laps to go in the 400-mile event. Haley led the field twice for two laps over the final seven circuits to secure his first podium finish of the 2025 campaign.
Haley\u2019s third-place finish at Daytona is his best result in NASCAR\u2019s premier series since 2023 and best result in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 since he earned Spire Motorsports\u2019 first win in 2019. Haley fell just shy of backing up his win as the top four finishers in Saturday night\u2019s race were separated by only 0.049 seconds in the closest known top-four finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.
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Sunday\u2019s race at Darlington will mark Haley\u2019s 170th career NASCAR Cup Series start. Over the course of the last seven seasons, the 26-year-old has collected one win, six top five, 18 top 10s and led 123 laps. He made his first premier series start with Spire Motorsports at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in 2019 and has since made 70 Cup Series starts with the team.<\/p>\n
Justin Haley Quotes
You were so close to winning at Daytona to lock into the Cup Series Playoffs, what are your goals for the next 10 races?
\u201cI am focused on one race at a time. The No. 7 team has a lot of momentum following Daytona which will give us a great metric for qualifying. Our team has put in a lot of effort, and we are getting better each week. I think we can get to where we want to be to close out the 2025 season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darlington has hosted Cup Series races since September 1950. It\u2019s a track with multiple nicknames and a lot of history. Do you have any favorite moments?
\u201cI think my favorite moment is probably finishing third with Kaulig in Xfinity in May of 2022. I qualified 29th and got up to 20th by the end of Stage 1, but I fell back to 27th and went a lap down in Stage 2. In the final stage we got the free pass, made up track position, and took advantage of the chaos at the end to bring home a third-place finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where does Darlington rank on your list of favorite tracks?
\u201cDarlington is definitely one of my favorites. I\u2019ve always ran well there and enjoy the challenges of racing there. The track surface is old and worn, as a driver it\u2019s fun to move around and find speed through the duration of a stint. The Southern 500 is an iconic race for our sport and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how we shake out!\u201d
Atop the No. 7 Box \u2013 Crew Chief Ryan Sparks<\/p>\n
Ryan Sparks serves in a dual role as both Spire Motorsports Competition Director and crew chief for driver Justin Haley.
The Winston-Salem, N.C., native led Justin Haley to a third-place result at Daytona last weekend, a career-best in 192 starts atop the pitbox.
Sparks has called 11 previous Cup Series races at Darlington, highlighted by a ninth-place finish in last season\u2019s Southern 500 with Corey LaJoie.<\/p>\n
Michael McDowell \u2013 Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1<\/p>\n
Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports\u2019 No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday\u2019s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
McDowell has secured three top-10 finishes in 20 career starts at \u201cThe Lady in Black,\u201d all of which have come in the six events with NASCAR\u2019s seventh generation Cup Series car. He has also made two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the venue.
In the Cup Series\u2019 April visit to Darlington, McDowell and his Travis Peterson-lead team started 10th but a flat tire on the final lap forced him to settle for a 29th-place finish.
The Glendale, Ariz., earned a pair of top-10 Darlington finishes in 2022, when he came home seventh in the spring and sixth in the summer.
Last weekend at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, the No. 71 Fly Alliance Chevrolet stayed within the lead pack for the majority of the night before crossing the line in 12th.
At the conclusion of the 2025 regular season, McDowell has tallied two top-five, three top-10 and 15 top-20 finishes. To date, the veteran racer has earned an average starting position of 14.7, a 19.2 average finish, led 86 laps and been running at the finish of all but two of the season\u2019s first 26 points-paying races.
McDowell has claimed three Xfinity Fastest Lap awards this season, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500, Phoenix Raceway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The team is one of just three in the series to tally three or more bonus points via the program.
The No. 71 team secured Spire Motorsports\u2019 first Busch Light Pole Award at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. The 28.833-second lap marks the fastest lap recorded in NASCAR\u2019s seventh-generation Cup Series car (2022-present) at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval. The team also earned Spire Motorsports\u2019 first stage win during the Grant Park 165 on the streets of downtown Chicago.
McDowell\u2019s team earned a $100,000 payday and a trip to Victory Lane after winning the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge during May\u2019s NASCAR All-Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. The crew\u2019s blazing 12.587-second stop topped all entries for both the NASCAR All-Star Open and NASCAR All-Star Race, earning the title of the fastest team on pit road.<\/p>\n
Michael McDowell Quote
How do you approach Darlington given you are not one of the 16 drivers competing for a championship?
\u201cWe aren\u2019t where we want to be. We were hoping this would be the first round of the playoffs, but we\u2019re still fighting for a win before the end of the year. This is the start of where we need to build some momentum and get everything ready for next season. Darlington is one of the tracks we\u2019ve been to before, outside of Atlanta and Daytona, so it\u2019ll be helpful to have a notebook. But things have changed throughout the year for us. I feel good about it this weekend. It\u2019s a fun race and a cool track. The Southern 500 is a special weekend for sure.\u201d
Atop the No. 71 Box \u2013 Crew Chief Travis Peterson<\/p>\n
Crew chief Travis Peterson joined Spire Motorsports following the 2024 season after spending 2023-2024 alongside McDowell at Front Row Motorsports.
As a race engineer at JR Motorsports, Peterson was part of Chase Elliott\u2019s 2014 NASCAR Xfinity Series win at \u201cThe Lady in Black\u201d in 2014. The win was just one week removed from Elliott\u2019s first series victory at Texas Motor Speedway.
The 34-year-old, West Bend, Wis., native called McDowell\u2019s 10th-place finish in last April\u2019s Goodyear 400.<\/p>\n
Carson Hocevar \u2013 Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1<\/p>\n
The No. 77 Chili\u2019s Ride the \u2018Dente Chevrolet ZL1 returns to the track at Darlington Raceway as Carson Hocevar makes his fifth NASCAR Cup Series start at the 1.366-mile track.
In Hocevar\u2019s first start in the historic Southern 500 in 2023, he started 15th and finished 17th. He returned in 2024 with Spire Motorsports and started second to become the youngest driver to start on the front row at the uniquely configured egg-shaped oval. Hocevar ran inside the top 10 until green-flag pit stops midway through the first 115-lap stage and cycled out ninth. He fell just outside of the top 10 before the conclusion of the first stage but ran the remainder of the race inside the top 20 before retiring with 32-laps to go due to damage following an incident on Lap 335.
When the Cup Series last visited \u201cThe Track Too Tough to Tame,\u201d Hocevar turned the fastest lap in practice and qualified 13th. A punctured tire in the opening laps of the 400-mile race caused Hocevar to spin, forcing the Portage, Mich., native to pit under green flag conditions, leaving him one lap down. The remainder of the event was a race of attrition for the 22-year-old driver who was ultimately scored 32nd at the checkered flag.
In four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks Series starts at \u201cThe Lady in Black,\u201d Hocevar collected three top fives, including a runner-up finish in May 2022.
Hocevar also owns a sixth-place finish in his lone Darlington NASCAR Xfinity Series start in May 2023.<\/p>\n
Carson Hocevar Quote
You had a great run at Darlington last September and qualified well in April until you encountered some issues. How do you replicate your prior success and put together a complete 500 miles?
\u201cThe biggest hurdle is the changing track conditions throughout the night. You transition from the daytime to night and have to stay up on adjustments. Everyone wants to win the Southern 500. A win at Darlington and add yourself to the list of winners is really special. We\u2019ve improved a lot as a team since May. I\u2019ve qualified well in all three Cup starts at Darlington, and I think we have a good chance to show speed in practice, qualify decent and have a good night.\u201d
Atop the No. 77 Box \u2013 Crew Chief Luke Lambert<\/p>\n
Crew Chief Luke Lambert has called 17 Cup Series races at Darlington dating back to 2013. He led Ryan Newman to top-10 finishes in September 2014, September 2016 and April 2017. The Mount Airy, N.C., native also collected a ninth-place result with Chris Buescher in both the May and September 2021 races.
In 2022, Lambert led Noah Gragson to both a win (September) and a second-place finish (May) in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition.
Last Saturday\u2019s race at Daytona was Lambert\u2019s 70th race as crew chief for Hocevar. Together, the potent duo have earned three-top five and 12 top-10 finishes, highlighted by two runner-up results earlier this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway.<\/p>\n
Spire Motorsports PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 25 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-10 and two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[1701,49,48,925,13157,77,720,634,721,1704,722,82,723],"class_list":{"0":"post-99660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-1701","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-daytona","12":"tag-group","13":"tag-international","14":"tag-motor","15":"tag-nascar","16":"tag-series","17":"tag-speed","18":"tag-speedway","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-xfinity-series"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}