The end of an era

Darlington to host its final Labor Day weekend Southern 500

Ricky Craven beat Kurt Busch in the Ford Dealers 400 by two thousandths of a second. NASCAR

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) -- The sun beat down on the thousands sitting on the aluminum bleachers Saturday at Darlington Raceway.

The temperature hovered in the mid-90s and the humidity was smothering as the final practice for Sunday's Southern 500 droned on.

Ah, Darlington Raceway on Labor Day weekend.

South Carolina summer heat aside, it is etched in the psyche of stock car fans that the end of August means NASCAR's oldest 500-mile race is at the stock car sport's oldest venue.

After Sunday, that tradition will be no more.

NASCAR, looking to extend its reach to larger markets with tracks newer, bigger and more glittery than Darlington's "Lady in Black," has awarded the Labor Day weekend date in 2004 to 7-year-old California Speedway. It's a second race for the track 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Darlington has been fighting a losing battle to fill its 58,910 seats for the Southern 500 and its spring race, while the California track has consistently sold out its approximately 110,000 seats since being given a spring race in 1997.

Darlington will retain its Southern 500, but the race will be run in the cool of November, probably under the lights that are due to be installed during the next year.

Most drivers -- probably the least comfortable people on the grounds, with temperatures up to 140 degrees inside the cars in the Darlington heat -- aren't particularly happy with the change.

"It's supposed to be hot and the track's slick and everything. I'm one of the ones that hate to see it leave," said Terry Labonte, a two-time Winston Cup champion whose first of 21 victories came in the 1980 Southern 500.

Ryan Newman, who won the pole for Sunday's race, has only been racing here for two years, but he already has fallen in love with the unique, egg-shaped 1.366-mile Darlington oval.

"It's disappointing the things that are happening to the racetrack itself and the market that it's in," Newman said. "I wish somebody would take notice and build a racetrack like this, the walls in the same place, and put it someplace else in a better market, if it were possible."

It is the end of an era, though, and it would be appropriate if the final Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend ended with the kind of flourish that Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch gave the March race.

With two laps left, the leaders' cars bumped and Busch hit the wall in turn one. Craven took the lead, but Busch recovered and hit the back of Craven's car, moved him aside and regained first place.

But Craven slid low and alongside Busch, the two bouncing off each other and grinding to the finish. Craven won by two-thousandths of a second -- a matter of inches and the closest finish in Winston Cup since NASCAR began using electronic timing in 1993.

The aftermath of that finish, with Craven and Busch smiling and shaking hands, was in direct contrast to the overheated situation two weeks ago in Michigan, where Busch and Jimmy Spencer banged together repeatedly late in the race and Spencer wound up punching Busch in the face while Busch still sat in his car following the event.

Spencer was suspended for a week and fined $25,000, while Busch was fined $10,000 for his part in the altercation.

Busch, the winner last week at Bristol, will start 31st and Spencer, who sat out last week's race in Bristol, will start 38th on Sunday.

Craven said he hopes the spotlight will remain on the race Sunday, rather than on individuals or confrontations -- on or off the track.

"Growing up in New England, I felt like this was one of the four or five big races every year, and the distinction was that it was on Labor Day," Craven said. "There will be (more) Southern 500s yet to win, but there's a lot of emphasis put on winning this one."