2012 Bojangles' Southern 500

The 2012 Bojangles' Southern 500 was the 63rd running of the event, and the eleventh stock car race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on May 12, 2012, at the Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The 368-lap race was won by Jimmie Johnson for the Hendrick Motorsports team. It was Johnson's first win of the season, and Hendrick Motorsport's 200th in NASCAR; Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing finished second and Stewart–Haas Racing driver Tony Stewart took third.

Greg Biffle led the Drivers' Championship by seven points over his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth in second. He won the pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying, and led the first 48 laps until the first round of green flag pit stops in which Kyle Busch emerged in the lead. Biffle retook the lead on the 73rd lap and again lost it after the second pit stop cycle. Johnson took the lead for the first time on lap 101, and led a total of 134 laps, more than any other competitor. At the final restart on lap 367 for a green–white–checker finish, extending the race to 368 laps, Johnson led the field and maintained it to win the race. Hamlin finished second after passing Stewart who had problems with his car's fuel pressure. There were eight cautions and 22 lead changes among eight drivers during the race.

The result of the event advanced Johnson from eighth to fifth in the Drivers' Championship, 39 points behind Biffle, who led the standings going into the race, but his teammate Matt Kenseth reduced his lead to two points. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, eight points ahead of Toyota in second place. Ford continued to hold the third position over Dodge in the battle for the place with 25 races left in the season. The race attracted 5.716 million television viewers.

The 2012 Bojangles' Southern 500 was the eleventh stock car race out of thirty-six of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was scheduled to run for 367 laps over a distance of 501 mi (806 km), and was held on May 12, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, an intermediate oval track which began hosting NASCAR races in the 1950 Grand National Series; The standard track is a paved egg-shaped four-turn 1.366 mi (2.198 km) oval superspeedway. Its first two turns are banked at 25 degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at 23 degrees. The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch are banked at three and two degrees, respectively.

Before the race, Greg Biffle led the Drivers' Championship with 378 points, and Matt Kenseth stood in second with 371. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third with 369 points, 18 in front of Denny Hamlin and 36 ahead of Kevin Harvick in fourth and fifth. Martin Truex Jr. with 332 points was four points ahead of Tony Stewart, as Jimmie Johnson with 324 points, was 16 points ahead of Kyle Busch, and 22 in front of Clint Bowyer. Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski completed the top twelve drivers. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 63 points, five ahead of Toyota. Ford, with 53 points, was seven points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third. Regan Smith was the race's defending champion after winning it in 2011.

The start time of the race was moved from 7:30 pm local time to 7:00 pm following a successful request made by Darlingon Raceway president Chris Browning to NASCAR to accommodate fan surveys asking for the race to end at approximately 11:00 pm. There was one driver change going into the race. BK Racing announced that driver Travis Kvapil would compete in its No. 73 car starting from the Darlington event. Kvapil said in a media release that he was looking forward to working with the team, and his crew chief Ben Leslie at the track, "The guys at the shop are working really hard to prepare the car and get everything ready for this weekend. We're proud of what we've accomplished so far and hope that this race is another step in our growth."

Two practice sessions were held on the Friday before the race. The first session lasted 120 minutes, and the second 45 minutes. In the first session, Harvick was quickest with a time of 27.769 seconds, around one-tenth of a second faster than Biffle. Kurt Busch was third, followed by Edwards, Stewart, Truex, Johnson, Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, and A. J. Allmendinger in positions four to ten. Aric Almirola spun 360 degrees leaving the fourth turn, but he avoided contact with the wall beside the track. In the second practice session, Allmendinger was fastest with a lap of 28.097 seconds. Biffle followed Allmendinger in the second position, with Edwards third quickest. Johnson, Travis Kvapil, Paul Menard, Landon Cassill, Josh Wise, Michael McDowell, and David Stremme rounded out the session's top ten fastest drivers.

There were forty-seven cars entered in the qualifying session on Friday evening, due to NASCAR's qualifying procedure, forty-three were allowed to race. Each driver ran two laps, with the starting order determined by the competitor's fastest times. Biffle clinched his second pole position of the season, his second at Darlington Raceway, and the eleventh of his career, with a time of 27.281 seconds, the only qualifying lap to go below 27.300 seconds. Johnson and his teammate Kahne qualified 0.105 seconds behind, but Johnson joined Biffle on the grid's front row because of a better Owner's Championship position compared to Kahne. Newman took fourth place, ahead of Kyle Busch and Truex in fifth and sixth. Edwards qualified in seventh place, while Hamlin followed in eighth. Smith and Jeff Burton completed the first ten starting positions. The four drivers who failed to qualify were Scott Riggs, McDowell, Stephen Leicht, and Mike Bliss.