2014 Bojangles' Southern 500
2014 Bojangles' Southern 500
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533406

2014 Bojangles' Southern 500

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533406

2014 Bojangles' Southern 500

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2014 Bojangles' Southern 500

The 2014 Bojangles' Southern 500, the 65th running of the event, was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on April 12, 2014, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The race was contested over 374 laps – extended from 367 laps due to two attempts at a green–white–checker finish – on the 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval, it was the eighth race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Kevin Harvick of Stewart–Haas Racing won the race, his second win of the season and first at Darlington, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second. Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Greg Biffle rounded out the top five. The race was also the first Darlington race won by a polesitter since Dale Jarrett, in the 1997 Rebel (then a 400-mile race). The top rookies of the race were Kyle Larson (8th), Austin Dillon (11th), and Justin Allgaier (23rd). It was the longest race in Darlington Raceway history.

Joey Logano passed Jeff Gordon on the final lap to score the victory in the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. "Talk about a lot of emotion," Logano said. "You feel like you are about to win the race and then the caution comes out when you come to take the white and you’re like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.'" “That was a great battle,” said Gordon. “At one point I thought we had a shot at it. We got a pretty good restart. Joey was right on me and I was pretty loose in one and two, and I wish I had gone a little bit higher in three and four. But, he got that run off of four and he got in the back of me, and I thought I was going to wreck, so at that point I was like second would be good."

Darlington Raceway is a four-turn 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees. The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch is banked at six degrees. Darlington Raceway can seat up to 60,000 people. Matt Kenseth was the defending race winner after winning the 2013 race.

The entry list for the Bojangles' Southern 500 was released on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 9:07 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-four drivers were entered for the race.

Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.679 and a speed of 177.665 mph (285.924 km/h). Kyle Larson was forced to go to a backup car after hitting the wall in turn 1.

Ryan Newman was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 27.447 and a speed of 179.167 mph (288.341 km/h).

Kevin Harvick won the pole with a time of 26.802 and a speed of 183.479 mph (295.281 km/h). “I was on the bottom all day in practice and Rodney felt like in order to get the pole you were going to need to run the top after we ran our first run,’’ Harvick said. “That is the driver in him that is why he is good to have sitting there watching because he knows what is going on and he can relay. Also having Tim Fedewa up on top as a former driver knowing what is going on to relay what you need to do. We moved up and picked up in the second (session), felt like I didn't roll through there fast enough. In the last (session), felt like I rolled through there pretty good. It all worked out. Knockout qualifying paid off for us today. We were able to save the best for last.” Harvick's car had to go through tech inspection three times before he could take his car onto the track for qualifying. “It just seemed like the machine was a little bit off there for qualifying,’’ Rodney Childers said of NASCAR’s measuring device. “A lot of people had left-rear toe issues. We rolled through the first time and saw what it was and did what we always do to fix that amount, and we rolled back through again and it read the same thing again, which it shouldn't have. It's part of the process. It's up to the teams to get it right. Different teams have different tools in order to know whether they're going to be good or not. We haven't got the right tools developed yet to know that. It's something we’ve got to work on at (Stewart–Haas Racing). NASCAR works hard every week to try to get their machine closer and closer and more consistent. It's a two-way street. We’ve got to do a better job.’’ The only driver that failed to qualify was David Reutimann.

The race began at 6:45 p.m. Eastern time with Kevin Harvick leading the field to the green flag. He didn't hold the lead for long as Joey Logano passed him to take the top spot.

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