2026 Sport Clips Haircuts VFW 200
| Race details[1][2][3][4] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 33 in the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series | |||
| Date | March 21, 2026 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.366 miles (2.198 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 147 laps, 200.802 mi (323.159 km) | ||
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | The CW | ||
| Announcers | Adam Alexander, Jamie McMurray, and Parker Kligerman | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | PRN | ||
The 2026 Sports Clips Haircuts VFW 200 is an upcoming NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race that will be held on Saturday, March 21, 2026, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 147 laps on the 1.366-mile-long egg-shaped asphalt oval, it will be the sixth race of the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season.
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.
Surface issues
Darlington Raceway was last repaved following the May 2007 meeting (from 2005 to 2019, there was only one meeting; the second meeting was reinstated in 2020), and from 2008 to 2019, there was one night race. In 2020, a day race returned to the schedule, and instead of two races (one Xfinity and one Cup) during the entire year, the track hosted six races (three Cup, two Xfinity, and one Truck). The circuit kept repairing the circuit with patches during each summer before the annual Cup race in September. The circuit's narrow Turn 2 rapidly deteriorated with cracks in the tarmac allowing water to seep in the circuit. In July 2021, the circuit repaved a six hundred foot section at the entrance of Turn 2 and ending at the exit of the turn to repair the tarmac and resolve the issue for safety and to reduce the threat of weepers and surface issues in that section of the circuit.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
References
- ^ "2026 schedule". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
- ^ "Las Vegas Motor Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
- ^ "NASCAR releases 2026 schedule, adding Chicagoland and shifting All-Star to Dover". NASCAR. August 20, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
- ^ "Entry list" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. March 17, 2026. Retrieved March 17, 2026.