Darlington Raceway. For many NASCAR fans in the Upstate of South Carolina, despite being closer to Charlotte, it is considered their home track. It has been host to many of stock car racing’s greatest moments and all of the sport’s Hall of Famers in its 75 year existence.
With so much history and the feeling of stepping back in time as soon as you traverse through its tunnels or its gates, Darlington is the perfect place to celebrate NASCAR’s past with a Throwback Weekend.
This weekend marked the 10th iteration of the tradition that has become a fan-favorite. However, there was a chatter surrounding the festivities about whether or not it had run its course. For a select few, perhaps seeing some of the best paint schemes and honoring the drivers that sported them while celebrating the rich history of NASCAR is something that gets old. But, for most of the die-hard fans, current stars, and long-time drivers in the sport – including Spartanburg’s own Jeremy Clements, it never gets old.
“I think it is a lot of fun,” said Clements. “I think some of the drivers at the top tier teams are the ones saying that. I enjoy it. It is more fun to me. The drivers we are honoring with them enjoy it. So why wouldn’t you want to do it? Afterall, it is only once a year. It isn’t that big of a deal”, he later added.
Varying opinions aside, the 2025 NASCAR throwback weekend kicked off on Saturday afternoon with the Xfinity Series Sport Clips VFW Help a Hero 200 – marking the only stop at Darlington for the sport’s “triple-A” league. Christopher Bell, who dominated his way into a win in this event when it was still held in September back in 2024, qualified on the pole, leading many to believe he could repeat. However, he only led through the first caution of the day, which was thrown for debris in turn 1 at lap 22. Justin Allgaier would lead the next 10 laps before being passed by Harrison Burton, who went on to win the opening stage.
In the early going, two distinctive strategies for tire conservation emerged. At the first yellow, Harrison Burton, Kyle Sieg, and Brennan Poole all took 4 tires and restarted deep in the 20s. Everyone else stayed out because they felt it was best to stay out for track position and to save a set. While the strategy point from the teams that didn’t come in was valid, the value of the fresh tires became evident quickly as the three drivers mentioned above all drove through the field quickly and finished the stage in the top 5.
Things remained quiet for the 2nd stanza as it ended up being the longest green flag run of the day, with Allgaier taking the green and white checker at lap 92. But a new storyline emerged with the pit stops under the stage break yellow that would end up involving Jeremy Clements and the 51 team.
Rookie William Sawalich chose the pit stall in front of Clements and, in short, he overshot his box and had to back up, nearly hitting the 51 in the process. The awkward positioning of the 2 cars made things difficult for Jeremy, who did the polar opposite and stopped too deep in his, to be able to pull out. Due to a safety mechanism that makes turning hard right as well as a transmission that makes sudden shifting into reverse nearly impossible, Jeremy ended up hitting the right rear of the 18 as he tried to pull out, resulting in a vehicle interference penalty that forced him to have to restart at the rear of the field in 31st position.
“He {Sawalich} missed his stall.He backed up and was aimed all kind of wrong”, said Clements. “These cars have steering boxes that have a lock on them so that you don’t overturn when you turn the wheel to the right and mess up the brake duct hoses. Basically, it won’t turn right at all. To add to that, the transmissions we use are rentals. They are the best we can get and often it is a pain to shift into reverse. I had it full lock to the right and ended up bumping into him, and that was that.”
Despite the setback, Clements and the 51 team stayed the course and kept grinding it out hoping for the benefit of a caution. They got it at lap 112 when Taylor Gray tried to squeeze in front of Daniel Dye coming off turn 4 but was not totally clear, ending up spinning in the middle of the frontstretch.
Almost immediately after the green dropped for the restart from that incident, the race was slowed once again as Garrett Smithley got a shove from Ryan Ellis at the end of the back straight away and was sent spinning down to the apron of the race track.
There would be one more yellow in this race at lap 130 when a multi-car incident involving Leland Honeyman, Anthony Alfredo, and Smithley led to crunchtime gambles with the potential to cause some serious carnage along with an overtime finish. Brennan Poole, Jeb Burton, Josh Bilicki, and Kyle Sieg all stayed out while everyone else from Brandon Jones back pitted and were on fresh tires.
Fortunately, the possible carnage was avoided as the field managed to make it through turn one without any aggressive moves or stackups, eventually stringing out into the single-file lines running the top that are so typical of Darlington. Brandon Jones eventually reclaimed the lead from Poole at lap 136 and he cruised to his sixth career Xfinity Series victory and first win in 98 starts – dating back to Martinsville in April of 2022.
Back to more local interests.. Despite the tough day, Jeremy Clements managed to salvage a 21st place finish.
“We unloaded bad {had a bad setup from the moment the car came off the hauler}”, said Clements of his day. We never could get it to turn like I needed. We were tight in the center and off the corner all day and in adjustments, loosened it up so much on corner entry that I could not keep the car under me well or turn off the corner. It is disappointing. I love racing here, but as a team, we have not brought a good car here in God knows when.”
Clements and the NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars will continue the grind next week as they head up the mountains to Bristol, Tennessee for the SciAps 300. The green flag is set to drop at 5:00 PM and the race can be seen, along with all of the Xfinity races this season, on the CW (WYCW 62 locally).
