Southern 500

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**Southern 500**
Venue	Darlington Raceway
Corporate sponsor	Dodge
First race	1957
Distance	501.322 miles (806.800 km)
Number of laps	367
Previous names	Rebel 300 (1957-1965) Rebel 400 (1966-1972) Rebel 500 (1973, 1975-1978) Rebel 450 (1974) CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 (1979-1982) TranSouth 500 (1983-1993) TranSouth Financial 400 (1994-1999) Mall.com 400 (2000) Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 (2001-2004) Dodge Charger 500 (2005-2006) Dodge Avenger 500 (2007) Dodge Challenger 500 (2008)

This article is about the renamed spring race at Darlington. For the race that was previously held on Labor Day weekend,, see Southern 500 (1950-2004).

The Southern 500 is the annual spring NASCAR Sprint Cup race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, USA. It began in 1957 as a 300 miles (480 km) race in the Convertible Division, known as the Rebel 300. In 1966, the race was expanded to 400 miles (640 km), and in 1973 to 500 miles (800 km). In 1994, the race was returned to 400 miles.

In 2005, as part of the settlement of the Ferko lawsuit, the track's other event, the popular Southern 500, was removed from the NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule. The "Rebel" returned to its classic Confederate Memorial Day weekend date, and raised back to 500 miles. (See: NASCAR Realignment) However, as of May 2009, the "Southern 500" name was revived for this race.

April 8, 1979 - In a race that was seen on ABC's Wide World of Sports, Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty hook horns in a memorable duel. On the final lap the lead changed hands 4 times, as Waltrip prevailed over Petty. During the race, David Pearson made a pit stop, and thought the Wood Brothers were going to change only two tires. With the lug nuts loosened all the way around, Pearson sped out of the pits after two tires had been replaced. The loose inside wheels flew off near the pit road, ending Pearson's day. A week later, Pearson was released from the Wood Brothers ride, despite scoring 43 wins from 1972 to 1978 with the Virginia-based team.

March 16, 2003 - Before a national television audience, Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch fought a memorable duel that came back down to the final turn, when Craven edged out Busch by 0.002 seconds (about 2 inches) in the closest finish in NASCAR history (since NASCAR started using electronic transponders to determine scoring).

[edit] Past winners

Year	Date	Driver	Car Make	Winner's Prize (USD)	Distance (miles)	Average Speed (mph)
Dodge Challenger 500
2008	May 10	Kyle Busch	Toyota	$313,700	501.322	140.350
Dodge Avenger 500
2007	May 13 ^[1]	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	$317,486	501.322	124.372
Dodge Charger 500
2006	May 13	Greg Biffle	Ford	$290,175	501.322	135.127
2005	May 7	Greg Biffle	Ford	$305,975	505.42^[2]	123.031