DARLINGTON, S.C. — NASCAR is honoring the past and paying tribute to those that paved the way for the NASCAR Cup Series today this weekend at Darlington Raceway.

Many of the drivers will be paying tribute to the past this weekend with special paint schemes on their cars.

In addition, to cars on-track having a distinctive look with their paint schemes this weekend, the FOX Sports booth will have some NASCAR Hall of Famers join Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer to call portions of Sunday’s race.

The King, Richard Petty will be first up bringing his vast knowledge as the series’ winningest driver. Petty will be in the booth during Stage 1 of the race, followed by Bobby Labonte during the second stage and Bill Elliott, will close out the race in the final stage.

All three NASCAR Hall of Famers in the FOX Sports booth this weekend have won at Darlington Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series, led by Elliott with five victories, Petty with three and Labonte with one.

The historic 1.366-mile egg-shaped paved oval, known as Darlington Raceway, has hosted 121 NASCAR Cup Series races dating back to 1950.

The raceway was built as a 1.25-mile paved superspeedway in 1949-1950 and hosted the first 500-mile race in NASCAR history and the first on asphalt on September 4, 1950. A total of 75 cars competed in the inaugural event and was won by Johnny Mantz. The race took 6 hours, 38 minutes, and 40 seconds to complete.

Last season was the first time since 2007 the NASCAR Cup Series had competed on Mother’s Day. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. took the win last season on May 9, 2021 becoming the seventh different driver to win on Mother’s Day in the series.

With Chase Elliott’s win at Dover Motor Speedway last weekend, it has only taken 11 races this season for all four of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers to earn a win and lock themselves into the Playoffs – a series record for the fewest races for an organization to win with four different drivers to start a season.

Just 15 races left in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season and nine drivers have already won this year securing their spot in the Playoffs, leaving just seven spots open for the postseason as the series heads to Darlington Raceway.

Sunday’s race at Darlington Raceway will take place at 2:30 p.m. CT.