This weekend it is another Saturday night race under the lights for the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but first forty-seven cars will make qualifying runs for the legendary Southern 500. For those outside the top-35 in owner points, making the show this weekend may mean more than a typical race weekend.

The historic Southern 500 is a jewel on the Cup Series schedule and teams required to qualify in on time will not only have to race against one another, but also the track ‘Too Tough To Tame.’

Eleven teams will be vying for eight spots during Friday afternoon’s qualifying session at the Darlington Raceway. The No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet occupies the final spot locked in the show, but this week it is Tony Raines behind the wheel. John Andretti, who has piloted the car since Daytona, has shifted gears to focus on making the Indianapolis 500 with Richard Petty.

John (Andretti) had made a commitment to run in the Indianapolis 500,” team owner Bob Jenkins explained. “He let us know very early in the season so we could plan for this. We worked with John and we hope he does well. We still plan on running Darlington and the events in Charlotte before John returns at Dover. Tony Raines has had a lot of experience with us and has done a great job with our NASCAR Nationwide Series program. It was pretty easy to pick him to run the No. 34 for this weekend and in Charlotte.”

With a forty-four point cushion over Scott Speed in 36th, the No. 34 team is looking to emerge from this weekend still locked in the top-35.

Despite an impressive qualifying run in Richmond last weekend, Scott Speed’s evening quickly went south. Dropping through the field like a rock, Speed could do little to stay in contention and ended the evening in the 33rd-spot, four laps down. The Red Bull Racing team was able to stay in touch with the top-35 and is now only forty-four marks out of 35th.

Heading to Darlington for the first time, Speed will get some extra learning experience by running Friday night’s Nationwide Series race.

“I’ve gotten lots of advice from all kinds of guys about Darlington,” Speed explained, “but the biggest thing is being able to run the Nationwide car. Having that racing experience really helps a lot for the Cup races the next day, knowing where the groove is going to go, knowing where you can run and how a race is going to play out.”

Returning to action this weekend will also be the Denver-based Furniture Row Racing organization. With Regan Smith behind the wheel, the No. 78 team will be focused on improving on their top-15 run at Talladega. Like most drivers, Smith understands that they have to worry about not only the competition but the track as well.

"You never know when you're at Darlington,” Smith pointed out. "It's a nasty, tough track to race at. It's a cliche to say that you have to race the racetrack, but with Darlington you really have to be 110 percent fit and 110 percent mentally focused."

Qualifying for Saturday night’s Southern 500 presented by GoDaddy.com is scheduled for 5:10pm E.T. on Friday evening. Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com to see which of the go-or-go-home teams makes the show and which head back to the shop a day early.

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