This weekend’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway May 9 at 2:30 p.m. Ct will be just the eighth time in NASCAR Cup Series history the series has competed on Mother’s Day.
The most recent winner on Mother’s Day in the NASCAR Cup Series will be in the FOX Sports booth this weekend, NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, who won the 2007 rain delayed Darlington Raceway race on May 13, 2007.
NASCAR Hall of Famer inductee Buck Baker holds the record for the most wins on Mother’s Day at two (1956, 1954).
| Race Winner | Date | Track | Holiday | |
| 1 | Jeff Gordon | Sunday, May 13, 2007 | Darlington Raceway | Mother’s Day |
| 2 | Cale Yarborough | Sunday, May 14, 1978 | Talladega Superspeedway | Mother’s Day |
| 3 | Benny Parsons | Sunday, May 9, 1971 | South Boston Speedway | Mother’s Day |
| 4 | Bob Welborn | Sunday, May 11, 1958 | Greensboro Fairgrounds | Mother’s Day |
| 5 | Buck Baker | Sunday, May 13, 1956 | Orange Speedway | Mother’s Day |
| 6 | Tim Flock | Sunday, May 8, 1955 | Arizona State Fairgrounds | Mother’s Day |
| 7 | Buck Baker | Sunday, May 9, 1954 | Wilson Speedway | Mother’s Day |
Count ‘Em: Different winners almost every week
Through 11 races the NASCAR Cup Series has seen 10 different winners making 2021 just the third season in the Modern Era (1972-Present) to accomplish the feat; joining the 2000 and 2003 seasons (each with 10 winners). Will we see an 11th winner in 12 races this weekend?
The record in the Modern Era (1972-Present) for the most different NASCAR Cup Series winners in a single season in its entirety is 19 set back in 2001. The series has also seen a total of 18 different winners (second-most) in a single season twice – in 2002 and 2011. Last season the series produced 13 different winners. Since moving to the elimination-style format in the Playoffs in 2014, the most different winners the series has seen in a season is 15 in 2017.
If you anticipate the streak of different winners to keep growing this weekend, you may be right. Of the six former NASCAR Cup Series Darlington Raceway winners entered this weekend three are still looking for their first win of the season; including Denny Hamlin (2010, 2017, 2020), Kevin Harvick (two Darlington wins in 2020, 2014) and Erik Jones (2019). In addition, three other Cup drivers still looking for their first win of 2021 have grabbed wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at 1.366-mile track – Chase Briscoe (2020), Cole Custer (2019) and Chase Elliott (2014).
Of course, we could also possibly see a new first-time NASCAR Cup Series winner this weekend. It has happened before at Darlington. Six drivers have posted their first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Darlington Raceway: Johnny Mantz (1950), Nelson Stacy (1961), Larry Frank (1962), Terry Labonte (1980), Lake Speed (1988) and Regan Smith (2011).
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