So, “The Lady In Black” had a little work done, if you know what I mean.
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that — a tuck here, a lift there. Oh, then there’s that monstrous shot of Botox she got to smooth away those timelines and fill in those unsightly blemishes.
It’s all good. After all, she’s hitting 50-something, and a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, right?
But Darlington Raceway isn’t your typical girl, either, so any noticeable change is going to bring with it some whispers and a little gossip.
The biggest change the latest upgrade brought to the venerable speedway was speed. There was more of it — from record-breaking pole-sitter Greg Biffle, to Carl Edwards and especially Saturday night’s race winner, Kyle Busch.
Biffle’s new qualifying record bested the 12-year-old mark of Ward Burton’s by nearly six miles per hour. The new mark of 179.442 miles per hour is the first to come since Darlington was repaved as part of a package of major upgrades for the facility that came about last year. Not surprisingly, Burton’s record also came after the track was repaved.

Drivers do make a difference at Darlington — that’s why Jeff Gordon has won here seven times and David Pearson, always smooth and cool, won here nine times. It is why Busch won here and Edwards will.
She brings out the best in the best — and that’s a good thing.

But speed isn’t all “The Lady” is about. She’s always been kind of fast. But there’s more to her than that, and that’s what nobody wants to see disappear in all the handiwork.
“I like this track, and the reason I like it so much is because it seems like the driver can make a pretty big difference,” said Edwards, who finished second to Busch. “I was a little nervous about the surface because I felt like that took a little bit of it away.”
Edwards is right. Drivers do make a difference at Darlington — that’s why Jeff Gordon has won here seven times and David Pearson, always smooth and cool, won here nine times. It is why Busch won here and Edwards will.
She brings out the best in the best — and that’s a good thing.
During Saturday’s Dodge Challenger 500, drivers found passing lanes tough to locate on the green surface. And speaking of green, after two early cautions, there were 128 laps of green-flag racing before debris caused a yellow flag at lap 141. Tires weren’t chewed up like some junkyard dog’s old toy.
That’s not very Lady-like. But I’m not worried. She’s still Darlington.
If there’s any question about it, just ask Busch, who won the race, but earned his Darlington Stripes in spades to do it. Or ask Gordon, who got to watch Busch earn every one of them.
“I can’t tell you how many times he tried to give this race away by slamming the wall,” Gordon said. “His right side was destroyed.”
That’s our girl.
“I saw some of the characteristics of the old Darlington tonight — like getting into turn three, even though you could carry good speed into turn three, get to the middle, the front end would take off to the wall,” said Gordon. “You didn’t know if you were going to hit it. I saw plenty of people that hit it.”
Now, it’s just a question of a little more age on that famed black surface, and it’ll be just like old times.
“I was thinking they should invite people from all over South Carolina to come and drive on this race track all year round, every day they want, try to get this surface wore out a little bit,” said Edwards. “It’d be a great promotion.”
It’s hard to please everybody all at once, women know that.
But the important thing is that Darlington, which was so close to losing both its Sprint Cup dates just five years ago, has four-straight sellouts to its credit and the support of drivers such as Gordon, Edwards, Biffle and Tony Stewart.
The upgrades were necessary to keep the aging Lady fresh, but she’s always Darlington.
“You can drive a lot of different ways,” said Gordon. “It’s still the Darlington of old in how you have to do that.”