Toyota 500

The Toyota 500 was a 501.227 km NASCAR Cup Series race held at Darlington Raceway, It was one of three races held at the track, including the Cook Out Southern 500, The race was originally created in 2020 as a temporary event in response to races canceled by the

The event was the second NASCAR Cup Series race held following a hiatus brought on by the, after the formal resumption of the season with The Real Heroes 400 three days earlier, also at Darlington. The race marked the first Cup Series event to be held on a Wednesday since the 1984 Firecracker 400 at Daytona (the race, at the time, was always held on July 4, regardless of day) — a race also noted for hosting Richard Petty's 200th and final Cup Series victory. It was the 57th edition of the event, dating to the 1950 Southern 500 (the current Southern 500 traces its roots to the 1957 Rebel 300). It was the first scheduled Cup Series Darlington race with a scheduled 300 mile (or 500 km distance, which is similar) distance since 1963, when the Rebel 300 was run in two 150-mile heat races.

History
Denny Hamlin continued his strong start to the season scoring his second win in the first six events of the season in 2020, Hamlin was leading when rain ended the event 20 laps from its scheduled completion.

Weather affected the start, but the NASCAR Cup Series was able to start the event shortly before 8:00 p.m. and from the start the Toyota teams drove to the front. Martin Truex Jr. drove from outside the top ten to second-place before the end of stage one, and took the lead in stage two before settling for 10th. Erik Jones also had the strongest night of his season, taking the lead late before earning his first top-five finish of the season. "" If post race inspection of Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota holds up, he would have won his third Cup event at the track Too Tough to Tame. The reigning Daytona 500 champion had also previously won the Cook Out Southern 500 in 2010 and 2017.

Hamlin thanked his Joe Gibbs Racing team’s decision to keep his car on the track as the other lead-lap cars at the time pitted for four tires.

After Hamlin was told JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. had success on Darlington with old tires, it appeared to be the thing to do at the time.

And if that weren’t enough, a red fox — the mascot for Darlington County School District’s — wandered onto the track.