DARLINGTON, S.C. -- There's just something about that South Carolina sand. All that changed before the 2008 season, when Darlington received a needed resurfacing -- the grand old lady had to be patched up with regularity by that point -- and suddenly the track's asphalt was night-black, smooth, and lightning fast. Speeds climbed, tires lasted forever, and in 2011 Regan Smith won the Southern 500 by staying out of the pits altogether, a move that would have seemed ludicrous in so many seasons past. In more recent years a startling amount of gray has returned to Darlington's surface, and Saturday night Kevin Harvick struck one for the old guard -- he took four tires on what proved the event's final pit stop, and thanks in part to a few cautions that extended the race distance, overtook those in front of him who had chosen two. More...