Bojangles' Southern 500
# Wins Driver Years Won
6 Jeff Gordon 1995 , 1996 , 1997 , 1998 , 2002 , 2007
5 Cale Yarborough 1968 , 1973 , 1974 , 1978 , 1982
4 Bobby Allison 1971 , 1972 , 1975 , 1983
3 Herb Thomas 1951 , 1954 , 1955
3 Buck Baker 1953 , 1960 , 1964
3 David Pearson 1976 , 1977 , 1979
3 Dale Earnhardt 1987 , 1989 , 1990
3 Bill Elliott 1985 , 1988 , 1994
2 Fireball Roberts 1958 , 1963
2 Harry Gant 1984 , 1991
2 Terry Labonte 1980 , 2003
2 Mark Martin 1993 , 2009
2 Greg Biffle 2005 , 2006
2 Jimmie Johnson 2004 , 2012
2 Denny Hamlin 2010 , 2017
Past winners -- Multiple winners ( drivers )
The Southern 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. From 1950 to 2003, and again since 2015, the race has been held on Labor Day weekend. The Southern 500 is largely considered one of the Crown Jewels of the NASCAR calendar, and has been nicknamed NASCAR's oldest superspeedway race. For decades, the race has been considered by competitors and media as one of the more difficult and challenging races on the NASCAR schedule, owing much to the track's unusual, asymmetrical egg-shape, rough pavement, and overall unforgiving nature. Darlington Raceway itself has a long and storied reputation as the Track Too Tough to Tame. The race is held on the first weekend of September and is the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, in the Round of 16. The Southern 500 has a storied history, including Bill Elliott famously winning the Winston Million in 1985, and Jeff Gordon also winning Winston Million in 1997. It is also the site of Darrell Waltrip's final career victory (1992). Through 2004, Darlington held two Cup series races annually, the Southern 500 in the fall, and a 400-mile event in the spring. In 2004, the Southern 500 was moved to November and was run as the second-to-last race in the inaugural Chase for the Championship. The following year, as the result of a settlement in the Ferko lawsuit, Darlington lost one of its two dates.