NASCAR testing at Darlington this week the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars were unofficially clocked at 200 mph during Goodyear tire testing. What a difference paving makes at historic Darlington Raceway.

That's not a miss-print Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon, Ford driver Greg Biffle and the Dodge of Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman were all clocked unofficially at 200 mph at the end of this old track's smooth, newly re-paved backstretch. Darlington Raceway President Chris Browning almost couldn't believe it himself. "We had some of the telemetry numbers from the teams and I couldn't believe it when they told me they were hitting 200 mph at the end of the backstretch," said Browning.

"That's incredible!" Jeff Gordon, a seven-time winner on the tricky, treacherous, 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval, said the track was fast and smooth. "The old humps and bumps are gone," said Gordon. "It's still Darlington. It's just a lot smoother and a lot faster. In the late 80's early 90's 200 mph+ used to be common in stock car racing until NASCAR slowed them down.