Greg Biffle started from the pole in Saturday evening's Bojangles Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway and led the opening stint of the race all-but uncontested. Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne challenged him just prior to the first round of pit stops, which occurred under green flag conditions, but Biffle did not relinquish the lead until taking his Ford to pit road. Kyle Busch then assumed the lead, with Biffle sitting second, ahead of Kahne, Johnson, and Denny Hamlin.
The race has been clean for Darlington standards, with only the occasional rub with the wall in the corners. Among the drivers who have already picked up their "Darlington Stripe" are defending race winner Regan Smith and Jeff Gordon, who's seven Darlington wins lead all active drivers.
As expected, Danica Patrick didn't set the world on fire in her opening laps at Darlington, falling off the lead lap and hovering in the mid-30s in the running order. Her pre-race goals were to simply learn and try to complete the race.