If recent trends are any indication, Sunday's race at Darlington will be unpredictable

Seven races into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, a lot has already taken place.

The Daytona 500 ended with a repeat winner (William Byron), Christopher Bell became the first driver to win three consecutive races (Atlanta, COTA, Phoenix) since Kyle Larson in 2021 and Josh Berry won his first Cup Series race and the 101st for the Wood Brothers with his win at Las Vegas.

The last two races have ended with familiar veterans in victory lane. It took a fourth to first charge in the final 20 laps, but Larson picked up his first win of the season at Homestead-Miami and Denny Hamlin dominated at Martinsville by leading 274 laps.

As NASCAR heads to Darlington Raceway for its annual Throwback Weekend, recent history suggests unpredictability is in store. If the last five races at Darlington are any sign, the type of dominance Hamlin showed at Martinsville may not be enough to win on Sunday at the "Lady in Black."

The driver who has led the most laps at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval has failed to win four of the last five races with finishes of 25th or worse. Hamlin won Stage 2 before taking the checkered flag at Martinsville. If a stage winner emerges victorious on Sunday, it would be a rare occurrence, given eight of the 12 stage winners in the Next Gen Era — since 2022 — have placed outside the top 25.

Brad Keselowski emerged victorious and snapped a 111-race winless streak in last year's Darlington spring race after Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher got together late. In the Southern 500, Chase Briscoe won his way into the playoffs and ended his 93-race winless streak.

Those are just two instances of drivers snapping winless droughts of at least 50 races at Darlington. In addition, the Southern 500 also featured 26 lead changes, which were the most since 2008. That has only added to the unpredictable nature of the unique shaped track that has been a fixture on the schedule and will play host to a Cup Series race for the 128th time. 

There has not been a repeat winner at Darlington in the last nine races and there is reason to believe that may not change on Sunday. Reddick led 174 laps in this race last season and always seems to find the front at the difficult track. Kyle Busch finished runner-up in last year's Southern 500 and brings a career-long 64-race winless streak into Sunday.

This is a weekend that NASCAR turns back the clock and throwback paint schemes take to the track as the sport pays homage to its roots. The unpredictable nature of the track only adds to the intrigue and should make for an exciting weekend of racing at "The Track Too Tough to Tame."

The Goodyear 400 will go green shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Sunday (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).