MRN, Darlington Team For "Bojangles Southern 500 Throwback Week"

Two iconic NASCAR brands – Motor Racing Network and Darlington Raceway – will team up later this month to kick off a week-long celebration of the return of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 to Labor Day weekend.

Starting on Sunday, Aug. 30, “Bojangles’ Southern 500 Throwback Week on MRN, Presented by STP” will take fans on a day-by-day stroll back through history and also move them forward to the Sept. 6 Bojangles’ Southern 500 – the first time since 2003 that the legendary race will be run Labor Day weekend.

Special programming will feature some of the familiar names that helped make Motor Racing Network “The Voice of NASCAR” since it first hit the airwaves in 1970, including Barney Hall, Ned Jarrett and Jack Arute.

“We knew the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway would be something special this year, with its return to Labor Day weekend,” said MRN President and Executive Producer David Hyatt. “Along with STP, one of the sport’s iconic sponsors, MRN is thrilled to give NASCAR fans a chance to relive some of the great moments of the past and also get them ready for what promises to be one of the most exciting races of the 2015 season.”

The Tuesday, Sept. 1, edition of “NASCAR Live” will feature some of the greatest moments in Bojangles’ Southern 500 history, hosted by Eli Gold with first-hand accounts from the drivers who made those memories.

Darlington Raceway’s history also will be framed with a series of richly produced feature stories to air on other MRN programs that week including “NASCAR USA” and “MRN 360.”

For the race broadcast on Sunday evening, Sept. 6, theme music from the MRN archives will open the network’s coverage of the Bojangles’ Southern 500.  Air time is 6 p.m. (EDT).

Throughout the week leading up to the race, stories from the drivers who’ve etched their names into Darlington’s storied past will be featured at www.MRN.com, including “Million Dollar Bill” Elliott, Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, who won the last Labor Day running of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Aug. 31, 2003.