The paving work going on the surface of the Darlington raceway has been completed. Work has been going on to prepare the race track for the forth coming Dodge Challenger 500 weekend race happening on the 8th to 10th of May 2008. The track president, Chris Browning made the announcement on Wednesday. He further said that with the paving done and completed the focus would shift to the actual preparations for the Dodge challenger 500 coming up. The paving work began in the middle of January on the Darlington race track. It gulped almost 15,000 tons of asphalt. The original race surface was laid in 1994. About 4 million reference points had to be utilized by the construction team to ensure that the new track is exactly as the original design and pattern.

The total reconstruction project was valued at $10 million and included a new infield tunnel. The tunnel was to be large enough to take car haulers, emergency vehicles and motor homes. Safety barriers were also upgraded to make them safer. Interior concrete walls on the back and front stretch were also constructed. “Too Tough To Tame” is a test race. It is a Goodman tire test race, the first race on the new tracks and it would come up on the 10th and 11th of March. Among the expected drivers would be Jeff Gordon who has won the Darlington event seven times. Greg Biffle has won it twice and he would also feature as a driver along with Ryan Newman who won the 2008 event of Daytona 500.