The 2012 Bojangles' Southern 500 was the 63rd running of the event, and the eleventh stock car race of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Greg Biffle led the Drivers' Championship by seven points over his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth in second.

The 2012 Bojangles' Southern 500 was the eleventh stock car race out of thirty-six of the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

[1] It was scheduled to run for 367 laps over a distance of 501 mi (806 km),[6] and was held on May 12, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway,[1] an intermediate oval track which began hosting NASCAR races in the 1950 Grand National Series;[7] The standard track is a paved egg-shaped four-turn 1.366 mi (2.198 km) oval superspeedway.

[8] Before the race, Greg Biffle led the Drivers' Championship with 378 points, and Matt Kenseth stood in second with 371.

Kurt Busch was third, followed by Edwards, Stewart, Truex, Johnson, Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, and A. J. Allmendinger in positions four to ten.

[14] Aric Almirola spun 360 degrees leaving the fourth turn, but he avoided contact with the wall beside the track.

Johnson, Travis Kvapil, Paul Menard, Landon Cassill, Josh Wise, Michael McDowell, and David Stremme rounded out the session's top ten fastest drivers.

"[17] Afterward, he described his qualifying lap as "pretty uneventful", adding, "The car just had a ton of grip — it stuck to the race track really, really well.

"[17] Live television coverage of the race began at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04:00) in the United States on Fox.

[2] Commentary was provided by Mike Joy, with analysis given by retired driver Darrell Waltrip and former crew chief Larry McReynolds.

Singer-songwriter Casey Weston, one of eight finalists of season 1 of The Voice, performed the national anthem, and the mothers of the drivers commanded them to start their engines.

17 laps later, Jeff Gordon made heavy contact with the wall, but he continued with some damage to the right-hand side of his vehicle.

As the front of the pack got tighter in slower traffic, Kahne passed his teammate Johnson to move into second on lap 47.

On lap 140, Marcos Ambrose spun luridly, but he regained control of his car to avoid bringing out a caution.

[1][23] On lap 172, Kyle Busch's lead of 5.4 seconds was reduced to nothing with the waving of the first caution of the race for debris in turn two.

The field including Kahne chose to make pit stops under the caution, as Hamlin took the lead for the lap 235 restart.

Seven laps later, Truex's lead of eight-tenths of a second was reduced to nothing with the waving of the fourth caution,[23] when Labonte after turn four.

Johnson passed Kyle Busch for second place on the 304th lap, as Logano fell to seventh behind Hamlin, Kahne and Newman to around the same time.

[23][26] Six laps later,[23] Reed Sorenson spun sideways leaving the fourth turn, triggering the seventh caution.

[23] As Johnson increased his lead over Stewart to almost a second by going half a mile faster than him,[23] Kurt Busch hit the wall after his tire went flat on lap 361,[28] and was sent into Newman's path, prompting the eighth (and final) caution.

[24] Johnson achieved a fast getaway, and Hamlin overtook Stewart (who had fuel pressure problems) around the outside for second place.

It was the 200th victory for Hendrick Motorsports in NASCAR Cup Series competition since Geoff Bodine won the 1984 Sovran Bank 400.

"[27] After the race, Kurt Busch's crew chief Nick Harrison instructed him to stop at the entrance to pit road and exit his car.

[32] Rueger lunged at Kurt Busch but he knocked over a NASCAR official who fell backward on the hood of his car.

[34] This led to a brawl between the pit crews but Kurt Busch was escorted away to the NASCAR hauler during the struggle to explain himself.

[35] Gibson said multiple crew members jumped aside to avoid Kurt Busch hitting them at Newman's final pit stop, and Harrison said that no person involved in the incident punched each other, "Just one of those deals when people get bunched up, someone fell down, A lot of mouthing.

[28] Newman suspected Kurt Busch had a chemical imbalance that made him angry during the race, "I'm pretty sure there were 42 other guys that are taking their helmets off and doing whatever for the last 10 years, and that's the first time that's happened to me.

The penalties, for "actions detrimental to stock-car racing", for hitting Newman's car on pit road, and getting into an altercation, included a $50,000 fine for Kurt Busch, and he was placed on probation until July 25, 2012.

Rueger was fined $5,000, and was also placed on probation until June 27, 2012, for failing to comply with a NASCAR official's post-race directive.