Practice

Cook Out Southern 500

Sunday, September 3rd, 2023

Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC

  • 16 Chevrolet
  • 14 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Darlington Raceway
  • Cook Out Southern 500
  • Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Christopher Bell
  • Age: 28
  • Team : No. 20 - Yahoo! Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
  • Christopher Bell won the Pole Award for the Cook Out Southern 500 with a lap of 29.065 seconds, 169.193 mph.
  • This is his seventh pole in 135 NASCAR Cup Series races.
  • This is his third pole and 17th top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his first pole in nine races at Darlington Raceway.
  • Denny Hamlin (second) posted his 13th top-10 start of 2023 and his 18th in 23 races at Darlington Raceway.
  • Tyler Reddick (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Darlington Raceway. It is his 17th in 27 races this season.
  • Ty Gibbs (17th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Sunday, September 3rd, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Kyle Larson wins Cook Out Southern 500 to advance in NASCAR Cup Playoffs

Welcome back, Kyle Larson.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion held off a desperate charge from fellow Playoff driver Tyler Reddick at sold-out Darlington Raceway to claim victory in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 and earn an automatic berth in the Round of 12.

Larson entered the Playoff opener with an undistinguished average finish of 17.5 in his previous six races, but he weathered a transmission momentary stuck in neutral and a disconcerting brush with the wall to register his third victory of the season, the 22nd of his career and his first at the famed Lady in Black.

"Yeah, finally from start to finish," Larson said of his ability to put together a complete race. "Eighteenth to third in the first stage, I didn’t think that was possible. Our race car was really good when the sun was out. Just had to work on it.

"I messed up once and it got hung in neutral, and I slid and hit the wall, and I think bent the toe link a little bit, so it was kind of a struggle from there. Definitely had to fight it more than I was earlier, but we kept our heads in the game. That was really important. This race is all about keeping your head in it…

"What a great way to start the Playoffs, and hopefully we can keep it going."

Larson took the lead for the first time during a quick pit stop on Lap 313 and held it for the final 55 circuits. Reddick rolled off pit road second but couldn’t find a way past the race winner.

"Kyle and I were pretty close the majority of the day, honestly, and he just got ahead of us there on pit road, but all in all, this is the day that we needed to have," said Reddick, who led 90 laps and crossed the finish line .447 seconds behind Larson.

"Really just thankful for the hard work from my pit crew, from the team, everyone at the shop. Days like this, with a car like this, we haven’t been able to get a second-place finish out of it, so really glad we were able to do that, and it was a really good points day on top of that, as well."

Chris Buescher ran a mistake-free race and finished third, followed by William Byron, who charged forward from his 23rd starting position. Ross Chastain ran fifth, with Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace behind him, as Playoff drivers claimed the top seven positions.

While Larson leaves Darlington with guaranteed admission to the Round of 12, Byron, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, leads the Playoff standings by one point—over Larson. Reddick is 15 points behind Byron, followed by Buescher and Denny Hamlin, who trail by 18 points.

Catastrophes proved the undoing of several Playoff drivers who showed excellent speed but succumbed to a variety of pit road mistakes and errors in judgment.

Hamlin led 177 laps, swept the first and second stages and dominated the race—until he made an extra green-flag pit stop on Lap 274, believing he had a loose wheel. Hamlin lost a lap and any chance he had of starting the Playoffs with a victory. Hamlin’s night got worse when he was collected in a five-car wreck on Lap 330. He finished 25th.

After Hamlin’s demise, Kevin Harvick was chasing Reddick for the lead. Harvick steered his car toward pit road on Lap 309, causing Reddick to check up in front of Ryan Newman in an attempt to duplicate Harvick’s maneuver. Newman spun in Turn 4, causing the sixth caution, and the red light indicating a closed pit road caught Harvick just before he reached the entry line. The resulting penalty sent Harvick to the back of the field for a restart on Lap 317, with no time to recovered past 19th.

A driver with no margin for error entering the Round of 16, Michael McDowell didn’t have the speed to stay on the lead lap, but his Waterloo came in the same Lap 330 wreck that involved Hamlin and fellow Playoff driver and pole winner Christopher Bell. McDowell’s No. 34 Ford was too badly hurt to continue, and he fell out of the race in 32nd place.

McDowell heads to next Sunday’s Playoff race at Kansas Speedway in 16th place, 19 points behind Bell in 12th.

Late in the first stage, Bell slammed the outside wall and damaged the suspension on his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, ruining any chances of victory.

"I just got in the marbles and fenced it hard," Bell radioed to his team.

After the stage break, Bell dropped precipitously through the field and was soon lapped by leader Denny Hamlin.

"The toe is messed up—I’m having to turn the wheel a lot," Bell radioed to crew chief Adam Stevens.

Bell, who finished a lap down in 23rd, wasn’t the only Playoff driver who fell victim to mistakes in the first stage, which ran under the green flag from start to finish. Joey Logano scraped the wall at the apex of Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 86.

His No. 22 Ford bit the wall again on Lap 115—the final circuit of Stage 1—when the No. 23 Toyota of Wallace spun underneath him in Turn 4 and knocked the right rear of Logano’s car into the fence, after Hamlin had taken the green/checkered flag to win the stage and the accompanying Playoff point.

Martin Truex Jr. (who finished 18th) lost four spots after brushing the wall late in the stage and ran 17th in the first segment. Truex’s problems multiplied in Stage 2 when he had to make an unscheduled pit stop because of a loose wheel and lost two laps.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (16th) lost a lap serving a pass-through penalty for speeding on pit road during his first green-flag pit stop, as mistakes began to shape the Playoffs—as they invariably do.

  • Drivers Entered: 36
  • Laps Scheduled: 367
  • Margin of Victory: 0.447 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 4 Hours 8 Minutes 47 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 120.906
  • Cautions: 8 for 51 laps
  • Lead Changes: 13
  • Green Flag Passes: 4,079 (12.9 passes per green flag lap)

  • Darlington Raceway
  • Cook Out Southern 500
  • Race Winner: Kyle Larson
  • Age: 31
  • Team : No. 5 - HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
  • Owner: Rick Hendrick
  • Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
  • Kyle Larson won the Cook Out Southern 500, his 22nd victory in 322 Cup Series races.
  • This is his third victory and 13th top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his first victory and eighth top-10 finish in 12 races at Darlington Raceway.
  • Tyler Reddick (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in nine races at Darlington Raceway. It is his 12th top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Chris Buescher (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 13 races at Darlington Raceway.
  • Ty Gibbs (21st) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • William Byron leads the point standings by 1 points over Kyle Larson.
William Byron and crew walk the grid during practice
Darlington, South Carolina - September 2, 2023 : William Byron, driver of the #24 Liberty University Chevrolet, and crew walk the grid during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway
Jared C TiltonGetty Images
Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway Practice results
# DRIVER MAKE RNK SPD TME BHND LAP LAPS 5- 10- 15- 20- 25- 30- 10-LAP FRM TO
16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 25 164.661 29.865 0.668 2 25 30.003 30.268 30.472 30.659 30.834 0 162.484 1 10
10 Aric Almirola Ford 24 164.793 29.841 0.644 1 26 30.033 30.250 30.601 30.734 0 0 162.576 1 10
6 Brad Keselowski Ford 10 165.973 29.629 0.432 1 21 29.824 30.074 30.308 30.524 0 0 163.533 1 10
11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 8 166.242 29.581 0.384 2 35 29.711 30.021 30.307 30.506 30.673 30.790 163.828 1 10
15 JJ Yeley Ford 33 163.680 30.044 0.847 2 18 30.116 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
22 Joey Logano Ford 26 164.661 29.865 0.668 2 37 29.967 30.199 30.417 30.620 30.778 30.898 162.854 1 10
4 Kevin Harvick Ford 19 165.087 29.788 0.591 2 24 30.001 30.221 30.433 30.632 0 0 162.736 1 10
8 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 15 165.359 29.739 0.542 2 21 29.854 30.053 30.301 30.476 0 0 163.640 1 10
19 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 11 165.956 29.632 0.435 2 25 29.846 30.038 30.252 0 0 0 163.722 1 10
34 Michael McDowell Ford 2 167.277 29.398 0.201 1 18 29.742 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
51 Ryan Newman Ford 36 163.067 30.157 0.960 1 16 31.042 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 35 163.272 30.119 0.922 3 29 30.224 30.398 30.579 30.786 0 0 161.783 1 10
47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 3 167.049 29.438 0.241 1 24 29.780 30.109 30.395 0 0 0 163.351 1 10
5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 7 166.349 29.562 0.365 2 25 29.791 30.073 30.221 30.343 30.457 0 163.542 1 10
48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 32 163.947 29.995 0.798 4 34 30.273 30.397 30.574 30.698 30.860 30.950 161.793 1 10
12 Ryan Blaney Ford 16 165.320 29.746 0.549 2 33 29.816 29.999 30.231 30.427 30.607 30.753 163.933 1 10
7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 22 164.943 29.814 0.617 2 22 29.893 30.187 30.469 0 0 0 162.924 1 10
77 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 28 164.303 29.930 0.733 2 20 30.784 30.838 30.915 0 0 0 159.469 5 14
9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 30 164.073 29.972 0.775 4 36 30.043 30.242 30.436 30.632 30.787 30.908 162.619 1 10
17 Chris Buescher Ford 13 165.659 29.685 0.488 2 35 29.884 30.126 30.356 30.507 30.672 30.821 163.252 1 10
43 Erik Jones Chevrolet 17 165.275 29.754 0.557 2 19 30.367 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
78 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 34 163.571 30.064 0.867 2 10 30.473 30.850 0 0 0 0 159.457 1 10
41 Ryan Preece Ford 21 165.009 29.802 0.605 2 21 30.013 30.397 30.563 0 0 0 161.818 1 10
99 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 31 163.964 29.992 0.795 3 34 30.146 30.294 30.474 30.644 30.795 30.902 162.337 1 10
1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 23 164.898 29.822 0.625 2 29 30.120 30.293 30.433 30.544 30.669 0 162.345 1 10
23 Bubba Wallace Toyota 5 166.591 29.519 0.322 2 21 29.781 30.110 0 0 0 0 163.351 1 10
24 William Byron Chevrolet 4 166.642 29.510 0.313 2 25 29.814 30.055 30.248 0 0 0 163.635 1 10
45 Tyler Reddick Toyota 12 165.956 29.632 0.435 2 27 29.810 30.110 30.360 30.539 30.673 0 163.343 1 10
31 Justin Haley Chevrolet 20 165.064 29.792 0.595 2 30 29.982 30.219 30.466 30.660 30.807 30.938 162.747 1 10
20 Christopher Bell Toyota 1 168.428 29.197 0.000 2 26 29.713 30.048 0 0 0 0 163.689 1 10
2 Austin Cindric Ford 6 166.433 29.547 0.350 2 29 29.680 29.958 30.209 30.430 30.628 0 164.167 1 10
14 Chase Briscoe Ford 9 166.017 29.621 0.424 2 29 29.838 30.150 30.432 30.615 30.762 0 163.124 1 10
21 Harrison Burton Ford 14 165.492 29.715 0.518 4 27 29.947 30.178 30.366 30.600 0 0 162.969 1 10
54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 18 165.114 29.783 0.586 2 28 30.084 30.226 30.393 30.614 30.732 0 162.726 1 10
38 Todd Gilliland Ford 27 164.639 29.869 0.672 2 21 30.051 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0 0
42 Carson Hocevar Chevrolet 29 164.276 29.935 0.738 3 29 30.069 30.446 30.753 30.901 0 0 161.568 2 11