• Thursday, August 29th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Regular-season title, final NASCAR Cup Playoff berths on the line at Darlington

It could happen again.

Harrison Burton’s unlikely victory in last Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway caused consternation around the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff bubble.

The same thing could happen in the “last-chance qualifier” for the Cup Playoffs—Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Thirteen drivers—Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman and Burton—already have secured Playoff spots by winning at least one regular-season race.

That leaves three berths currently available on points, and Martin Truex Jr. is the odds-on favorite to secure one of them. Truex comes to Darlington 58 points above the current Playoff cut line, needing just 19 points (an 18th-place finish without stage points) to advance to the postseason.

But Truex knows all too well that’s no guarantee.

“The challenge is that it’s a long race, a lot of pit stops and a lot of chances for things to go wrong,” said the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, who announced he will retire from full-time racing at the end of the season.

“Track position is obviously really important. To go through 13 sets of tires or whatever it is, and track position and what it means there, and to keep track position, it’s tough to stay up front and be consistently really strong. It’s tough to do there, and we hope we can do that on Sunday night.”

Similarly, Truex’s teammate, Ty Gibbs can clinch a berth on points by scoring 38 points in the grueling race.

Chris Buescher currently is the last driver in a Playoff-eligible position, 21 points above the cut line. Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain are on the wrong side of the bubble, 21 and 27 points below the cutoff, respectively.

A victory by another currently winless driver—perhaps Kyle Busch or two-time Southern 500 winner Erik Jones—could spell the end of the Playoff hopes of all three of those bubble drivers.

Chastain nevertheless approaches the race with optimism. On May 10, he won a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at the Lady in Black.

The driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet first gained national recognition with a breakout Xfinity Series performance at Darlington in 2018, when he won the pole and the first two stages and led 90 laps in Chip Ganassi’s No. 42 Chevrolet.

“We need to gather a lot of points Sunday night and win,” Chastain said. “The math is the math. If we have a fast car, that will obviously increase our chances. I love Darlington, so I can’t think of a better place to be going this weekend.

“We’ll all know Sunday night if I’m in the Playoffs or not. No matter what, though, we’re going to keep working hard and going for wins the rest of the season.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Sunday’s race will settle a three-driver battle for the NASCAR Cup Series’ Regular Season Championship and the bonus of 15 Playoff points that goes with it.

Tyler Reddick leads Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott by 17 and 18 points, respectively. Reddick can lock Larson and Elliott out of the title by scoring 44 points on Sunday, which would require him to collect a minimum of nine stage points if he doesn’t win the race (four stage points if he does).

Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup champion, is the defending winner of the Crown Jewel race.

“I love racing at Darlington, and it was cool to get that first (Cup) win there last year in the Southern 500,” Larson said. “We’re 17 points down, but we’re going to race hard for stage points and hopefully be able to battle for the Regular Season Championship at the end of the race.”

• Cook Out Southern 500
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: Bubba Wallace
• Age: 30
• Team : No 23 - US Air Force Toyota
• Owner: Michael Jordan
• Crew Chief: Robert Barker
• Bubba Wallace won the Pole Award for the Cook Out Southern 500 with a lap of 29421 seconds, 167146 mph
• This is his third pole in 245 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his first pole and 12th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in 13 races at Darlington Raceway
• Carson Hocevar (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2024 and his first in three races at Darlington Raceway
• Chase Briscoe (third) posted his first top-10 start at Darlington Raceway It is his 11th in 26 races this season
• Carson Hocevar (second) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Drivers Entered: 37
• Laps Scheduled: 367
• Margin of Victory: 0.361 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 55 Minutes 14 Seconds
• Average Speed: 127.870
• Cautions: 7 for 39 laps
• Lead Changes: 26
• Green Flag Passes: 4,213 (12.8 passes per green flag lap)

• Cook Out Southern 500
• Race Winner: Chase Briscoe
• Age: 29
• Team : No 14 - HighPointcom Ford
• Owner: Gene Haas
• Crew Chief: Richard Boswell, II
• Chase Briscoe won the Cook Out Southern 500, his second victory in 134 Cup Series races
• This is his first victory and seventh top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in eight races at Darlington Raceway
• Kyle Busch (second) posted his 15th top-10 finish in 26 races at Darlington Raceway It is his ninth top-10 finish in 2024
• Christopher Bell (third) posted his third top-10 finish in 11 races at Darlington Raceway
• Zane Smith (23rd) was the highest finishing rookie
• Tyler Reddick leads the point standings by 1 points over Kyle Larson