Darlington Raceway is one of my favorite tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
It’s an old-school track that puts performance back on the drivers due to the importance of managing equipment, saving tires and staying out of the wall while running the higher line late in runs.
As a bettor, I enjoy races with high tire wear as well because finding speed, especially on long runs, is a driver skill we can identify.
Live NASCAR odds at FanDuel list Kyle Larson (+470) as today’s favorite, followed by Denny Hamlin (+500), Ryan Blaney (+600), William Byron (+650) and Tyler Reddick (+750).
Piggybacking on this idea, I’ve pinpointed a NASCAR pick I’m pouncing on right now for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Darlington.
William Byron has been the best driver at Darlington in the Next Gen era, which dates back to the 2022 season.
Yes, I love Denny Hamlin here, and since he won the pole, I understand Hamlin being the race favorite.
However, Byron has put up the best numbers over the past seven races at Darlington and is a very bettable value at +750.
Since 2022, Byron has posted the best driver rating, has led the second-most laps and has run the most fast laps at Darlington, yet there are three drivers with better NASCAR odds to win today’s Southern 500.
At +750 (ESPN BET), I’ll gladly grab Byron to win today’s race and still have plenty of bankroll left over to complement the Hendrick Motorsports driver on my betting card.
NASCAR Pick: William Byron (+750) to Win — ESPN BET
The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are upon us, which means it’s time for 16 drivers to start building their respective paths to the 2025 championship beginning at Darlington Raceway.
The track “Too Tough to Tame” creates a grueling environment for the Cook Out Southern 500, with the latest iteration set for its traditional slot on Labor Day Weekend this Sunday (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
It should come as no surprise that playoff drivers dominate the early projections from Racing Insights. Denny Hamlin is a three-time winner of NASCAR’s oldest crown-jewel race, triumphing in 2010, 2017 and 2021. Hamlin also won at the “Lady in Black” in April, leaving him with two wins, four top fives and five top 10s in his last eight Darlington starts. The numbers initially said Hamlin was due for another Southern 500 trophy Sunday night in South Carolina, but a Hendrick Motorsports trio might have something to say about that after qualifying.
William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are all projected to place within the top five Sunday night, and for good reason, with Byron moving past Hamlin to claim the top spot. No. 24 led an astounding 243 laps from pole earlier this year but ultimately finished as runner-up to Hamlin in overtime. The current driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet has never won the Southern 500, but the Regular Season Champion did go to Victory Lane in the 2023 spring race and knows his way to Victory Lane there. Larson was victorious in the 2023 Southern 500 and led 263 laps in last year’s running ahead of a fourth-place finish, entering Sunday night with an impressive seven top fives and nine top 10s in 15 Darlington starts. Elliott, the 2020 series champion, is still looking for his first Darlington win, but his steadiness at the 1.366-mile oval could factor him into a challenge for the win on Sunday.
Entering the weekend, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher is poised to produce the best finish for a driver outside the playoffs in 10th. Despite the heartbreak of missing the postseason, RFK Racing owner Brad Keselowski — projected 12th — did win the Darlington spring race in 2024 — a race Buescher nearly won before late contact with Tyler Reddick — and Buescher played spoiler in last year’s Round of 16 by winning at Watkins Glen International. Will anyone prevent a playoff driver from locking into the Round of 12 at Darlington?
CHASE BRISCOE: Don’t sleep on the defending winner of the Southern 500. Racing Insights’ projections list Briscoe as a top-10 finisher, but his charge to the 2024 victory over Kyle Busch remains his most impressive performance at the Cup level yet. Driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota this time around, Briscoe may be in position to pounce again with that win and two top fives in his last three Darlington appearances.
TY GIBBS: The driver of the No. 54 Toyota has been sneaky good at Darlington, netting a runner-up finish in the 2024 spring race and a top 10 in April. His Southern 500 numbers haven’t matched yet with a best finish of 15th in 2022 — his inaugural try — but perhaps a Daytona top 10 can help provide the 22-year-old with some momentum into the final stretch of the season.
ROSS CHASTAIN: Another driver who always runs well at Darlington is the watermelon farmer himself. Chastain has finished 11th or better in five of his last eight Darlington starts, including each of the last four. The Trackhouse Racing driver has finished fifth in each of the last two Southern 500s and placed third in 2021 while driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. A win Sunday would save him immense stress through the Round of 16 as he opens the postseason just one point above the provisional cutline, tied with Joey Logano.
BUBBA WALLACE: Wallace put the No. 23 Toyota on pole for 23XI Racing in the 2024 Southern 500 and led 37 laps before finishing 16th. The result isn’t much in the way of impressing, but Wallace did earn four straight top 10s at Darlington from the fall of 2022 through the spring of 2024 and has qualified outside the top 10 just once in his last six starts. Wallace enters the playoffs ranked ninth, tied with Austin Cindric, just two points above the cutline.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula incorporates current track, track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to predict a projected winner and provide full race results. Updated on race day with practice and qualifying factored in.
A dramatic overtime pass for the win punctuated a nearly perfect afternoon for JR Motorsports driver Connor Zilisch at Portland International Raceway, where the 19-year-old claimed his series-best eighth NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season – the best series victory total ever for a rookie driver.
Only weeks removed from breaking his collarbone celebrating another win at Watkins Glen International, Zilisch claimed pole position, won both stages, set fastest lap and celebrated it all in Victory Lane of the famed 1.967-mile road course in the scenic Pacific Northwest.
Zilisch led 70 of the race’s 78 laps, his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet crossing the finish line 1.572 seconds ahead of three fellow rookies, Joe Gibbs Racing driver William Sawalich, Big Machine Racing’s Nick Sanchez and Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes.
Veteran Austin Hill finished fifth, but the Richard Childress Racing driver was the only other competitor to lead laps (eight) on the day, running on Zilisch’s bumper throughout the bulk of the race before taking the lead on a restart with seven laps remaining in regulation.
Another late race caution shortly thereafter set up the opportunity for Zilisch to get back by Hill, which he did on the ensuing restart in OT even after having to quickly navigate a track run-off area in an intense four-wide scramble for the lead heading into Turn 1.
“To come back two weeks after collarbone surgery, it hurt, but it hurt so good,” said a grinning Zilisch, who now has 13 consecutive top-five finishes. “So proud of this 88 team. It’s been such a fun year. Let’s go get ourselves a championship.”
Asked about reclaiming the lead even after the evasive action in Turn 1 on that restart, Zilisch said, “It’s kind of funny, I ran it in practice and I was like, ‘it’s not even that slow.’
“As soon as I hit the brakes, I wheel-hopped, but kind of committed to it as soon as I realized I wasn’t going to make the corner. And it worked out. I wasn’t really planning on it, but last resort, you’ve gotta do what you gotta do.”
For most of the race, Zilisch set a blistering pace. He won the first stage by nearly 15 seconds and the second stage (his eighth stage win of the season) by more than eight seconds. All the while, Hill and Zilisch’s JRM teammate Justin Allgaier kept him honest seconds behind.
On the restart where Hill claimed the lead, the reigning series champion, Allgaier, was collected in a frantic four-wide restart and spun out. He pitted before the overtime restart and was able to finish 15th,but it cost him dearly in the championship standings.
Allgaier took the green flag at Portland with a three-point lead on Zilisch and took the checkered flag, now trailing his young teammate by 20 points as the series heads for the regular season finale next week.
Rookie Carson Kvapil finished sixth after a solid presence up front all afternoon. Jeb Burton was seventh – an important showing for the Jordan Anderson driver who is just below the 12-driver playoff cutoff line, 31 points behind his cousin Harrison Burton, who rallied to an impressive 12th place finish after starting at the rear of the field Saturday.
Austin Green turned in another notable road course effort with an eighth-place showing, followed by Blaine Perkins and Jesse Love.
One more race remains to formalize the 12-driver field for the 2025 playoffs. There have been eight different race winners locked in, and Kvapil clinched his spot on points Saturday at Portland, leaving three spots up for grabs next weekend.
The series moves to Illinois’ World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway next Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It will mark the series’ first race at the 1.250-mile oval since 2010 — a victory by that season’s eventual champion, Brad Keselowski.
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the Xfinity Series garage without issue, confirming Zilisch as the Portland winner.
OSWEGO, N.Y. – Despite now being a part-time competitor on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, Ron Silk now has more victories than any other driver on the 2025 season.
The two-time champion earned his third checkered flag of the year at Oswego Speedway on Saturday evening after cycling to the front after a sequence of late pit stops. The triumph was Silk’s third at Oswego and 29th overall with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, moving him into sole possession of eighth on the all-time win list.
With Matt Hirschman dominating the opening 100 laps of the Toyota Mod Classic 150, Silk knew the inevitable pit stops would prove pivotal. Silk successfully capitalized when he opted to make two pit stops to for a total of three tires, a decision that allowed him to add a third Oswego win to his stellar resume.
“We were a little bit tight that whole first run,” Silk said. “Our car was good, but I figured there probably wasn’t going to be another yellow, so we needed to take as many tires as we could. My guys had a great stop and got us out first of all the guys that took three [tires].”
Ever since returning to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule in 2016, Oswego has been one of Silk’s best tracks.
In seven prior Oswego starts, Silk’s only finish outside the top 10 came in 2022. Silk secured his first Oswego victory in 2021 after a dominant performance that saw him lead 111 laps in Kevin Stuart’s No. 85 Modified. Two years later, Silk was back in Oswego’s Victory Lane, this time with his current team, Haydt-Yannone Racing.
Unlike his first two Oswego wins, Silk needed to exercise patience around the Steel Palace on Saturday evening. Passing proved to be at a premium throughout the event, which initially forced Silk to follow in Hirschman’s tire tracks as he waited for the right opportunity to get his Modified in clean air.
Tommy Catalano’s spin with less than 50 laps remaining brought the field down to pit lane for what would be the only round of pit stops. After his Haydt-Yannone pit crew got him the track position he needed, it only took Silk a few laps for him to overtake Austin Beers and pull away from the field with no resistance behind him.
The closest challenger to Silk in the Toyota Mod Classic’s final moments was Craig Lutz, who built off the momentum from his Richmond Raceway victory to finish second. Although he did not have enough time to chase down Silk, Lutz was thrilled to see his team’s hard work pay off with another solid result.
“We had a really solid car,” Lutz said. “The guys had an awesome pit stop, so it put us in contention. We fired off a little tighter than we needed to for that first run. The last two races have really turned the momentum around, so I can’t thank everyone enough who gets the car here. All in all, an awesome effort by us, but we just came up a little bit short.”
The time Silk has spent away from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has not disrupted four years of chemistry he has carefully curated with Haydt-Yannone. That cohesion is what gave Silk confidence in his pit crew to execute a perfect pit stop and give him the opening he needed to finish the job on track.
“Everyone on my team did a fantastic job all day,” Silk said. “The pit crew won us the race and got us the track position. It’s pretty tough to pass [at Oswego], so I want to thank all the guys who volunteer their time to come do this.”
Emerling followed Silk and Lutz home in the third position, with Beers and Hirschman rounding out the top five.
Jake Lutz, Stephen Kopcik, Kyle Bonsignore, Trevor Catalano and Justin Bonsignore were the rest of the top 10 finishers.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour will be back in action next weekend with the series’ second and last visit of the season to Riverhead Raceway. The green flag for the Eddie Partridge 256 will wave at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday evening, with FloRacing providing live coverage of all the on-track action.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Over the course of the last week, everybody has made their best guess at what will happen throughout the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
But what do the drivers themselves think will happen across the next 10 weeks of postseason racing?
During NASCAR Playoffs Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center on Wednesday, the 16 eligible playoff drivers were all granted anonymity to answer a series of eight questions, allowing their most candid responses. Listed alphabetically, the drivers polled were Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Shane van Gisbergen, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace.
Drivers were encouraged to answer and given the option to elaborate on answers if they wished to do so. Some drivers even provided multiple answers to a particular question. Across a wide range of topics, some questions had clear answers. Others highlight the uncertainty that exists entering the playoffs. Without further ado, here is what drivers had to say:
1. Besides yourself, who do you consider the championship favorite?
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
The man who won the Regular Season Championship is also favored by his peers to go all the way and win the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron earned eight votes from the playoff roster as the favorite to win the championship this year, a result that would end the reign of Team Penske’s three consecutive titles. However, six of the 16 drivers also pointed to Penske’s Ryan Blaney to earn his second Cup championship to follow his 2023 ascension.
Byron is a two-time winner this year and locked up the regular-season title with one week to spare. Blaney rocketed to second in the final regular-season standings and also ended with two wins, one at Nashville Superspeedway and another at Daytona International Speedway. But despite earning a collective 14 votes, the sentiment among drivers is still strong: There is no clear favorite.
“Honestly, I don’t know. No one’s had a breakout year,” one driver said.
Others agreed, unbeknownst to them:
“I don’t have a favorite.”
“I have to pick one?”
“That’s tough.”
Three drivers gave multiple options for their votes. One voted for Byron and Christopher Bell; another voted for those two and Kyle Larson. One more voted for Byron, Bell and Denny Hamlin.
“I would say Byron — well, I don’t know. A Penske car if they make it to Phoenix,” said the driver who voted for Byron, Bell and Hamlin. “I think Byron’s put together a really strong year. Hard to argue against Denny. And I think Bell’s always got a shot as well.”
Another driver cast a single vote for Byron, but added: “That’s tough. I mean, it’s pretty even at the top.”
Rounding out the vote-getters was Tyler Reddick, who earned a single ballot.
Driver
Number of votes
William Byron
8
Ryan Blaney
6
Christopher Bell
3
Denny Hamlin
2
Kyle Larson
1
Tyler Reddick
1
2. Besides your own, which crew chief do you think can most impact the race with a strategy call?
Nigel Kinrade Photography | Team Penske
Unsurprisingly, this question produced one of the most definitive answers of the survey, with Paul Wolfe getting the nod with eight votes as crew chief of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford and driver Joey Logano.
“That’s probably the hot answer,” one driver said. He was right.
Wolfe’s bold strategy calls have perfectly placed Logano into race-winning contention in multiple scenarios when it seemed the No. 22 Ford was down and out. Last year, a last-ditch effort to leave Logano out in quintuple overtime at Nashville earned the group its only win of the 2024 regular season to earn a playoff spot. And at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Round of 8, another fuel-strategy play leaped Logano into Las Vegas Victory Lane and into the Championship 4, in which Logano earned his third NASCAR Cup Series title at Phoenix.
Wolfe wasn’t the only crew chief to receive votes here, though. Rudy Fugle, head of Byron’s No. 24 team at Hendrick, had the next highest tally with three votes.
“I feel like Rudy’s pretty good at that with William,” one driver said. “They do a great job.”
“I guess Rudy has done it recently with his fuel thing at Iowa,” another said.
Adam Stevens, crew chief of Bell’s No. 20 Toyota, received one vote, as did 23XI Racing’s Charles Denike with driver Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain’s crew chief Phil Surgen.
Two drivers declined to answer.
“Some people do different things, but they’re not right,” that driver said. “I don’t know if I have an answer. Is ‘no answer’ an answer?”
For our purposes, yes. No answer sufficed.
Crew chief
Number of votes
Paul Wolfe
8
Rudy Fugle
3
No answer
2
Adam Stevens
1
Charles Denike
1
Phil Surgen
1
3. Which playoff driver races you the hardest?
Getty Images
This question produced the only tie of the questionnaire, making Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano co-winners of this question with four votes apiece.
One driver particularly struggled with this question — which is a good thing for their sake — before ultimately casting a vote for Logano.
“I’m on pretty good terms with most of them right now,” he said. “I mean I think this is really good that I’m struggling to pick this.”
Ross Chastain was a close third with three votes, but three separate drivers received single votes: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe.
“Briscoe will race you hard at all times in every situation,” said Briscoe’s lone voter. “Just a hard racer, for sure.”
There were two competitors, however, who opted for no answer on this question — one with no elaboration, and another citing the current intensity of modern Cup racing.
“We all race each other like [expletives] now,” that driver said.
Driver
Number of votes
Bubba Wallace
4
Joey Logano
4
Ross Chastain
3
No answer
2
Denny Hamlin
1
Kyle Larson
1
Chase Briscoe
1
4. Which playoff track are you most looking forward to?
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
An array of race tracks found themselves on the list, but none could beat the “Lady in Black.”
Darlington Raceway, host of Sunday night’s playoff opener (6 ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), led the way with six votes in Wednesday’s survey. A fair assumption could be made that this answer was popular thanks to Darlington being the first up in the postseason, evidenced by one driver’s statement — “the next one” — tallying one vote for the track “Too Tough to Tame.”
Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway were each tied at three votes apiece, in part due to drivers’ past successes at those tracks. Two drivers even commented: “All of them.”
“Honestly, all of them,” one driver said. “The only wild card for us is Talladega (Superspeedway), but that’s a wild card for everybody. But [I’m] looking forward to every track on the schedule.”
Phoenix Raceway, site of the championship race, received two votes as well, with Las Vegas — the Round of 8 opener — receiving just one vote.
Track
Number of votes
Darlington Raceway
6
Bristol Motor Speedway
3
Kansas Speedway
3
Phoenix Raceway
2
All of them
2
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
1
5. Which playoff round is the most challenging?
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The Round of 8 was the runaway winner, earning the single-most votes of any category in this year’s survey with a whopping nine tallies.
That penultimate round of the postseason features the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 2.66-mile superspeedway Talladega and the 0.526-mile Martinsville Speedway.
That this particular section of the playoffs has most drivers’ attention should come as very little surprise. This year marks Talladega’s first so late in the postseason push to determine the Championship 4. The Alabama behemoth fosters pack racing via drafting, keeping the 36-plus-car field bunched tightly together and inherently heightening the odds of a driver getting collected in someone else’s mistakes.
Each of the four rounds of the postseason received votes, though, so not everyone was intimidated most by the Round of 8. The opening stanza — the Round of 16 featuring Darlington, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and Bristol — was tied for second with three votes along with the Round of 12, which is made up by New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
One driver opted to hold the sheet of questions throughout this interview and saw a reminder of what tracks made up each round. Reminded that the Championship 4 at Phoenix does count as a playoff round of its own, that driver cast his vote for the finale as the most challenging of the playoffs.
Playoff Round
Number of votes
Round of 8
9
Round of 16
3
Round of 12
3
Championship 4
1
6. Which non-playoff driver do you think could play the biggest spoiler role in these races?
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Surely, Chris Buescher isn’t one for consolation prizes, so this honor likely won’t mean much to him. But seven of the 16 playoff drivers pointed to the driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford as the driver on the outside who could find a way to spoil the postseason all over again.
Buescher was the driver highest in points following last week’s race at Daytona who did not advance to the postseason thanks to this year’s 14 winners throughout the regular season. No one will be shocked if Buescher finds his way to Victory Lane over the closing 10 weeks of the season. He and his team did it just last year by winning at Watkins Glen International in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. This year, they have shown consistent speed, particularly in recent weeks, and Buescher nearly won the 2024 spring race at Darlington before late contact with Reddick.
Kyle Busch, the two-time Cup champion, still has the respect of his competition as well by earning five votes from his fellow racers. He’s won 63 times at this level but zero since the summer of 2023, extending his career-long winless streak to 83 races. One driver said it best, though: “You can never count Kyle Busch out.”
Some drivers wondered aloud exactly what a “spoiler” meant in this scenario — and we left that up to their interpretation.
“See, does a spoiler cause chaos? Or does the spoiler have to win?” one said. “Because there’s plenty of those guys that cause chaos.”
Enter our third-place vote-getter, Carson Hocevar, who received one vote by a driver seeing his name on a list of non-playoff competitors and exclaiming: “That guy. He’ll crash into someone.”
Hocevar is still seeking his first career Cup win but has found himself in the mix multiple times this season, catching both the eyes and ire of his fellow racers.
Two drivers cast multiple votes rather than narrowing their answers to one. One voted for an RFK duo of Buescher and Ryan Preece (another racer looking for his first Cup win), and another voted for a combo of them and Busch. Also receiving votes were RFK co-owner and driver Brad Keselowski and Trackhouse’s Daniel Suárez.
Driver
Number of votes
Chris Buescher
7
Kyle Busch
5
Carson Hocevar
3
Ryan Preece
2
Brad Keselowski
1
Daniel Suárez
1
7. Who will be the biggest surprise to advance out of the Round of 16?
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
With six votes in his favor and 22 playoff points to his credit, Shane van Gisbergen narrowly won this category, receiving six votes.
The Trackhouse Racing rookie has, in one sense, had a remarkable season by winning a rookie-record four races, all coming at road courses. The counter to that, however, is that the No. 88 Chevrolet driver ranked 25th in points before the playoff reset, largely due to his inexperience on ovals in the Next Gen car.
This opening round features a daunting trio of tracks in Darlington, Gateway and Bristol. The New Zealand native earned a top-20 finish at Darlington in April and has expressed his excitement for that particular weekend. However, he has never raced at Gateway before, and his Bristol debut in April was over before halfway due to an early crash. He enters the postseason 16 points above the provisional cutline.
“I don’t think he will [advance], but if he does, SVG,” one driver said in casting their vote.
Second in this category was Austin Dillon, the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing entry and recipient of four votes. Dillon won the regular season’s penultimate race at Richmond Raceway to clinch his playoff spot, but enters the playoffs 15th of the 16 drivers, two points beneath the cutline, with four drivers set to be eliminated from the postseason after Bristol. Contrary to the lack of confidence in the above SVG ballot, one driver was quite sure of Dillon’s advancement.
“It may be a surprise to some, but I see Austin Dillon advancing,” he said. “He’s good at Darlington.”
Three votes went the way of Josh Berry, the third-place sitter. Berry won at Las Vegas in the fifth race of the season to lock himself and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford into the playoffs. The sophomore Cup driver finished third at Darlington in the spring of 2024 and has two 12th-place finishes at Bristol in three starts at the “Last Great Colosseum.”
“If we’re going off of performance, I look at the 21,” one driver said. “For whatever reason, they started out the year really hot and just have been OK at best as of late.”
Said another: “People are writing off Josh Berry a lot. I think he’s going to make it out.”
Austin Cindric also received two votes in this section, while Alex Bowman received one.
Driver
Number of votes
Shane van Gisbergen
6
Austin Dillon
4
Josh Berry
3
Austin Cindric
2
Alex Bowman
1
8. Who will be the biggest surprise to be eliminated early?
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Five drivers said that Tyler Reddick will be an early out in this year’s postseason run.
Reddick was the Regular Season Champion in 2024 and stormed his way to the Championship 4. But the results haven’t been quite the same for the No. 45 team at 23XI Racing in 2025. The team has yet to win a race this season and was in jeopardy of missing the playoffs altogether if things had gone differently in the regular-season finale at Daytona. Reddick enters the playoffs in 14th place in the playoff standings, tied with Josh Berry at one point beneath the cutline.
Christopher Bell, interestingly, received three votes along with 2020 Cup champion Chase Elliott for a second-place tie in this category. What’s more eye-catching about this is that Elliott ranks first in average finish this season at 12.0, with Bell second at 12.5.
Bell won three races in a row at the beginning of the season but has not won since March. The No. 20 Toyota driver finished second three races ago at Watkins Glen International but hasn’t scored a top-five finish at an oval since Kansas in May. Elliott snapped a 44-race winless streak in late June with a victory at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta, but has just one top five and three top 10s in the eight races since that breakthrough win.
Joey Logano, the defending Cup Series champion, received two votes as a possible early elimination, with William Byron and Chase Briscoe also receiving one vote each. One driver declined to answer.
And yes, you read that right — there is technically one vote for Byron, the Regular Season Champion and the guy who enters tied with teammate Kyle Larson for the series lead heading into the playoffs. How?
“Is it mathematically possible for the 24 [to go out early]?” one driver asked. “Yeah, if he DNFs… 24.”
The track’s abrasive surface grinds tires to shreds over the course of long runs, demanding finesse behind the wheel. A transition from daylight to nighttime through the South Carolinia sunset alters the finicky handling characteristics of that worn-out asphalt. On average, it takes 4 hours, 15 minutes to complete 367 hot, exhausting laps. That all combines to make it one of — if not the most rewarding race to win in NASCAR.
Just ask Chase Briscoe, the defending winner of the Southern 500. This year, he’s driving the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Last year, he was driving the No. 14 Ford for the outgoing Stewart-Haas Racing, ultimately earning SHR’s final Cup victory.
“You definitely don’t realize how big of a deal it is when you do it. But a year removed, it definitely feels like a bigger deal,” Briscoe reflected on Saturday. “You know, I still have a group chat with the 14 guys, and we were literally talking about that this morning — just how, when you look back at what we did a year ago, it’s crazy. Like we were proud then and thought it was a big deal. But now, being a year removed and all of us are at different places, it really kind of sank in, I think, for all of us coming back here a year later.
“It’s special coming back here. I definitely have confidence every time I come here, just in general, but especially now more than ever, just with knowing that this race is as grueling as it is and knowing that I’ve been able to do it before. There’s just a confidence that comes along with that. So hopefully we can do it again this weekend.”
His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates share that love for the track dubbed “Too Tough to Tame.” Ty Gibbs, driver of the team’s No. 54 car, relishes the opportunity to wheel a stock car around these hallowed grounds as the track celebrates its 75th anniversary. The challenge provided by its unique design — a wider, sweeping radius through Turns 1 and 2 compared to a far tighter left-hander through Turns 3 and 4 — necessitates a certain level of driver skill the 22-year-old adores.
“This is one of the greatest tracks there is, for sure,” Gibbs said. “This track is awesome. There’s so much character to it. I hope that they don’t ever try to touch it, unless the thing is falling into the ground. This one of those places that you can make a difference as a driver, same as Richmond. You’re not just relying on the car. You can just make it happen yourself.”
The other element to this crown jewel that separates it from others? A win here for any of the 16 playoff contenders would launch them into the Round of 12 of the postseason without having to worry about the next two races in the opening stanza of the playoffs.
Postseason contenders dominated Saturday’s qualifying session, earning each of the top dozen spots on the starting grid. But if you want to win at Darlington, buckle up. It’ll be a brutal bout.
“At the start of this race, there will be some sort of sunlight, and then we’re going to go into full night,” polesitter Denny Hamlin said. “So you’re going to have to build some adaptability in your car. And that’s something that we always plan for the end of the race, and we figure out how to make it work at the very beginning. And so certainly, when you start up front like we are, that’s going to help us band-aid the car for a little while until it comes in.”
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?
As heated as the drivers’ compartment will get Sunday evening, there appears to be a reprieve from Mother Nature in sight.
A hallmark of the Southern 500’s Labor Day Weekend tradition is typically a sweltering heat that beats down on fans, drivers and pit-crew members alike. This year seems to offer a break, with an expected green-flag temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit and a cool 69 degrees at the 10 p.m. ET hour, according to AccuWeather. Crew chiefs aren’t meteorologists, but a good understanding of how the weather impacts their vehicles’ handling will be key in determining Sunday’s outcome at Darlington.
Richard Boswell returns as the reigning winning crew chief of this race after scoring the victory with Briscoe in 2024. Now atop the pit box for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing entry, Boswell and Dillon have been hard at work, fine-tuning those details as they return as playoff underdogs.
“There’s never enough time, right?” Boswell told NASCAR.com. “Like he’s constantly learning me; I’m constantly learning him. And we could work together for the next 10 years and I think we would say the same thing. Are we at a deficit to guys that have worked together three or four years? Yeah, but that’s always going to be there, right? So it’s really just a matter of continuing to build off of what we’ve had from every single week. I can tell you I’m way more confident in what he needs this race at Darlington than I was with the spring race.”
First-year crew chief Miles Stanley and driver Josh Berry locked themselves into the playoffs in the fifth race of the season with a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Berry has run well at the “Lady in Black,” evidenced by a third-place finish in last year’s spring race during his rookie campaign. But that remains his only finish better than 30th in four starts. Stanley and Berry are in a similar position to Boswell and Dillon — both first-year pairings set to begin their first postseasons together.
But Darlington presents its own challenges that each shot-caller will need to be aware of and be willing to adapt to throughout the course of 500 miles under the lights, particularly with such severe tire wear expected as most Darlington races produce. More tire wear equals more pit stops.
“A lot of stops, making sure the pit crew stays focused,” Stanley told NASCAR.com. “They stay on their job, keep their head in the game, locked in the whole race. It’s a long race. I mean, it’s tough to make sure you maintain that track position and everything. Inevitably, you’ll fall back at some point, whether it be a pit cycle or you pit under green (and) the caution comes out immediately after — whatever the case may be. So you just need to keep everybody’s head in the game, stay focused and try and execute the whole race.”
Both teams enter the postseason below the provisional cutoff line to advance into the Round of 12, which will be set after this three-race stretch from Darlington to Gateway to Bristol. Boswell, Dillon and the No. 3 team enter 15th in the standings, two points out.
“This place is brutal, right?” Boswell said. “They don’t call it the ‘Lady in Black’ for nothing. And really, the biggest thing for us is we just can’t beat ourselves. We just execute a clean race, we’re going to be in contention for a top 10 at the end of the day.”
Stanley and Berry are 13th, one point out and carrying the same mindset.
“If we execute here the best we can, which is not a stretch by any means, we’ll be in really decent shape going into the next couple weeks,” Stanley said.
Leading a lot doesn’t often mean winning a lot. According to Racing Reference, the driver who led the most laps in the Southern 500 has finished 22nd or worse in three of the event’s last five runnings.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
ERIK JONES. It’s hard to look away from a two-time winner of the Southern 500, especially as Jones enters with the momentum of a Daytona top five in hand. Two of the team’s three top fives have come on drafting tracks this season, but Jones is a contender every time he gets to the “Lady in Black.” The No. 43 Toyota could find a way to play spoiler again in the final crown-jewel race of the season.
Fantasy update
NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup.
As expected, the 2025 playoff drivers came to play in the opening practice and qualifying sessions of the postseason at Darlington. The top 12 drivers in the starting lineup are held by drivers fighting for the Bill France Cup. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe put together monster qualifying laps after fighting the balance of their respective cars during practice. Long-run pace is crucial at the 1.366-mile oval, and playoff drivers William Byron and Ryan Blaney had loads of it. I’ve bumped Blaney into my lineup, replacing Chris Buescher.
Lineup: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney.
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• NASCAR at Darlington: Key info, qualifying reports and more from doubleheader weekend | Read more
• Plenty to say: See some of the best quotes from NASCAR Playoffs Media Day | Read more
• Respect the legends: Jeff Gordon recounts what made him electric as all-time winningest Southern 500 racer | Read more • Racing Insights: Projected results for Sunday night’s grueling crown jewel | Read more
• Bubble Watch: Capitalizing is key in Southern 500 playoff opener | Read more • Turning Point to Darlington: No playoff contender is safe at “Lady in Black” | Read more
• At-track photos: Scenes, sights from Darlington to Xfinity Series race in Portland | View gallery
• Paint Scheme Preview: Bright designs for under the lights | View gallery
• Power Rankings: Evaluating the 16 playoff racers | This week’s top 20
The NASCAR Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series travel south this weekend with a trip to the legendary Darlington Raceway, while the Xfinity Series heads west for some Portland International Raceway action. For the Cup Series and Truck Series, this weekend marks the start of the playoffs for each. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from links to qualifying order, average practice speeds, results and more.
Race day: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.
Tires: Six sets for the weekend (three new race sets, one set transferred from qualifying and two for practice). Teams will also have four wet-weather sets.
