Three Up, Three Down: Drivers in focus leaving Darlington

Posted on September 2, 2024 by John Crane

And so it ends. The 2024 regular-season finale in the NASCAR Cup Series is in the books, and the 16-driver postseason grid has been cemented following Chase Briscoe’s thrilling victory at Darlington Raceway.

With the 16-driver postseason field now established, Atlanta Motor Speedway will act as the Round of 16 opener next Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). See who’s trending upward and who is going the wrong way after Darlington.

THREE UP ⬆️

1. Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Started: 3rd

Finished: 1st

What happened: A strong starting position translated to an even stronger finish for Briscoe and the No. 14 camp Sunday, and the Stewart-Haas Racing team pulled out all of the stops to make it come to fruition. From an electric slingshot maneuver to holding off a two-time Cup Series champion in Kyle Busch (more on him in a second), Briscoe did everything that was needed to prevail. And his reward? A postseason berth. What else can you say?

What’s next: It’s playoff time for Briscoe, and Atlanta will be where the No. 14 starts its title hunt. The Georgia venue will be a tricky one for Briscoe, though, as the 29-year-old has not tallied a top-10 finish in seven career Cup Series races there.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

2. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Started: 17th

Finished: 2nd

What happened: Middle-of-the-pack marks in practice and qualifying translated through Stages 1 and 2 of Sunday’s contest, but the No. 8 cranked it into gear during the race’s waning laps. After a handful of cautions, Busch found himself on the front row with Briscoe with a chance to clinch a win and a playoff berth. Briscoe and his late-race speed, meanwhile, had other plans, and in the end, Busch was unable to achieve either.

What’s next: Moral victories can still translate to race victories, and while Busch won’t have the opportunity to battle for the coveted Bill France Cup, Atlanta has been kind to the Las Vegas, Nevada, native. With two career Cup wins and 586 laps led in 29 Cup starts, there is another golden opportunity for Busch to find Victory Lane for a 20th consecutive year.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

3. Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 19th

Finished: 9th

What happened: Being in the right place at the right time can pay dividends. Such was the case for LaJoie and the No. 7 Sunday evening during the race’s waning portions. Late-race cautions — including a multicar incident that collected Josh Berry and Ty Gibbs — were just what LaJoie needed to be in a position to claim his first top 10 since the season-opening Daytona 500 in February.

What’s next: Atlanta marks a chance for LaJoie to capitalize on Darlington’s exciting finish, and there is potential for the possibility to become a reality. LaJoie holds two prior top fives at the track (spring 2022, spring 2023), accounting for half of his career top-five finishes in the Cup Series.

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

THREE DOWN ⬇️

1. Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Started: 5th

Finished: 36th

What happened: Truex was in a good position to clinch a playoff berth with ease. However, a Lap 3 wreck saw the 2017 Cup Series champion head to the garage early and hope his plus-58 points above the elimination line held. Fortunately for the No. 19 camp, the cushion was enough, and despite the finish, the team clinched a playoff berth at the conclusion of Stage 2.

What’s next: Truex has never won at Atlanta in 29 career Cup Series starts at the facility, but his six top fives and 397 laps led suggest there is potential to make a little noise. It’s a clean slate for the No. 19, and while Darlington wasn’t pretty, Atlanta acts as a pristine opportunity to correct wrongs and perhaps give Truex a chance to begin the playoffs with a bang.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

2. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 2nd

Finished: 33rd

What happened: A crisp qualifying session netted the 21-year-old rookie a start on the front row Sunday, his best start in 35 career Cup races to date. A spin coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 314, however, prevented the No. 77 pilot from building on the scorching start to the weekend, with later wall contact ending his day at Lap 334.

What’s next: It’s back to the drawing board for Hocevar and Co., and Atlanta will act as relatively new territory for the young driver. In only one career Cup start at the track there earlier this year, Hocevar finished 19th. He did start the race P35, though, so there is a track record (albeit a small one) of finishing better than the starting peripherals suggest.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

3. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Started: 8th

Finished: 30th

What happened: A steady start to the race continued for Byron through Stages 1 and 2 after he finished eighth and fourth in each, respectively. Trouble brewed late for the No. 24 camp as the Chevrolet was one of seven cars involved in a late-race wreck that collected other high-profile contenders, including Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs. The end result was his second consecutive race with a finish outside the top 25.

What’s next: Good news, William Byron fans. Darlington might’ve left a sour taste, but Atlanta could prove to be sweeter as Byron possesses two career Cup wins at the track, with the most recent coming in July of 2023.

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Posted on September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

Chase Briscoe has battled Kyle Busch for a Darlington win before. But for a Southern 500 trophy — in the regular-season finale?

Turns out that wasn’t a problem for Briscoe either, who muscled up to put his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in a walk-off win at Darlington Raceway, the track known for being “Too Tough to Tame.”

A daring performance by the 29-year-old surges the outgoing team into postseason glory, along with it a crown-jewel victory to boot.

Four years ago, Briscoe battled tooth-and-nail with Busch in an emotional NASCAR Xfinity Series win as the sport returned from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Days prior, Briscoe’s wife Marissa suffered a miscarriage, adding immense emotion to Briscoe’s triumph that shined in his post-race celebration — a kneel in prayer next to his race car, sponsored by High Point.

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

In the present day, his family is blooming, with 2-year-old son Brooks on-site for Briscoe’s win along with Marissa, who is currently pregnant with twins. Briscoe was able to celebrate with them all, all after kneeling next to another High Point car for Stewart-Haas Racing.

The coincidences weren’t lost on Briscoe.

“Funny how it all works out, right?” Briscoe said. “Just to have them here. Brooks has never seen me win. Obviously watched (Briscoe’s first win) at Phoenix on TV. For him to get to experience this, for Marissa to be here. When I won all those races during COVID, she was never there. Obviously when I won at Phoenix, she wasn’t there. The last race she’s coming to. Yeah, she’s been telling me all weekend, You got to get it done. Think of that as motivation.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool to win with them here. Brooks has actually been telling me the last three days I’ve got to beat Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. That’s all he told me. To come out where I have to beat Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch, it’s pretty ironic.”

Ethan Smith | For NASCAR Digital

Adding significance to Sunday’s win is that Stewart-Haas Racing is shuttering operations at the end of 2024. Crew chief Richard Boswell made sure his driver was conscious of everything on the line before one of the final restarts.

“As a group at SHR, one last time — 323 employees,” Boswell said on the team radio. “Three-hundred-twenty-three employees counting on us. We can do this. (Be) thinking about what you need on that restart here.”

Briscoe, who grew up idolizing his current team co-owner Tony Stewart, put it on his shoulders.

“I think I definitely run better under heavy pressure. For whatever reason, I’ve always been like that,” Briscoe said. “When Richard told me that, I’m like emotional. Everybody knows that. I started tearing up in the car thinking about how much was riding on my shoulders at that point. But yeah, I love that stuff. Like, I love the Game 7, heavy-pressure moment. For whatever reason, I feel like I do a lot better under those situations than not having a lot of pressure.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself just going into this week. Last week at Daytona was the worst race by, I mean, a mile I’ve ever raced in my entire career. I was embarrassed, so embarrassed. I texted Richard literally before we got on the plane. I said, ‘I don’t ever want to talk about this race again. We’re not going to talk about it this week. I promise you I’ll make it up to you next week.'”

Did he ever. The Indiana native rocketed from fourth to first in a three-wide move entering Turn 3 with 26 laps remaining, shooting past Ty Gibbs, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain and into the lead. Another yellow flag flew shortly thereafter to set up one last restart with Busch chasing him down on fresher tires, but with team and playoffs in mind, Briscoe mustered enough machismo to defend the spot and claim the win.

“My car was the only one that could run the bottom in (Turns) 3 and 4.” Briscoe said. “I knew early in a run I had that kind of in the back of my mind. I had that big run, went to the inside. I felt like I was going to be OK even if I had to run the bottom. I was surprised Kyle didn’t cover and block me farther left. Yeah, I knew we were three-wide, but I knew Ross was leading. Stack that middle lane up. I went in there wide open. I knew I was going to literally clear Larson by like an inch.”

Any opportunity to clear Larson for a crown-jewel win, Briscoe said, is one he would take every time moving forward. A decision not to do so during the Coca-Cola 600 in 2022 cost him a shot at the victory that day at Charlotte and sent Briscoe spinning. Not Sunday in Darlington.

“I was just taking it all the way to the wall,” Briscoe said. “I knew that was my only shot to win the race. Like I said, I watched him lead (263) laps right behind him. I knew my car was just as good as his. It was a matter of who was going to get clean air, and that was the only opportunity I had.”

Now, Briscoe gets to lead the famed No. 14 into an improbable playoff run in his boyhood hero’s swan song as a NASCAR team owner.

“I’m a diehard Stewart-Haas fan, right? That’s the car I cheered for growing up,” Briscoe said. “I’ve seen that car win time and time and time again, win a championship. It’s been 90 something races since that car has been in Victory Lane. We had 11 chances left to do it. We’ve been decent this year. Been close a couple times. To be able to do it…

“It would have been awesome if we won next week, but it would have stunk (without being part of the postseason). At least now we have a chance to go win a championship. We don’t have any playoff points or anything like that. At the same time we were below the (elimination) line the whole time last time, we went to the Round of 8 (in 2022).

“We were talking earlier, I kind of love the back up against the wall thing. That’s certainly what we’re going to have now. We’ve just got to go. If we do what we did tonight, we can beat anybody. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”

Posted on September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 by Zack Albert

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Kyle Busch had two significant streaks at stake in Sunday’s regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway — an 11-year run of Cup Series Playoffs appearances and his remarkable stretch of 19 seasons with at least one Cup win. Busch can still keep the latter streak going in the final 10 races of the year, but the former ended in spite of his best attempts.

Busch’s late charge ended up just shy of Chase Briscoe’s stirring drive to victory in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500. His Richard Childress Racing No. 8 Chevrolet was just 0.361 seconds behind Briscoe’s winning No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford at the checkered flag. It was another margin of defeat from 24 races ago, however, that came to mind when NBC Sports’ Dave Burns asked about his recent brushes with what would have been a playoff-clinching win.

“And Atlanta, yeah,” Busch said, recalling his third-place finish by a slim 0.007 seconds to winner Daniel Suárez back in February. “It’s short. Come up short. Maybe I am a washed-up old dog, but hopefully, I can find a few more trophies.”

Busch was mired in traffic for much of the evening, finishing out of the running for stage points at each break. But points would be of no measurable help in his playoff bid; Busch entered 106 below the provisional elimination line, and only a victory could vault him into the 16-driver field.

Busch made a legitimate run at it, with a late pit stop providing him with Goodyear tires that were nine laps fresher than Briscoe’s for the run to the finish. Busch said that he needed Briscoe’s tires to be roughly three laps older for his No. 8 Chevy to have a better chance to contend.

“We put ourselves in this position, and through much of that race, didn’t think we had a shot to get ourselves a win and punch our way through,” Busch said, “but tires there at the end, and having an opportunity also just put wind in our sails. But then once I got in the wind of the 14 car, I couldn’t do anything with it. You know, just lost too much grip and the wake on these things … he wasn’t blocking or anything, I just lost grip. That was all I had.”

Busch has been buoyed by his recent performance, which has helped soothe some of the doldrums from his summertime stretch of five DNFs in a seven-race span that created his must-win scenario. He finished the regular season with three consecutive top-five finishes, including his current two-race streak of runner-up days that have been laced with heartache.

MORE: Reseeded Cup Series standings

The two-time champion and 63-time winner hasn’t experienced a winless skid this long in his Cup Series career, and the frustration level has risen.

“A lot of people are stat people. I’ve gone back and looked at the stats, and the amount of second- and third-place finishes I have in this Next Gen car is disgusting,” said Busch, who has finished second or third on seven occasions since his last win (June 4, 2023, Gateway), “and it’s really, really getting old, and it really, really sucks that I can’t come out on top and get myself some more trophies and some more checkered flags for my team and Team Chevy and all of our sponsors and everybody that supports us and gets us here and give Rowdy Nation something to really cheer about on Monday.”

Busch has missed the Cup Series Playoffs just three times — as a rookie in 2005, then again in 2009 and 2012 — but never before in the elimination-style format introduced in 2014. The goals the rest of the way, he says, are simple — win and potentially cause a playoff disruption in the process.

“I mean, that’s going to be our thing. If we can chase some checkered flags, we might piss some people off in the mayhem of getting those,” Busch said. “They don’t like it when you get guys on the outside winning races much, especially when you got to race them hard or door them a little bit, and it ruins their points day, so I’m sure we’ll hear some stories about that. Little foreshadowing for you.”

Posted on September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 by Zack Albert

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Tyler Reddick was laid low, sick as could be. The Cup Series Regular Season Championship was at stake, and 500 grueling miles in surface-of-the-sun heat at one of NASCAR’s most punishing tracks stood between him and that goal.

Team co-owner Michael Jordan, on hand to watch 23XI Racing’s operations on a sultry day at Darlington Raceway, knew a little about that.

Reddick turned in his own version of “The Flu Game,” taking a page from Jordan’s historic Game 5 performance through a bout of food poisoning in the 1997 NBA Finals. Reddick — facing his own severe stomach ailment — rallied to 10th place in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 to seal the regular-season crown by a scant single point over Kyle Larson, who swept the stages but slipped to fourth place at the checkered flag.

Reddick was taken to the infield care center for treatment immediately post-race but emerged at the team’s gathering spot near pit road’s exit. Among the first to congratulate the 28-year-old driver on his accomplishment was Jordan, who battled his own case of nerves throughout the nearly four-hour event.

“I mean, I know what it feels like to be sick and trying to perform, and just to do what he did, I mean, I wasn’t going around 200 miles an hour in a car, but I’m proud of his effort, and we needed it,” Jordan said. “We won by one point. I mean, he gutted it out. So hopefully he feels better tomorrow, and we feel better next week.”

Near the end of Stage 1, Reddick began telling his team that the stomach bug he’d fought since midday Friday was flaring up. He said his son, Beau, had been sick from the previous weekend and that the illness was apparently contagious. His team offered crackers, Tums and fluids for his next pit stop, when Reddick said he worried his ailment had taken a vomiting turn. Despite all this, he finished fourth at Stage 1 as the searing sun began to set.

Reddick spilled the first batch of pills that his No. 45 Toyota team had handed him, and his crew settled on offering a water bottle filled with a medical concoction that would help him through the race’s long stages. By Lap 128, the No. 45 radio signaled to its driver: “Just remind him of MJ.”

“Just really thankful that a lot of great people on our team, they were feeding me the right stuff in the car to help me manage it best as I could,” Reddick said. “Just smart people. Able to put the right stuff in my drink to help calm my stomach down. At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself. Thankfully they kept that from happening. A whole lot of other gross stuff. We were able to avoid a lot of that, which was nice, but it was extremely uncomfortable in the car all night.”

Reddick faded to eighth by the end of Stage 2, telling his team, “I’m doing all I can, I promise.” He also asked for an update on the running Cup Series standings and was told he’d start the final stage one point behind but that he’d need to gain two spots since Larson held the tiebreaker with more regular-season wins. He slowed when a multicar crash erupted in front of him with 24 laps remaining and was 14th at the time of his final pit stop.

The service left him on Goodyear tires that were nine laps fresher than some of his competitors by the end, and he methodically clipped off the handful of spots he needed, with his crew giving him regular updates over the team communications. Larson’s slide after Chase Briscoe took control for the victory, combined with Reddick’s final pass of Chase Elliott for 10th on the 362nd of 367 laps, was part of what made the difference. The other part was Reddick pushing through his physical anguish in one of NASCAR’s longest events.

“To answer that, it’s what we have right in front of us,” explained Reddick, who said he never considered having a relief driver. “We’re trying to win this thing, win the regular season. I mean, that’s what we were mindful of the whole way. Just trying to think of what we could do to stay in the hunt of that. We got to Stage 3, we were just thinking, OK, how many points are we behind? Where do we need to be? We went to work on what we needed to do to try to put ourselves in position to get there. I mean, it took things out of our control to make it happen. Some cars got in front of the 5 (Larson). That’s ultimately what allowed us to get it from 10th.

“Yeah, just got to fight all night long. You never can count on that happening, right? The best car all night losing control of the race. But you have to be in position to take advantage of it in case it does.”

MORE: Race Rewind: Darlington | At-track photos: Darlington

Blocking out the woozy feelings was no easy feat, especially with the team offering reminders — almost as a distraction.

“We were making jokes about it because Michael was giving him a hard time, asked if he was alive, and he said the flu game there was always a very notable win, back in the day on their run to the championship,” said No. 45 crew chief Billy Scott. “We were making jokes about we were going to compare how many points he got versus Michael got that day. So yeah, that’s amazing to gut that out, to run top 10 all day long, to finish top 10, to have to make the passes there at the end that he needed to put us in position to win. You’re right, I have not experienced that, not witnessed that, but I can’t imagine how tough it was.”

To answer Scott’s conjecture, a comparison of the points shows:

Michael Jordan, Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals: 38 points; Chicago Bulls win by two points
Tyler Reddick, 2024 Southern 500: 37 points; wins regular-season title by one point

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

Jordan’s exuberance for Reddick’s accomplishment, however, was tempered by the end of Bubba Wallace’s postseason hopes. Wallace won the pole in 23XI’s No. 23 Toyota, but his involvement in the race’s biggest crash, plus Briscoe’s breakthrough, thwarted his hopes.

Jordan had said in a late-race interview with NBC Sports that he was “terrified” watching the team that he co-owns with driver Denny Hamlin fight for dueling regular-season goals. Post-race, he was smiling alongside the Regular Season Championship trophy, but his feelings were split.

“I’m still disappointed. Obviously, I’m disappointed we didn’t get both cars in,” Jordan said. “Like I said, Bubba did a great job of qualifying and trying to get himself in, but you know that disappointment makes me a little bit happy to see Reddick fighting himself to a championship. I mean, I’m kind of halfway feeling better and halfway feeling sad. But look, we are blessed as a team, and we’re going to keep getting better. I’m gonna stress that from my perspective, and I know Denny’s going to do the exact same thing.”

PLAYOFFS: Cup Series standings | 2024 Cup Series Playoffs field set

Reddick used up every bit of the 17-point cushion he had entering Sunday night’s 500-miler but escaped with a valued bonus of 15 playoff points for the 10-race postseason ahead. That windfall slots him as the third seed for the playoff opener next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The trophy represented what’s been a journey for the 23XI Racing organization, still just in its fourth season of Cup Series competition.

“Yeah, it’s just a testament to all the hard work that everyone at 23XI, here at the race track, week in and week out, back at Airspeed, puts into this,” Reddick said. “We’re on year four of their goals, right? It’s just been really, really fun the last two years to be a part of this process, building up to where we want to be. I mean, it takes a lot of hard work to be consistent as we’ve been through the summer stretch. Both years really feel like we had rocky starts to get going. It’s nice to be able to get to where we did in the middle of the year and start thinking about points.

“I think it really helped us just continue to be more consistent, get us in the right mindset for these playoffs, just managing risk versus reward. We’ll be doing it three races at a time here soon.”

Posted on September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 by Holly Cain

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Basketball great Michael Jordan sat on the Darlington Raceway pit wall Sunday night watching his 23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace contend for a position in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in the late laps of the regular-season finale Cook Out Southern 500. Jordan had offered philosophical advice for the all-important evening and shown his support for the 30-year-old talent all year.

A little farther down pit road, Chris Buescher’s Roush Fenway Keselowski team was equally on edge having rallied and delivered all night for its driver — despite trying circumstances — needing to beat Wallace to earn that 16th and final playoff position to race for the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

In the end, it was a brand-new season winner, Chase Briscoe, who would instead take a playoff position, meaning that instead of three drivers, only two (Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs) advanced to playoff contention based on points earned. A first-time winner meant instead of claiming a points position, Buescher and Wallace were just below the elimination line despite eventful and emotional nights for both.

MORE: Race results | Briscoe stuns with win

The first person to greet Buescher at his dinged-up No. 17 RFK Ford on pit lane post-race was team co-owner and fellow driver Brad Keselowski. The two shook hands and shared a short private exchange before Keselowski looked at the nearby scoring screen to see exactly how close his teammate had come to a title chance.

“It takes a whole season to put these things together and we came up a little short,” Keselowski said before stepping away.

Although Buescher finished fifth and had kept himself in that final transfer points position for most of the night, contact with Todd Gilliland’s Front Row Motorsports Ford slammed Buescher’s Mustang into the wall bringing out a caution with only 45 of the 367 laps remaining.

The RFK team made repairs but Buescher returned to the track in a much tighter points situation than he had been in all night. If there had not been a new winner – or a Wallace win — Buescher only needed to finish within 12 positions of Wallace to secure the final playoff position. And for most of the night, he was on track for that. Wallace finished 16th.

But Briscoe took the lead with 26 laps remaining — essentially negating both Buescher and Wallace efforts.

Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media

“We knew we needed to get to the end of the night and we’d get better and pretty much what we did, started coming around and had good speed there at the end,” a disappointed Buescher explained, leaning on his car. “But I got fenced there and had to come fix it and put tires on and it got us off sequence. Didn’t even hit anything in the big wreck but just a roller coaster of a night.

“Can’t control everything, right,’’”he continued. “Tried to control what we could and it wasn’t enough. To come back and get a really good finish out of it is great, just wasn’t working out with the way the rest of the race played back. We’ll go back and watch it and see how it unfolded, ultimately, just didn’t get it done this year.”

Wallace was similarly disheartened, standing by his car while race winner Briscoe celebrated by spinning donuts on the frontstretch, his team cheering nearby.

Late in the race with Wallace still contending for the playoff position, Jordan smiled and shared with a live USA Network race audience that he was “absolutely terrified” sitting and watching all the drama from the pits.

“But that’s what NASCAR’s all about, I enjoy it,” Jordan said. “I don’t have basketball anymore but this could replace it very easily. It’s exciting.

“Everybody wants something but something don’t come for free,” he said of the advice he gave Wallace before the race. “If you want more, it’s going to cost more that means you have to put the effort in there. He understands that.”

MORE: Full interview with Michael Jordan

It certainly wasn’t for a lack of effort Sunday night. Wallace won the pole position for the race and led 37 laps — second only to Kyle Larson’s massive 263 laps-led total. More than race winner Briscoe’s 26.

But Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota suffered damage in a multi-car accident with only 22 laps remaining and he could not get back ahead of Buescher, where he had been for much of the night.

“We weren’t good enough, simple as that; last two-thirds of the race I said I hope the 11 (Denny Hamlin) and 5 (Kyle Larson) stay up there because the 14 (Briscoe) is fast,” Wallace said, noting Hamlin and Larson had already won races and would not have bumped that third points position as Briscoe’s win did.

“Who won? The goal post moved again. They were better and deserving so congrats to the 14. We come back tomorrow and gotta hit it harder than we did. That’s sports. You go up and down and round and round. Gotta put this weekend behind and put the disappointment behind of not making the playoffs and go give your all for the next 10 [races].”

Posted on September 1, 2024September 2, 2024 by Staff Report

Tyler Reddick clinched the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season Championship after Sunday’s 10th-place finish in the Southern 500 regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway. The No. 45 Toyota ended the night just one point ahead of rival Kyle Larson to score the triumph.

The title is Reddick’s first since NASCAR began recognizing the leading points scorer at regular season’s end in 2017, when Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. claimed the inaugural championship. That momentum carried Truex to his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship through a masterful postseason in which he won four of the final 10 races, including the title race.

MORE: 2024 playoff field is set | See all past Regular Season Champions

“Yeah, it’s just a testament to all the hard work that everyone at 23XI, here at the race track, week in and week out, back at Airspeed, puts into this,” Reddick said. “We’re on Year 4 of their goals, right? It’s just been really, really fun the last two years to be a part of this process, building up to where we want to be.”

Reddick, driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, is a two-time winner in 2024, collecting checkered flags at Talladega Superspeedway and Michigan International Speedway. Reddick’s 11 top fives and 18 top-10 finishes are the most in the series after 26 races in 2024.

Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion, led a dominant 263 of 367 laps on Sunday night, sweeping stage victories and finished fourth, but Reddick’s 17-point margin entering the day provided just enough cushion to allow Reddick to come out on top with a 10th-place run by the checkered flag. Chase Elliott, the 2020 series champion, finished 11th, one spot behind Reddick.

As the Regular Season Champion, Reddick receives a bonus of 15 playoff points that will carry through each round of the NASCAR Playoffs to which he advances.

Posted on September 1, 2024September 2, 2024 by Reid Spencer

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Chase Briscoe took the checkered flag in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 and simultaneously broke three hearts.

Ending a 73-race winless streak for Stewart-Haas Racing, Briscoe foiled Kyle Larson, who led 263 of 367 laps and won the first two stages but finished fourth and lost the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season title to Tyler Reddick by a single point.

With the second victory of his career and his first since March 2022 at Phoenix, Briscoe eliminated Chris Buescher from the playoffs. In a valiant run, Buescher finished sixth but lost the final playoff spot on points to Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr.

Briscoe disappointed Kyle Busch, who charged into second place after a restart on Lap 351 and used all his skills attempting to pass Briscoe for the win and force his way into the playoffs. Busch was runner-up for the second straight Cup race, having run second to Harrison Burton on Aug. 24 at Daytona.

Stewart-Haas Racing is ceasing operations at the end of the year, but Briscoe already has secured a ride with Joe Gibbs Racing, replacing Truex, who is retiring from full-time racing at the end of the season.

“For all 320 employees, everybody, to be able to race for a championship in their final year, man, unbelievable,” Briscoe said. “This group, the day that we found out that the team wasn’t going to exist anymore, we went over to the shop floor, we all looked at each other and said, ‘We’re in this till the end. We’re not going to give this up.’

“We kept saying all week we got one bullet left in the chamber. That bullet hit.”

Ross Chastain also was eliminated from playoff contention, but he figured in the outcome of the Southern 500. Chastain stayed on the track under the sixth caution for Carson Hocevar’s wreck while the rest of the contending cars came to pit road for tires on Lap 338.

Larson was battling Chastain for the lead in Turn 3 on Lap 342 when Briscoe steered decisively toward the bottom of the track and shot past Ty Gibbs, Larson and Chastain into the lead.

Briscoe held the top spot the rest of the way despite enormous pressure from Busch throughout the final 17-lap green-flag run.

SHOP: Race winner gear

“I was sideways, counter steering,” Briscoe said. “Like I was in a sprint car. Yeah, this night just literally went perfect. The pit crew did an incredible job. I was crying after the checkered — I just won the Southern 500, this is a crown jewel.

“What makes this race so special is all these race fans. Every time we come here, it’s sold out. It’s awesome. We love you guys. Last time I won here (in the NASCAR Xfinity Series) was during COVID. I didn’t experience it with the fans. Glad that you are here and can’t wait to celebrate.”

Busch restarted on the inside of the fourth row on Lap 351, in the first car on new tires. He quickly dispatched every car in front of him — except Briscoe’s.

“When I made it through a few of those guys right there on the start, I thought we had a shot to get there,” Busch said. “I think I just needed him to have maybe three or four more lap older tires for me to be able to break through the wake.

“Once I got within his air, I really didn’t have enough to power through that, to get closer. I was kind of sliding already.”

Reddick was suffering from nausea throughout the race, but he persevered over the 500 miles, took fresh tires under the final caution on Lap 346 and gained two spots from the restart to finish 10th and edge Larson for the regular-season championship and the 15 playoff bonus points that go with it.

“The car was really, really strong right from the get-go,” Reddick said. “It was tough, man, when we just were bleeding points to the 5 (Larson) in the middle of the race. I was trying to think of what I needed to do to go faster.

“It was really, really hard to focus on that stuff. I was just not able to really do what I normally do good here in the car. I don’t know, I was just kind of driving with one hand, almost. I don’t know how to really describe it. It was really tough in the car.”

Larson nevertheless will start next Sunday’s playoff race at Atlanta Motor Speedway as the No. 1 seed with 40 Playoff points in the bank.

Disaster struck one of the playoff hopefuls on Lap 3. The Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. broke loose during an attempted pass of William Byron. Truex’s Camry shot into the outside wall and collected the Ford of Ryan Blaney, who was running behind him.

Truex entered the race 58 points above the playoff cut line and his inclusion in the postseason seemed little more than a formality. But formality became calamity with the early wreck, which put Truex out of the race in 36th place, worth one point.

“Yeah, it was all my fault, all my doing. I got a run on the 24 (Byron) and went to the inside and thought everything was going fine, and the car just took off and I ran into him,” Truex said.

“Obviously, that was on me. I hate it for my guys, (sponsor) Bass Pro Shops, Toyota, everybody. We had a phenomenal race car, and I know this is like the longest race of the year — just a dumb mistake on my part.”

The early exit put Truex’s playoff hopes in temporary jeopardy, but by the end of Stage 2, he had clinched a playoff spot on points.

Playoff driver Christopher Bell finished third, followed by Larson and Chastain. Buescher, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie and Reddick completed the top 10.

Note: Post-race inspection was completed in the NASCAR Cup Series garage without issue, confirming Briscoe as the race winner. The Nos. 51 and 71 will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for inspection.

Posted on September 1, 2024September 2, 2024 by Staff Report

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field was set Sunday at Darlington Raceway in the regular-season finale.

Thirteen of the 16 spots had been clinched in advance of the Cook Out Southern 500, meaning three berths were up for grabs for postseason hopefuls. Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs clinched those final positions after the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Briscoe took the checkered flag.

RELATED: Race results

Briscoe, Truex and Gibbs entered Sunday’s race minus-144, plus-58 and plus-39, respectively.

Below is the official list of drivers for the Round of 16, with order based on playoff seeding.

NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field:

— 1. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 2,040 points
— 2. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 2,032 points
— 3. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, 2,028 points
— 4. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 2,022 points
— 5. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford, 2,018 points
— 6. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 2,015 points
— 7. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 2,014 points
— 8. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, 2,008 points
— 9. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford, 2,007 points
— 10. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford, 2,007 points
— 11. Daniel Suárez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, 2,006 points
— 12. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, 2,005 points
— 13. Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, 2,005 points
— 14. Harrison Burton, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, 2,005 points
— 15. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 2,004 points
— 16. Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 2,004 points

Posted on September 1, 2024 by Sponsored Content

JOHNSTON, Iowa (Sept. 1, 2024) — The highly anticipated NASCAR Powerball Playoff™ has returned for a second year, with 16 lottery players locked in for the chance to win a VIP trip for two to 2024 NASCAR Championship Weekend™ at Phoenix Raceway® and entry into a nationally televised drawing to win $1 million.

The 16 lottery players were publicly announced earlier today during the broadcast of the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on USA Network. The lottery players advancing in the national Powerball® promotion, include:

Myisha Clark — Birdsboro, Pa.
Shunda Davis — Magnolia, Miss.
Marilyn Elkie — St. Michael, Minn.
Christopher Goggins — Greenbelt, Md.
Anthony Lawrence — Magnolia, Del.
Meagan Lewis — New Orleans, La.
Beverly Lipford — Goldsboro, N.C.
Mary Mauro — Denver, Colo.
Edward Oechsli — Louisville, Kent.
Thelma Price — Portland, Maine
Noriko Puckett — Nashville, Tenn.
Fawn Senn — Fox Lake, Wis.
Kathy Sullivan — Albuquerque, N.M.
Tosha Tomlinson — Anderson, Ind.
Kevin Weber — Bradenton, Fla.
Michael Wells — Columbia, S.C.

The 16 lottery players entered the national promotion through one of 27 participating state lotteries. Participating lotteries held in-state contests and second-chance drawings throughout the 2024 NASCAR regular season to form a national pool of entrants. The 16 lottery players were randomly selected from the national pool during a preliminary drawing on Aug. 13.

The 16 lottery players will advance to a series of Playoff drawings that mirror the elimination rounds of the NASCAR Playoffs. The four lottery players still in the Playoff after the Championship 4 drawing will win a VIP trip for two to NASCAR Championship Weekend™ at Phoenix Raceway®, Nov. 8-10, plus entry into the drawing for the $1 million prize.

The $1 million drawing will be broadcast live during NBC’s pre-race coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race™ on Sunday, Nov. 10. Cash prizes will be awarded to all 16 lottery players based on their elimination position.

Playoff drawings	Date	Race announcements	Notes
Round of 16	Sept. 1	Cook Out Southern 500, Darlington Raceway	16 semi-finalists advance
Round of 12	Sept. 21	Bass Pro Shops Night Race, Bristol Motor Speedway	12 semi-finalists advance, 4 eliminated win $2,500
Round of 8	Oct. 13	Bank of America Roval 400, Charlotte Motor Speedway	8 semi-finalists advance, 4 eliminated win $5,000
Championship 4	Nov. 3	Xfinity 500, Martinsville Speedway	4 semi-finalists advance & win VIP trip, 4 eliminated win $7,500
$1 Million Championship	Nov. 10	NASCAR Cup Series Championship, Phoenix Raceway	1 $1 million winner, 3 $10,000 winners

The VIP trip experience includes roundtrip airfare for two to Phoenix, Ariz., three nights hotel accommodations — double occupancy, two Ally Curve Hospitality Club passes for both the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race on Nov. 9 and the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race on Nov. 10, two passes for VIP experiences at Phoenix Raceway during the NASCAR Championship Weekend including Cup Series™ VIP access, NASCAR team hauler tour, MRN radio booth tour, pace car rides, Victory Lane access, welcome dinner and all meals, and ground transportation to scheduled events and activities.

Lotteries that participated in the 2024 NASCAR Powerball Playoff include Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hoosier (Indiana), Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The next drawing in the NASCAR Powerball Playoff will be for the Round of 12. The 12 lottery players advancing in the Playoff will be announced on Sept. 21 during the Bass Pro Shops Night Right Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The four lottery players eliminated from the Playoff will win $2,500 each. The race will air live on USA Network, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Players can follow the NASCAR Powerball Playoff on Facebook, Instagram, and online at Powerball.com.

NASCAR® is a registered trademark of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC. Copyright ©2024 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. NASCAR®, LLC is not a sponsor of this promotion.

Posted on September 1, 2024September 2, 2024 by Staff Report

Martin Truex Jr.’s chances to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs nearly took a hit in a Lap 3 crash that ousted him from Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

The 2017 Cup champion slid up the asphalt in Turn 1 into the left-rear tire of William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet. Truex darted his No. 19 Toyota sideways to avoid crashing Byron but sent himself into the outside SAFER barrier with Ryan Blaney, the defending series champion.

The resulting damage was enough to retire both Truex and Blaney from the event after just three laps, triggering significant playoff implications. Sunday’s race marked the regular-season finale, and Truex entered 14th on the 16-driver playoff bracket, provisionally 58 points above the elimination line. Despite the early exit, Truex did mathematically lock into the NASCAR Playoffs at the conclusion of Stage 2.

“It just took off on me, and that’s obviously on me,” Truex told reporters after being evaluated and released from the infield care center. “I hate to make a mistake that early in the race. It’s all my fault. I hate it for Blaney and apologize to his guys. Yeah, it caught me by surprise, and it’s just a stupid mistake — inexcusable.”

“Can’t change it now, so I’m not going to get too crazy about it, but just really sad for my team,” Truex added. “They deserve better than that. We had an amazing race car. I felt so good about tonight. Just really sorry I let everybody down.”

Unable to continue, Truex will shift his focus toward his pursuit of a second championship in his final full-time year of competition. In June, the 44-year-old announced he will retire from Cup Series competition on a full-time basis.

Blaney’s involvement had less postseason ripple effects attached, with his No. 12 Ford driving to wins this season at Iowa Speedway and Pocono Raceway to lock into the playoffs. But his Team Penske entry appeared to be a genuine threat for success based on Saturday’s practice, where Blaney was second-quickest on 15-lap averages.

“I was super confident in the race tonight,” said Blaney, who was also evaluated and released from the care center. “I thought our car was great. I think our cars have good speed in them. This was just a crappy deal at the start of this thing. So yeah, I don’t think we have to rebound big time. Our group’s alright. They understand that it was just poor timing, poor luck and going to Atlanta next week and be ready to go.”

As quickly as Truex’s car lost control, Blaney was left with a split-second decision and nowhere to go.

“He was so sideways, I thought he was just going to spin to the left,” Blaney said. “So I kind of gassed up to get outside and around him, and like right as I got to him, his car hooked up and went right, just tore both of us up. So that’s one of those unfortunate timing things. I mean, no one had did anything wrong. It was just one of those things where you kind of guess wrong. I hate it happened on Lap 3. I mean, gosh, we didn’t even get to race. Early day, and I hope next week goes better.”

Radio transmissions from the No. 12 car indicated a sore arm for Blaney before he exited his Ford, but he quelled concerns upon his exit.

“I think my arm got twisted up a little bit, but I’ll be there next week,” he said.

Truex will be credited with a 36th-place finish while Blaney will be scored last in 37th, both earning just one point from the event.

Contributing: Zack Albert