The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series head to the track “Too Tough to Tame” this weekend as The Chase presented by Mobil 1 gets underway for both tours. Sunday night marks the 77th running of the crown jewel Southern 500, where Chase Briscoe enters as the defending two-time winner. As for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Saturday night will mark the first time Darlington hosts a postseason race. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from qualifying orders, pit stalls, results and more.
Track: Darlington Raceway Location: Darlington, South Carolina Track length: 1.366 miles When: 5 p.m. ET Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Race purse: $11,849,963 Race distance: 367 laps | 501.32 miles Stages: 115 | 230 | 367 Sunday’s starting lineup| Pit stall assignments
The path for a new-look Chase — and a title in Homestead — starts now
The blueprint for winning a 10-race Cup Series championship is readily available.
But hardly any of the 16 contenders in the 2026 Chase presented by Mobil 1 for NASCAR’s premier title have been interested in studying it.
An informal survey at this week’s Media Day revealed a significant lack of curiosity about how The Chase worked during its first run from 2004-13 before being supplanted by the elimination playoffs.
“I have not looked at it,” Austin Cindric admitted. “Feel free to educate me.”
Well, it was an era of five consecutive championships by Jimmie Johnson, a miracle charge by Tony Stewart in 2011 and an annual coronation at Homestead-Miami Speedway (which returns to the season finale slot this year).
It was also a time before stage points were awarded. Before wins carried a heftier margin over second place. Before the Next Gen radically altered how cars were built and prepared.
“It’s just so different now,” Chase Briscoe said. “Maybe there’s something to learn from the consistency standpoint, but it’s so different.”
Said Cindric: “It’s a completely different world as far as how the sport is run, how the teams are run and how the cars are built. So I guess those days are gone enough for me not to really factor them into how we prepare.”
Having made The Chase for eight seasons as a crew chief before moving into the role of TV analyst, Steve Letarte says there are few “apples to apples” comparisons to the original Chase – except one.
“It is still a 70-day pressure cooker,” he said. “It is 10 weeks of everything you have. There are no races off, no laps off, no days off. The champion is going to have to go through the same 70-day pressure cooker.”
Ryan Blaney is the only championship-eligible driver who said he had reviewed The Chase seasons of 2004-13.
“What I appreciate with the guys in those Chase years who could put together 10 really good weeks was their demeanor,” he said. “Their mindsets were obviously incredibly focused and on the end goal. So I like looking at the guys who won it in that format and just seeing their dedication and their motivation. The mentality to just dig in for 10 weeks. I think you can learn from some of that mentally as opposed to on-track performance that’s not as relatable because it’s always changing.”
Among this year’s field, only two contenders have experience with the resurrected format. Top seed Denny Hamlin made The Chase from 2006-12 (and entered the season finale with a shot to win in 2006 and ’10). Joey Logano made The Chase in 2013 and has an overriding memory.
“It’s 10 weeks of hell,” Logano said. “I heard Jimmie Johnson say that one time and it’s pretty true. It’s a grueling 10 weeks, but it’s a pretty cool trophy at the end of it.”
With the 10-race title run set to unfold starting with Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), here are some lingering questions (and past trends) to ponder about how the 2026 Chase will unfold based off the 10 seasons in its original iteration:
Does Chase knowledge equal power?
Though Logano and Hamlin are the only drivers with prior Chase experience, there’s a deep pool of executive leadership that has a strong track record and a wealth of institutional knowledge about how to game-plan a 10-race championship.
Team Penske president Michael Nelson and competition director Travis Geisler played instrumental roles with the organization during Brad Keselowski’s 2012 championship.
Chad Knaus, who won six championships in 10 years of the original Chase as Johnson’s crew chief, is Hendrick Motorsports’ vice president of competition.
“When I look through the garage and see Chad, who dominated The Chase format, still being at Hendrick Motorsports,” Letarte said. “Maybe there was something in his secret recipe that he could kind of try to divvy out to his teams.”
Hendrick’s trio of Chase drivers said they’ve seen no formal direction from Knaus, but there’s a sense that his experience will be a major asset.
“There’s some background there for sure,” said William Byron, who scored his first Cup win with Knaus as crew chief six years ago. “I think that’s probably spread within the organization more so than in just conversations. You hope that there’s some energy from that. Just being Hendrick Motorsports in general, we’ve had a good history of being able to execute at the right time.”
Is Hendrick lying in wait?
Indeed, the hallmark of Johnson’s title runs was his ability to flip the switch for a late-season surge. In the first two years of The Chase, the No. 48 Chevrolet established points leads during the regular season before fading into the fall. Team owner Rick Hendrick has said he encouraged Johnson and Knaus to look at The Chase as a “parallel program” to roll out cars that delivered a stronger finishing kick.
During his run of five consecutive titles, Johnson never led the points after 26 races but won 13 of 50 Chase races.
“They were able to harness this mentality of we’re the best group here, and we’re going to go show everybody,” Blaney said. “We’re not going to make mistakes. We’re going to dominate pretty much everybody. I just think it was a culmination of just a really talented team and people, and they were able to do all the things right. I bet Chad had some secret parts sitting on the shelf, but at the end of the day, they still had to perform and execute, and they were able to rise to the occasion.”
With only two wins this season, Hendrick will need a similar performance to claim a 16th Cup championship. Defending champion Kyle Larson, who is mired in a 50-race winless streak, said the team has belief that a Johnson-type run could develop despite different circumstances.
“I think you had more tools in your toolbox back then, too, where I think now all the teams are handcuffed in a way compared to that era of racing,” he said. “But when you’re racing for Hendrick Motorsports, you know at any point, we can turn it around. You just never know when that day might come. It could come next week. It could come tomorrow. You just have to be ready for it.”
Chase Elliott, who has both of Hendrick’s victories, said that “no one knows what our team’s doing or what goes on behind the scenes. Obviously, the year hasn’t gone like we want it to go from a company standpoint, but no one’s discouraged by that. From a mentality standpoint, from a prep standpoint, just all the little things that are in our control, we’re going to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward. We just really don’t have a lot to lose right now with the way we’ve been running over the last few months.”
James Gilbert | Getty Images
Will Darlington set a tone?
When Chicagoland Speedway started The Chase from 2011-13, it was the first of five 1.5-mile tracks. The top of the speed chart for the opening practice session invariably was packed with contenders heavily focused on the dominant track in the title run.
This year’s Southern 500 opener at Darlington Raceway might be more of an outlier than New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s 1-mile oval was from 2004-10. The next two races of the 2026 Chase at World Wide Technology Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway also could have less bearing as title barometers
But the ensuing three-race stretch at Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway will be a critical test of three 1.5-mile tracks that will also offer a preview of the championship finale at Homestead.
“I don’t think you can take a whole lot from Darlington,” Briscoe said of a 1.366-mile track that will feature a lower downforce, higher horsepower package. “The points are obviously going to carry over, but if somebody has a bad run at Darlington, obviously it sets them back points-wise, but I don’t think that’s going to dictate how they run the rest of The Chase. I don’t think there’s a whole lot you can take away from really the first three weeks. After that, I think you’re going to really have an idea of who’s going to be there.”
A mulligan or more?
Unlike the threat of first-round elimination in the playoffs, Chase champions have gotten away with weak starts.
The best example was the first title for Johnson, who finished 39th at New Hampshire and didn’t earn his first top 10 until the fifth race of the 2006 Chase. He won the title with an average finish of 10.8 – the only Chase champion with an average worse than 9.0.
The conventional wisdom was that you could have one poor result in The Chase, but it also depends on how the competition fares. Blaney believes this year’s champ will need to average a finish between sixth and seventh (the 10 Chase champions from 2004-13 had a cumulative average finish just under 7.0).
“I think it is really important to get off to a good start, if you can, but for sure, it’s not the end of the world if you don’t,” Elliott said. “But the more bad weeks you have, you’re going to have to be pretty darn good to make up for it. If you have a slip-up (at Darlington), you better have the ability to win and do it often to climb out of a bad race or two.”
Three champions opened the original Chase with a victory – Kurt Busch (who won the inaugural Chase race at New Hampshire in 2004), Tony Stewart (2011) and Brad Keselowski (2012).
Talladega terror?
Christopher Bell is mindful that the first seven races will likely determine if he races for the title.
“I’ve been kind of making a small joke that if I am going to be the champion, then I better have a points gap on the field going into Talladega,” Bell said. “The first seven are all really good tracks for me. So, I think my best hope is that I have a points gap going into the final three.”
Talladega was the most feared track in the original Chase, and it never fell so late in the schedule – the eighth of the final 10 races in 2026. From 2004-13, it fell between the third and sixth races eight times and was the seventh race twice.
With only Martinsville and Homestead remaining after 500 miles on the 2.66-mile oval this season, it looms as the most decisive track in The Chase for both destroying or salvaging title bids.
“I look at Talladega as a momentum ender, but also as a great opportunity to capitalize on others’ mistakes and pitfalls,” said Bubba Wallace, who earned his first Cup victory there in 2021.
Briscoe said Talladega will be the race “where everything’s going to change. There’s just so many points that can be lost there. You really don’t have a mulligan in The Chase, but if you’re going to use one, it’s going to have to be at Talladega, and that’s just where it makes it the other nine weeks so hard because if you have a bad race at one of those other nine, you have to go to Talladega and have a good solid day, and that’s where the points are really going to get flipped upside down.”
David Jensen | Getty Images
Top Six or bust?
According to Racing Insights, The Chase champion was projected to come from the top six in regular-season points in 85 percent of 25,000 computer simulations. The modeling is based on historical performances (which mostly would have come under the previous playoff system of 2014-25).
Can a driver outside the top six pull an upset? There’s some hope to be found in two examples of massive points swings this season. Tyler Reddick lost a 129-point lead in six races, and Ryan Preece made up a 50-point deficit in two races to make The Chase.
Bell, who enters The Chase in sixth place, declared on Media Day that the champion will come from the top six, but opinions were split elsewhere.
“Anything is possible, but when you look at who has had the speed, a lot of the cars and teams that have had the speed at the tracks that make up the majority of The Chase are kind of in that top six,” Reddick said. “It does get harder the further back you are. You are starting in a hole.”
Cindric, who will start in 15th, said as long as it’s mathematically possible for any of the other 16 drivers to win the championship, “that’s all I need to know. You’re telling me there’s a chance. That’s really all you can look at.”
Preece, ranked last but brimming with confidence after his victory at Daytona clinched a Chase spot, isn’t a believer in the top-six theory.
“Not at all because I think those guys are going to race the hell out of each other and if they have a couple of bad races, there’s no win and you’re into the next round,” Preece said. “It’s going to be tough to make up those points.
“Just because you’re 16th in points doesn’t mean you didn’t execute a great season. We didn’t luck into that win (at Daytona). We ran up front. We executed. We did everything we needed to do as a Cup-winning caliber team. If we show that for the next 10 weeks, we can do it. It’s not easy, but we can do it.”
Speed reads
Race-day essentials:
• Darlington hub: Key information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more • Sunday Setup: Crew chiefs get set for “Too Tough to Tame” test | Read more • Paint Scheme Preview: This week’s Chase-opening designs for Darlington | View gallery • Neil Paine: Can Denny Hamlin be a force in new Chase format? | Read more • NASCAR Classics: Browse the video archives for full-race replays from Darlington | Watch now
• Power Rankings: Hamlin heads the top 16 as postseason begins | This week’s ranks
DARLINGTON, S.C. – A rare off night for Justin Allgaier in The Chase presented by Mobil 1 tightened the race for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship as the postseason opened Saturday with the Fleetio 200 at Darlington Raceway.
Allgaier started on the front row and won the first stage, but his car handled poorly over the final third of the race, and he fell through the field on a steady backpedal, finishing 17th on a night when Sheldon Creed easily won the race. Creed scored for the second time in his career and the first at Darlington.
Perhaps more importantly, the victory, coupled with Allgaier’s stumble, moved Creed, second in The Chase standings, to within seven points of Allgaier’s series lead. Creed started the night 25 points behind Allgaier.
Similarly, other Chase drivers picked up ground on Allgaier. Carson Kvapil, in third in the standings, finished 12th but gained six points on Allgaier. Fourth-place Austin Hill gained nine points, and Corey Day, who finished second after an eventful night on the track, also gained nine. Sammy Smith had a strong second half, finished fourth and gained five points on the series leader.
It was Smith’s best finish since the Talladega race in April.
“We gained five on the leaders, gained a (point) position and just kind of slowly chipped away at it,” Smith said. “That’s kind of what it’s going to take. Hopefully, we can go get another good run. It’s a little bit of a reset now.”
Hill raced around Allgaier part of the night and said it was obvious the point leader was fighting his car over the closing miles.
“He just looked like he was extremely loose at the end of the race,” Hill said. “He was really good, obviously, in Stage 1 and then I noticed in Stage 2 that he started losing the handle of the car and was sliding around on the rear tires. I’m guessing they weren’t able to get it tight enough for him at the end of the race.”
Hill ran a steady race and avoided some of the adventurous driving exhibited by other drivers. The finish was his fourth top five at Darlington.
“I felt like some guys were making a lot of moves on the restarts,” he said. “I would say some guys were making some really big moves that were kind of low-quality moves. There was one or two that I tried to make and then thought better of it. But I think that’s just what The Chase brings. If you can gain one position, you’re going to do it. And I think that’s what’s awesome about racing in The Chase.”
Day rallied from a controversial mid-race encounter with William Sawalich to finish second. His car had right-front damage from that meeting. The finish was Day’s best since his win at Dover in May.
Asked what happened with Sawalich, Day said, “I don’t really know. It’s been an ongoing thing all year long of him racing me a little harder than I feel like he should.”
Day and Sawalich had a short conversation on pit road after the race.
“I was able to make a lot of speed,” Day said. “I was able to do a couple things that some guys weren’t and go lower in Turn 1 and 2 early in runs and build a gap.”
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The advantage Patrick Emerling held in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings grew a little larger following Saturday’s Toyota Mod Classic 150 at Oswego Speedway.
Emerling passed reigning NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Austin Beers, his closest championship competitor, early on before ultimately pulling away to a dominant victory. The triumph was Emerling’s fourth on the 2026 season and his second at Oswego in the past three years.
Oswego has been a significant track for Emerling throughout his career and he relished in being able to celebrate another NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour victory there. With his first series championship within his grasp, Saturday’s triumph may carry more significance for Emerling compared to the first in 2024.
“This is a race we were really excited to run all season,” Emerling said. “We knew we had a really good package here, but this is home race for us. [Oswego] is a track I grew up on, so this would be my home race on the Tour. I didn’t do a lot of work out there; it was [crew chief] Dale [Hedquist] making the car go fast. The thing was a missile today.”
Jon McKennedy, this year’s New Hampshire winner, tried to make a run at Emerling during the closing stages but had to settle for second. Like Emerling, McKennedy entered the Toyota Mod Classic 150 with three victories on the season. Oswego had rarely been kind to him in the past, so he was more than happy to enjoy a trouble-free outing at Oswego and continue his strong season.
“All day we had a pretty good car,” McKennedy said. “In the race, loose in was my biggest issue. We made some changes at that pit stop, put two new rear tires on. The weird thing was the car got even looser. We’ll have to go home, spend some time and figure out why that was. Overall, a great day. A second place for me here is great.”
With McKennedy 25 points behind the championship lead prior to Oswego, he was not Emerling’s primary concern. The most pressing development for Emerling was Beers fading to sixth after he led the opening portion of the Toyota Mod Classic 150.
Knowing his car was faster than Beers, Emerling utilized patience before proceeding to set sail for the lead. Emerling always anticipates a tough fight when it comes to Beers, which only added to the elation he experienced from his Oswego triumph.
“[Beers] started out a little bit snug, I started out neutral,” Emerling said. “I just wanted to try my hardest to get around him while I still could because his car could come in a little bit more. We just had a good car all night, had a little bit of track position, got the rears on and the car was perfect after that.”
Tyler Rypkema, making his 100th career NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start, scored a third-place finish for Ole Blue at Oswego Speedway Saturday night. He was followed in the running order by Stafford Speedway winner Teddy Hodgdon, with Mike Christopher Jr. rounding out the top five.
Only two races remain before the 2026 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season concludes. The penultimate race on the schedule is a return to Riverhead Raceway for the prestigious Eddie Partridge 206, which takes place on Saturday, September 19 at 8 p.m. ET. Fans unable to attend in person can watch the race live on FloRacing.
The Chase presented by Mobil 1 has arrived, and 16 hungry NASCAR Cup Series drivers head to Darlington Raceway looking to start their postseason fortunes on the right foot. But that’s much easier said than done at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval, as car control and handling will be at a premium over 367 laps in the 77th running of the Cook Out Southern 500.
Denny Hamlin enters The Chase with the No. 1 seed, and he certainly knows a thing or two about getting around the track “Too Tough to Tame.” He’s a five-time winner at the South Carolina venue, and another crown-jewel victory would kick off his elusive first championship pursuit on a high note.
Experience tends to pay dividends at Darlington, and The Chase field has plenty of that. But drivers still feeling the sting of missing the postseason have plenty to prove, as they look to pull off a holiday-weekend upset. Take a look at Racing Insights’ full field projections for the Southern 500, as well as three drivers to keep an eye on as day turns to night in Darlington County.
DRIVERS TO WATCH
CHASE BRISCOE: The two-time defending winner of this race tops the list for obvious reasons. Briscoe can join Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to win three consecutive Southern 500s should he park in Victory Lane Sunday evening. He led 309 laps last year — 84 percent of the race — starting a torrid playoff run that resulted in a Championship 4 appearance. Although he only finished 12th in the spring, the Mitchell, Indiana native seems to come to life when pressure ramps up. Briscoe enters The Chase as the No. 5 seed, riding six finishes of sixth or better in his last nine — including a Chicagoland Speedway triumph.
CHRIS BUESCHER: It might be fair to chalk up Buescher under the sleeping giant category. The Prosper, Texas, driver is going on two years since his last victory, but it hasn’t been for a lack of consistency. And Darlington is quietly one of his best circuits. He’s finished inside the top 10 in six of the last seven South Carolina races, including the last four — which ties the longest active streak. His results of late haven’t been sexy, but ten top 10s on the campaign — along with a late-season surge from RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece — prove the organization has speed entering the postseason. At one point, the three RFK cars ran 1-2-3 in the springtime event.
ERIK JONES: Here’s the likely Chase spoiler. Bar none, Darlington is Jones’ best track. He’s a two-time Southern 500 winner, which accounts for two of his three Cup Series victories. Jones’ six top fives at the “Lady in Black” are his most at any venue, which includes a third-place effort in last year’s race. After a dismal four-race stretch that took the Michigander out of Chase contention, Jones is looking to get back on track and start building momentum into next season as Legacy Motor Club expands to a three-car fit.
FULL PROJECTED RESULTS FOR COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500 (Sun., 5 p.m. ET, USA)
DARLINGTON, S.C. – It took 138 races for Sheldon Creed to finally claim his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at EchoPark Speedway this February. On Saturday night, he earned his second trophy – and the timing couldn’t be better, with the Californian opening the nine-race Chase presented by Mobil 1 with a visit to Victory Lane in the Fleetio 200 at Darlington Raceway.
Creed took the lead after his crew delivered a fast pit stop, putting his No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet in front of the field for a restart with 49 laps remaining. The 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champ took it from there and held the lead all the way to the checkered flag, crossing the finish line 2.961 seconds ahead of Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day, who also turned in an impressive effort in the Chase opener.
Over his career, Creed has been especially good at the famed 1.366-mile Darlington oval known as the track “Too Tough to Tame.” His work Saturday was his seventh top-10 finish in nine Darlington starts. He was runner-up here in 2022 and earned two truck race wins here in 2021.
“I’ve wanted this O’Reilly win here and to finally get that is incredible,” Creed, 29, said, acknowledging his team tried a different strategy early in the race that got him close enough to the front to benefit from the clutch pit stop.
“It ended up working out well, and was able to get second and the pit crew did a great job getting us out in the lead. Was able to control it from there. Was just praying for no cautions. Very thankful.”
Four of the 12 Chase-eligible drivers finished among the top five. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brent Crews was third – although not eligible for the driver’s title, the finish was crucial as Crews’ No. 19 JGR Toyota is running for the owner’s championship.
Chase drivers Sammy Smith (JR Motorsports) and Austin Hill (Richard Childress Racing) were fourth and fifth in their Chevrolets.
Entering as the No. 1 seed in The Chase, JRM’s Justin Allgaier led a race-best 60 of the 147 laps and ran among the top five all night. But his No. 7 Chevrolet hit the wall with 23 laps remaining while he was trying to rally from fourth place. He had to nurse the car home in the closing laps and ultimately finished 17th – snapping a 10-race streak of top-10 finishes at the track.
More importantly, the frustrating finish at a track where he’s won four times cut his lead atop the championship standings from 25 points going into the race to only seven points ahead of Creed with eight races remaining to crown the champ.
Allgaier, a series-best six-race winner this season, held a massive 229-point advantage in the standings before the points were reset for this nine-race Chase run to the championship.
“Our Chevrolet was really good tonight and I felt like when we were out front there we were able to save the tires, really cruise and our pace was really good,” said the 2024 series champion Allgaier, who won Stage 1.
“And then somewhere in the middle of that second stage I started to feel like we weren’t as good as we needed to be, and the last part of the race there, we just didn’t have the car that we needed at the end. And obviously, I was just trying to hang on and do everything I could.”
Viking Motorsports driver Anthony Alfredo finished sixth, followed by Chase drivers JGR’s Taylor Gray and Creed’s teammate Sam Mayer. South Carolina native Jeremy Clements, who is not championship-eligible, finished ninth for his fourth top-10 showing of the year.
Chase driver Brandon Jones rounded out the top 10. Other title-eligible drivers Parker Retzlaff and Rajah Caruth were 21st and 26th, respectively.
It was a particularly eventful night for Caruth, who is competing for his first series championship. He rallied from being two laps down early in the race and was running well inside the top 10 with 45 laps remaining. But the same fuel pickup issue that set him back early in the race reappeared with seven laps remaining and forced him to pit the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in those closing laps.
“We were respectable in the first stage before we had a fuel pickup issue,” Caruth said, noting he wasn’t positive what the issue was yet.
“I am so proud of all our effort,” he continued. “We could have easily thrown ourselves out of it with an issue or put ourselves in a bad spot working through traffic. But we got all the way up to sixth place and was in a good position for a good result.
“But that happens. It’s sports. … we’ll be good for next week.”
JR Motorsports’ Kvapil is now third in points, 19 points off Allgaier. Hill is fourth, 36 points back and Day is now fifth, 46 points off the pace.
“Still a long way to go but need to keep finishing toward the front and scoring every point we can,” Creed said.
The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action for race two of the Chase next Saturday in the Nu Way 225 Powered by Bobcat and Sauced by Blues Hog at World Wide Technology Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage. Sheldon Creed’s win was confirmed. The Nos. 00, 19 and 21 each had one lug nut not safe and secure. The No. 2 had an at-track inspection penalty. All four teams will lose pit-stall selection for next Saturday’s Chase race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
DARLINGTON, S.C. — NASCAR Cup Series crew chiefs will have a carbon copy of the rules configuration and Goodyear tire setup that teams managed in their most recent visit to Darlington Raceway in March. What they won’t have is the benefit of practice, qualifying or an according-to-form starting lineup.
The Chase presented by Mobil 1 opens with Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first of 10 postseason races that will determine the Cup Series champion. Tyler Reddick starts from the pole position — his same perch on the grid from the circuit’s springtime visit to the 1.366-mile oval — but how he got there this time was far different.
A series of nearby lightning strikes amid a threatening forecast washed away Saturday afternoon’s practice and qualifying, forcing competition officials to set the lineup according to the NASCAR Rule Book. The inclement-weather lineup was established by the performance metric, a formula that weighs 70% of the previous race’s finish and 30% of the current position in the team owner points.
Because of the topsy-turvy nature of last weekend’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway, half of the 16 drivers in The Chase field will be starting Sunday’s 500-miler from outside the top 15.
“It stinksjustbecauseourmetricwasbadfromlastweek,” Luke Lambert, crew chief for Carson Hocevar’s No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, told NASCAR.com. Hocevar crashed last week at Daytona and starts 34th in the 38-car field Sunday. “We’vegotareallygoodpackagehere.Wefeellikewewerereallygoodinthespring, soexcitedabouttherace.Justhatethemetricgotmessedupfromlastweek.”
Team Penske’s No. 12 Ford team was caught by the same snare, with a last-lap tangle for driver Ryan Blaney dropping him to 33rd in the Daytona rundown. He’ll set sail from 24th, but the group’s placement was compounded by issues in Saturday’s opening technical inspection, where the No. 12 failed twice, leading to a crew ejection and loss of pit-stall selection.
That pit-road portion of the penalty could have ramifications in one of the schedule’s longest races, where over-the-wall performance will be at a premium.
“It’s definitely not great, but there are plenty of openings here,” Hassler told NASCAR.com, noting how the handful of breaks in the pit wall provide easier ingress and egress. “Fortunately, you get a fair number of cars a lap down, so early in the race, I think it’ll definitely be something that we’ll have to kind of deal with. But hopefully, as the night goes on, it’ll work out to be OK.”
The same softer-compound Goodyear tire that teams raced with in the springtime returns for Sunday’s Southern 500, but the allotment has grown. Teams will have 12 new sets of tires to deploy on the abrasive 1.366-mile track, but how crew chiefs opt to use them in each stage — which divide almost neatly into thirds of 115, 115 and 137 laps — remains a question.
“Thestagesarelonger,soyou’reprobablygoingtoseedifferentstrategies,” said Justin Alexander, crew chief for Legacy Motor Club’s No. 43 Toyota and two-time Southern 500 winner Erik Jones. “Thebiggestthingishowmanytimeswe’llpitineachstage,whetherguyswillpitonce,twice,oreventhreetimes,sothat’lldependonfall-off,andthat’lldependonobviouslyhowhotitisandtheweatherandthingsofthatnature.Sofromafall-offperspective,I thinkyou’llseeit’llbeverysimilartothespringrace,andfromaracingperspective,samething.Butourstrategieschangeupalittlebit,justduetothenatureofthelengthoftherace.”
Alexander’s remarks came in Darlington’s Saturday morning hours, just before weather wiped out practice and qualifying. That schedule adjustment will force teams to be even more reliant on their notes from the 400-miler here in March, where the tire setup debuted alongside the low-downforce, higher-horsepower package that was instituted this year.
The lack of preliminary on-track time — save for the no-qualifying lineup quirks — wasn’t viewed as a complete negative, however, with Reddick calling it the “best-case scenario for us. Yeah, it’s pretty sick.” Hassler shared at least some measure of his opinion.
“Ikindofliketheopportunitytogoandstarttheracewithoutpractice,” Hassler said. “Ithinkyouknowthatdefinitelypaysdividendstotheteamsthatsortofdotheirhomeworkandthencanstarttheracewithoutthat.SoIlikethatopportunity.Ijustwish we were goingtostartalittlebitfurtherforward.”
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Few teams have been more squarely in the NASCAR Silly Season crosshairs over the last week than Legacy Motor Club. In the handful of days since team co-owner Jimmie Johnson unveiled the retro-themed No. 48 that he’ll run in his Daytona 500 farewell next year, the team announced the pending departure of John Hunter Nemechek from Legacy’s No. 42 Toyota, then welcomed Riley Herbst to a full-time spot in the team’s No. 84 ride on the next day.
One of the constants within the organization’s walls has been the No. 43 and Erik Jones, a combination that’s endured through the team’s transition from Richard Petty Motorsports to Petty GMS to Legacy M.C., and from Chevrolet to the Toyota banner. Though he sits 21st in the Cup Series standings, just outside The Chase presented by Mobil 1, Jones arrives at Darlington Raceway in search of his third Cook Out Southern 500 crown in Sunday’s Labor Day classic (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Though Herbst had been linked to Legacy Motor Club’s proposed third entry in recent weeks, the confirmation that Nemechek would not return to the team in 2027 was more abrupt. Nemechek is in his third season with LMC and ranks 27th in the Cup Series standings ahead of the 10-race home stretch.
“Imean,Iguessattheendoftheday,I’vebeenthroughthesamething,andit’snevereasy,” Jones said before Saturday’s scheduled on-track Cup Series activity was washed away by rain. “Iwasn’tprivytositinmanyconversationsorthosediscussions, soIdon’treallyknowwhatallleduptoit.Hewasagoodteammatewhilehewashereforme,thelasttwoyearsorso. … Soit’snevereasytomakethatchange,butobviouslytherewasadecisionthatledtoit thatI’mnotsure,butwe’llmoveon.It’snevereasy.Changeishard,andrelationshipsaretough,andit’sneverfuntohavetogothroughthat.Butattheendoftheday,I’mhoping the bestforhimandhecanfindanewhomeandsomewherethatworks.”
Jones’ sympathies with Nemechek’s situation stem from his own career arc, which first rose through the Toyota pipeline and Joe Gibbs Racing and its affiliates. His dismissal after the 2020 campaign with JGR’s No. 20 team hit hard, especially after multiple years within that ecosystem. Upon reflection, Jones says he appreciates the door that opened afterward.
“Imean,Iknowthefeeling,” Jones said. “Iknowthefeelingofgettingthatcallandwhattheemotionsareandkindofwhere it putsyouasaheadspace,andsomeoftheworryanddoubtofwhat’snextandwheredothingsgofromhere. Youknow,Irememberallthoseemotionsreallywellfromthatday.Attheendofitall,Ithinkthere’sthingstobelearned.IknowIlearnedalotfrommyexperience,fromlosingmyjobatthe20andfindinganewhomehereandwhatit’staughtmeovertheyears.Ididn’tthinkitwasapositiveatthetimebecausethere’snowayyoucouldlookatitlikethat, butlook,ifIlookatitnowandwhoIamtoday,itwasapositivedayforme.”
Jones says he’s been involved in the discussions about what comes next with the No. 42’s sudden vacancy, saying the ideal candidate would be “somebodywhofitstheculturewellandfitsthemold.” The goal once that lineup is firmed up, Jones says, is three competitive teams that can make gains against the heavyweights in the Cup Series garage.
He also says he’s ready to accept the leadership mantle as the team’s senior-most driver, bringing Herbst into the fold from 23XI Racing.
“He’sstillgotsomeworktobedoneatthejobhe’sat,” Jones says, “butI’vereachedoutandtriedtobridgethatgapandbuildthatrelationshipthere.Youknow,attheendofthedaynowit’sjustgoingtobemewho’sbeenhereforawhile, so bridgingsomeofthesegapsofwhere’stheteamat, andwhatdoweneedfromdrivers,what’sexpectedfromthem,that’skindofgoingtofallmoreonmyshouldersatthispoint,sowe’llstartasearlyaswecan.”
Jones was a fringe contender for The Chase field, registering a season-best second place at Michigan in early June and following through with a sixth-place result at Pocono the next week. Fifth at Atlanta in July helped keep him in the conversation, but Jones’ aspirations sagged with three DNFs in the final four regular-season events that shut him out of the 16-driver grid.
The last early exit came just last weekend at Daytona, where Carson Hocevar’s crash in the late going collected Jones’ No. 43 Toyota. Though there was no ill intent from the meeting of their two cars, Jones says the two texted about the incident to make sure the air was clear.
“Yeah,Isenthimamessage,andwechattedbackandforth.Hewassorryandfeltbadaboutit,” Jones said. “Obviouslyattheendoftheday,hejustmadeamistakeandwrecked.Youknow,it‘snotlikeheintentionallywentouttotakeusoutoftherace.Youknow,hejustlostcontrol.So yeah,isitfrustrating? Sure,forme. ButImean,attheendoftheday,everybodygetsheldtoadifferentstandard.Ithinkifit’ssomebodythatnevercausestroubleandtheywreckandcauseawreck,there’sprobablynotalkornotmuchtalk.Butyourreputationdoesprecedeyouatsomepoints, andunfortunatelyforhimrightnow,that’sthesituation.”
Jones says he still has goals to achieve the rest of the way this year, starting with Darlington, which has produced two of the three wins in his Cup Series career. Finishing 17th in the standings as the “best of the rest” outside The Chase picture would be a source of pride, and Darlington would be a logical jumping-off point for that quest.
Asked to pinpoint what exactly stood out about the 1.366-mile oval and why he’s taken to it, Jones pointed to a “natural feel” for tire management on the rough track surface and a resemblance to the tracks that shaped his early career at the grassroots level.
“Imean,wealwayscirclethistrackonthecalendareachyear,” said Justin Alexander, the No. 43 team’s crew chief. “Idon’tknowwhatitisaboutthisplacethathelikes, but hejustknowshowtogetaroundhere.Somedrivers just havetracksthatsuitthem,andthisonesuitshim.So,Ithinkhedoeslookforwardtoit.Ilookforwardtoit. We’rejustlookingtohaveagoodrun,andhopefullygetourselvesinpositiontomaybegetawin. He’sdoneitherebefore,andIthinkwecandoitagain.”
DARLINGTON, S.C. – The Cup Series Chase presented by Mobil 1 opens Sunday at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), and RFK Racing has reached what many observers predicted at the start of the season: the Ford team has two drivers in the postseason lineup.
Chris Buescher starts the final 10 races 10th in points, and Ryan Preece will take the Cook Out Southern 500 green flag in 16th, thanks to his dramatic last-race, last-gasp victory in the regular season finale last weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
The lone RFK driver missing from the post-season fun is team co-owner Brad Keselowski, who flirted with the Chase cutline much of the year but wound up 18th. A former Southern 500 winner, Keselowski will race for Sunday’s win in one of the series’ landmark races, while keeping an eye on the progress of his drivers racing with a hope of a Cup title.
Keselowski’s evaluation of the RFK season to date places his team in what he calls Tier 2, a level below the so-called superteams of Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing.
“If you look at the Cup Series with three tiers of competitors – arguably four, everyone wants to be at the top of Tier 1,” Keselowski said Saturday. “We’re no exception, so we’re not happy to be at the top of Tier 2, but I think an honest assessment is that’s where we’re at.
“We’re perennially a threat to put one or two cars in The [Chase] and potentially a threat to win anywhere from one to three races (one points-paying win this season) a year. That’s what Tier 2 teams are, but we want to be Tier 1.”
Penske, Hendrick and Gibbs put all of their eligible drivers in the post-season lineup, with Hendrick’s Alex Bowman, who missed several races due to a vertigo bout, the only absentee.
“They put all their cars in The Chase, and they have the ability or opportunity to win probably somewhere between three to 10 races a year,” Keselowski said. “So that’s where I want us to be as an organization.”
What’s needed to push RFK to that level? That’s a quick answer from Keselowski, 36 times a Cup winner and the series’ 2012 champion with Team Penske.
“Speed,” he said. “We just need to be faster. We need to have a richer revenue model that allows us to invest in the engineering decision to do this at a higher level.”
Keselowski said he has confidence in his drivers’ chances despite the fact that they start The Chase in the second half of the standings. He said Preece underlined his ability with last week’s Daytona win.
“I think getting that kind of first point win is a check mark and great for him,” Keselowski said. “It’s great for the team, the organization as a whole. If anything, I think it puts them in a less stressful position, not a more stressful position, to just go out and run his own races. The points will be what they’ll be. He doesn’t need to throw Hail Marys to prove his worth in this sport.”
