Cook Out Southern 500 Race Results

Chase Briscoe stuns with Southern 500 win, claims playoff spot in finale

Chase Briscoe fended off a fierce charge from Kyle Busch over the final 17 laps to win the Cook Out Southern 500 Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.

The victory, second of Briscoe’s career, propels the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in the regular-season finale. Busch, winless and out of the postseason, fell 0.361 seconds short of triumph. Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain completed the top five.

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Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie and Tyler Reddick completed the top 10.

A crash at Lap 344 collected two playoff hopefuls. Ty Gibbs was pinched in the Turn 1 wall atop a three-wide situation with Josh Berry and Denny Hamlin, spinning Berry and collecting William Byron, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suárez, Bubba Wallace and Noah Gragson. Gibbs and Wallace entered Sunday’s contest vying to make the 16-driver postseason grid via points eligibility; Gibbs was able to continue and raced his way, claiming the final position on points while Wallace was ousted.

Martin Truex Jr. nearly had his playoff hopes upended after a Lap 3 error sent him into the Turn 1 wall with Ryan Blaney, ending the day of two former champions early. Truex attempted a pass on William Byron and misjudged, bouncing off Byron’s left rear and sending Truex into a skid. His overcorrection led him into the SAFER barrier with Blaney, eliminating both from the race and resulting in a 36th-place finish for Truex and 37th — last — for Blaney. Truex was able to clinch his spot in the postseason at the conclusion of Stage 2 nonetheless.

Reddick battled illness all afternoon but ultimately won the Regular Season Championship by a single point over Kyle Larson, the first such title for the 23XI Racing driver.

This story will be updated.