In a stunning development to end the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Chase Briscoe held off Kyle Busch on fresher tires to win the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, earning his second career Cup win and his first since Phoenix Raceway in March 2022. As a result, Briscoe went from being in a must-win situation to making the NASCAR playoffs, the second-straight upset winner to earn a chance to race for a championship.
Briscoe took the lead with a daring three-wide move on Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain on a late restart, putting him out front before another caution gave Busch the chance he needed to take fresher tires and charge from ninth to second in the final laps. With both drivers in must-win situations to make the playoffs, Briscoe was able to make his car wide in the final laps, holding the two-time Cup champion back to win his first Southern 500.
As a result of Briscoe's win, Chris Buescher was bumped below the cut line and eliminated from playoff contention along with Bubba Wallace, Chastain, and others. Tyler Reddick won the regular-season championship despite battling illness throughout the race, prevailing by only a point over Kyle Larson.
Cook Out Southern 500 unofficial results
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #8 - Kyle Busch
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #1 - Ross Chastain
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #7 - Corey LaJoie
- #45 - Tyler Reddick
In May 2020, Briscoe had to hold off a hard-charging Busch to win an Xfinity Series race at Darlington, holding Busch at bay despite bouncing off the wall on the final lap to hold him off by a carlength at the checkered flag. It was a seminal moment in Briscoe's career -- it came just two days after he and wife Marissa lost their unborn child -- and one of nine wins he earned that season on his way to getting a Cup ride in 2021.
Four years later, Briscoe had to hold off Busch again in order to end a 93-race winless streak, make the playoffs, and give Stewart-Haas Racing one last run at a championship before the team closes at the end of the year. And sure enough, he was able to get it done.
"Last week (at Daytona) was the most embarrassing race I ever ran in my life. And I told (crew chief Richard Boswell), I said, 'I don't even want to talk about it. I promise I will make it up to you next week,'" Briscoe told NBC Sports. "Everybody knows how much I'm a Tony Stewart fan, and to get this 14 car back into Victory Lane and for all 320-something employees to be able to race for a championship in their final year is unbelievable. God is just so good.
"It's like deja vu there at the end with Kyle with the Xfinity race here in 2020. I was so loose I didn't know if I was gonna be able to do it ... We'll go to Atlanta and try to steal another one."
Moot Points
Even with Briscoe running inside the top five all night from third starting spot, much of the drama throughout the night was centered around a points battle between Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace to earn the final available playoff spot on points. Wallace had the upper hand early after starting from the pole, but things would slowly begin to tilt back in Buescher's favor as the race progressed and Wallace faded towards the back end of the top 10.
Then, a series of cautions created several dramatic swings, creating pit stop opportunities and some variance between the strategies Wallace and Buescher employed. Buescher looked to be in trouble for a moment after getting squeezed into the wall in an accident with Todd Gilliland, but he would end up with the upper hand shortly afterwards when Wallace elected not to come to pit road for fresher tires while Buescher and other cars did.
The deciding development came with 24 laps to go, when Wallace was swept up in a multi-car crash in Turn 2 that Buescher drove safely through on his way to finishing sixth. Or at least, it would have been had Briscoe not won the race -- instead, Briscoe winning meant that he bumped the cut line down, eliminating Buescher along with Wallace as Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs took the final playoff spots on points despite their own respective crashes.
For Buescher, missing the playoffs was an especially bitter pill to swallow, as he had come only 0.001 -- the closest margin of victory in NASCAR Cup Series history -- from winning a race and earning a playoff spot at Kansas in May. Instead, he was left to lament what may have been and not answering the call of a championship format that prioritizes winning over consistency.
"We had such a great year, we've been outrunning so many of these cars that are gonna get to run for a championship, but that's the system," Buescher told NBC Sports. "... Another great finish here at Darlington, just not enough with a new winner. Just crazy.
"Definitely gonna think back on different times throughout the year and figure out how to do better next time ... It's just frustration and disbelief all together."
Irregularity to Regular Season Champion
Entering the evening, Tyler Reddick was at the top of the standings and in position to win the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship and the ever-important bonus of 15 playoff points that comes with it. By the end of 500 miles, he was able to stay there -- but not by much, and after having to battle both the competition, the racetrack, and himself.
As Kyle Larson led a race-high 263 laps and earned maximum stage points, Reddick was feeling extremely unwell with a stomach bug behind the wheel of his car, at one point telling his team that he was "puking and sh--ing" near the end of Stage 1 (For the record, Reddick denied doing either in his post-race press conference but said he "held on for dear life") as his crew tried to treat him with Tums, crackers, and medicine mixed with water. Despite nearly being overwhelmed by his illness, Reddick was able to stay in his car and complete the race, finishing 10th to earn the regular-season championship by only a single point over Larson, who finished fourth.
"I started the day off feeling really, really good and just was kind of taking my time trying to get around Bubba -- him and the 5 kind of jumped us on that first (pit) cycle -- I thought with a long race we had plenty of time and plenty capable, and by the end of Stage 1 I couldn't even really focus on what to tell the guys to do on our Upper Deck Toyota Camry. It was frustrating, man. We had that buffer over the 5, and I just watched it disappear all day long trying everything I can to drive this car as fast as I can.
"It was just a real struggle, honestly. I don't have anything left."
Kyle Larson assumes the No. 1 seed in the playoffs and will begin the Round of 16 with an eight-point advantage over Christopher Bell and a 12-point advantage on Reddick. William Byron (+17), Ryan Blaney (+13), Denny Hamlin (+10), Chase Elliott (+9), Brad Keselowski (+3), Joey Logano, Austin Cindric (+2), Daniel Suarez (+1) and Alex Bowman (+0) all begin the playoffs above the cut line, with Chase Briscoe, Harrison Burton (-0), Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. (-1) all below the cut line to advance to the Round of 12.
Race results rundown
- Ross Chastain did everything he could to make the playoffs with strategy in the final stage, but his fifth-place finish underscored exactly why he will not get the chance to race for a championship in 2024. His finish marked only his fourth top five of the entire season, with only nine top 10s with three DNFs and six finishes not on the lead lap to go with it.
- That's one less thing they can say about Corey LaJoie: Not only did LaJoie earn his second top 10 of the season with a ninth-place finish, but he also earned his first-ever top 10 on a track that isn't Daytona, Talladega, or Atlanta where the draft comes into play.
- A low key complement to Chase Briscoe's win for Stewart-Haas Racing was the performance of teammate Ryan Preece, who had one of his best runs of the entire season. Preece ran inside the top 15 consistently before finishing 12th, earning his sixth finish this season of 12th or better.
- One week after his upset win at Daytona, Harrison Burton returned to his season status quo in a prelude to his first playoff appearance. Burton had an uneventful night on his way to finishing two laps down in 21st.
- Carson Hocevar started from the outside pole and ran in the top 10 early, but he would spin out to end a long green flag run in the final stage -- setting up much of the late-race drama -- before another crash ended his night. Hocevar's 33rd-place finish snapped a four-race streak that saw him earn an average finish of 10.25, but it marks just his second DNF of the season and his first since the Daytona 500.
- Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney both had a short evening, as Truex got sideways trying to pass William Byron and then overcorrected into Blaney's path on Lap 2, ending both of their nights prematurely. Blaney took a hard hit and appeared to be favoring his hand/wrist afterwards, but told reporters outside the infield care center that he was fine.
Next Race
The NASCAR playoffs begin at the site of the closest three-wide photo finish in series history, Atlanta Motor Speedway, with the Quaker State 400 next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA.
