Two weeks ago, Stewart-Haas Racing announced that it would be shutting down its racing operations at the end of this NASCAR season. On Sunday night, Chase Briscoe said don’t turn the lights off quite yet. The driver of the #14 Stewart-Haas Ford held off a furious challenge from two-time series champion Kyle Busch to win the 75th Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and earn a spot in the 16-team playoff, which begins next week in Atlanta.
For much of the evening, it appeared the race would be a coronation for Kyle Larson. Battling Tyler Reddick for the regular season title, Larson dominated the first two stages of the race and appeared to be in complete control as the laps wound down. However, Briscoe pulled off a daring three-wide maneuver with twenty-six laps remaining to pass Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead. He then held off Busch over the final seventeen laps to claim the victory.
Briscoe’s dramatic move spoiled another dominant Darlington run by Kyle Larson, who led 263 laps but was not the same after getting passed by the winner. Larson was trying to overtake Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points title—and the 15 bonus points the leader receives—but came up a point short. Which is somewhat remarkable as Reddick was dealing with a stomach illness that forced him to take medicine multiple times just to stay in his racecar.
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. got the final two postseason spots on points, while Bubba Wallace and Chastain, both within 27 points of the cutoff line when the race began, came up short.
NASCAR Playoff Field
- — Kyle Larson
- — Christopher Bell
- — Tyler Reddick
- — William Byron
- — Ryan Blaney
- — Denny Hamlin
- — Chase Elliott
- — Brad Keselowski
- — Joey Logano
- — Austin Cindric
- — Daniel Suarez
- — Alex Bowman
- — Chase Briscoe
- — Harrison Burton
- — Ty Gibbs
- — Martin Truex, Jr.