Briscoe led 309 laps in Sunday’s race. It’s the most laps led in a Southern 500 since Bobby Allison led 329 laps in the 1971 edition of the race.
DARLINGTON, S.C. — The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs began with an absolutely dominant performance from Chase Briscoe in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Briscoe led 309 of the race’s 367 laps, rarely ever leaving the top spot. Despite the lopsided numbers, Briscoe had his hands full in the closing laps holding off Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones. Reddick made a daring move on the final lap to get around Briscoe but couldn’t complete the move.
“That was way harder than it needed to be,” Briscoe said. “So cool to win two Southern 500s in a row. This is my favorite race of the year.”
It’s the second straight Southern 500 victory for Briscoe, whose 309 laps led are the most at Darlington since Dale Earnhardt led 335 laps in April 1986 and the most laps led in a Southern 500 since Bobby Allison led 329 laps in the 1971 edition of the race.
Reddick, Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 10. Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin were the only other playoff drivers besides Briscoe and Reddick to score a top 10.
As Briscoe, Reddick, Wallace, and Hamlin left Darlington with a solid start to the playoffs, other championship contenders suffered issues. Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, and Christopher Bell were among the drivers who were unlucky in the playoff-opening race.
Trouble began early for playoff drivers. Berry spun out on the first lap while fighting for third. Berry made contact with Reddick and spun toward the inside wall. Bowman, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suárez, and Kyle Busch suffered damage while trying to avoid the spinning driver. Berry, who made the playoffs by winning Las Vegas, suffered a disastrous 38th-place finish.
A slow green flag pit stop doomed Bowman in the first stage. He spent most of the race lapped down and ultimately finished 31st.
Denny Hamlin, William Byron, and Christopher Bell also suffered pit road issues that threw off their night. Byron had a long stops that sent them to a 21st place finish, respectively. Hamlin recovered to finish seventh. Bell made hard contact with Carson Hocevar on pit road, greatly hurting his car’s performance and leaving him with .
Blaney spun out and suffered some damage in the second stage, ruining his handling and leaving him with a 18th place finish.
Shane van Gisbergen had no large issues but suffered a poor finish of 32nd. Ross Chastain (11th), Austin Cindric (12th), Chase Elliott (17th), Kyle Larson (19th), Joey Logano (20th), and Austin Dillon (23rd) were the other playoff drivers in the field.
The win locks Briscoe into the next round of the playoffs. Four drivers will be eliminated after two more races.
Here are the NASCAR playofff standings after the first race:
- Chase Briscoe – WINNER
- Denny Hamlin – +43 points
- Kyle Larson – (+38)
- Tyler Reddick – (+35)
- William Byron – (+25)
- Bubba Wallace – (+25)
- Ryan Blaney – (+22)
- Ross Chastain – (+21)
- Ausin Cindric – (+12)
- Christopher Bell – (+11)
- Chase Elliott – (+9)
- Shan van Gisbergen – (+3)
- Joey Logano – (-3)
- Austin Dillon – (-8)
- Josh Berry – (-19)
- Alex Bowman – (-19)
The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action at World Wide Technology Speedway. Austin Cindric is the defending winner.