Chase Briscoe held off Tyler Reddick at Darlington Raceway on Sunday night to win the Southern 500 for the second straight year and advance to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Briscoe, in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, took the lead early, won both stages and led 309 of 367 laps. Not only did he advance into the round of 12, he became the first driver with consecutive wins in NASCAR’s crown jewel race since Greg Biffle in 2005 and 2006.
“It’s so cool to win two Southern 500s in a row,” the 30-year-old Indiana driver said. “This is my favorite race of the year.”
A year ago, when the race was the last of the regular season, Briscoe used a late, four-wide pass to move in front and win his way into the playoffs. This time, he had the baddest machine on the block throughout.
Briscoe moved in front early and cruised through most of the event on NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway. After Reddick swept past him on the restart for the final segment, Briscoe got back in front a lap later and easily moved into the lead after each of his final three pit stops.
Reddick went low and got to Briscoe’s door on the final lap, but could not finish the pass. Briscoe held on to win for the second time this season and fourth time in his career.
“That was way harder than it needed to be,” said Briscoe, also the winner at Pocono in June.
Two-time Southern 500 winner Erik Jones was third, followed by John Hunter Nemechek and AJ Allmendinger. Playoff racers Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin, Briscoe’s JGR teammate, were next.
Playoff problems
It was not a great night for most of the playoff field as several contenders struggled. Only four playoff racers were in the top 10.
Josh Berry, who was already below the 12-man cutoff line entering Darlington, spun out moments after the race began and had to go into the garage. It was the first Cup Series playoff run for Berry, who drives for the Wood Brothers. Berry returned to the track midway through the second stage, 119 laps off the lead.
Alex Bowman was among just two playoff drivers without a win this year and needed a strong showing at Darlington to move up from 16th. Bowman pitted several times to find speed and instead found problems, including a malfunctioning air hose that kept him on pit road for about 30 seconds.
Penske driver Ryan Blaney, who won a NASCAR title two years ago and took Daytona last week, was one of the circuit’s hottest drivers with six straight top 10 finishes. But spun out on Lap 209 while 13th to slide down the playoff standings.
The four drivers below the cut line are defending champion Joey Logano in 13th, then Austin Dillon, Bowman and Berry.
“It was not what we were expecting,” Logano said about his 20th-place finish.
Toyota on top
The top four all drove Toyotas — just the third time that has happened since the manufacturer joined the Cup Series in 2007. In all, six of the first seven were driving Toyotas, including playoff contenders Briscoe, Reddick, Wallace and Hamlin.
Hamlin is co-owner of 23XI Racing along with Michael Jordan with the team’s two playoff drivers in Reddick and Wallace in the top six.
“It was a good day for them and a great day for Toyota in general,” Hamlin said.
Up next
The playoffs continue next Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis in the second of three first-round races — the round concludes at Bristol on Sept. 13 — before the field is cut from 16 to 12.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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