Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Darlington Raceway was another instant classic.
With both of their seasons on the line, Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch were engaged in a high-stakes battle to the checkered flag, with the winner capturing a crown jewel victory and a spot in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
The battle left viewers on the edge of their seats, lasting throughout the race’s final green-flag run of 17 laps, and saw Briscoe, in the final season for Stewart-Haas Racing, come within millimeters of the fence nearly every lap.
Busch, a two-time champion of the NASCAR Cup Series, made a couple of strong attempts to get the lead, and came within inches of Briscoe’s rear bumper in the race’s final set of corners, but ultimately couldn’t make it stick.
The No. 14 HighPoint Ford Mustang Dark Horse crossed the start-finish line 0.361 seconds ahead of Busch, locking himself into the post-season for the second time in the last three years.
“For all 320 employees, everybody, to be able to race for a championship in their final year, man, unbelievable,” said Briscoe. “God is just so good. It’s like déjà vu there at the end with Kyle, with the Xfinity race here in 2020. Obviously, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it.”
Briscoe’s triumph in one of the biggest races of the season locks Stewart-Haas Racing in the Playoffs, with the Mitchell, Indiana-native’s three teammates failing to advance. The organization, founded in 2009, is set to shut down at season’s end.
“This group, the day that we found out that the team wasn’t going to exist any more, we went over to the shop floor, we all looked at each other and said, We’re in this till the end. We’re not going to give this up. We kept saying all week we got one bullet left in the chamber. That’s bullet hit.”
Busch would have to settle for a runner-up finish despite having fresher tires in the closing stint, failing to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Christopher Bell had a quiet afternoon Sunday at Darlington, finishing third, one day after winning the Xfinity Series event at the 1.366-mile racetrack in South Carolina.
Kyle Larson dominated Sunday’s event, leading 263 of 367 laps, but lost out on the lead when Ross Chastain, a Playoff hopeful, stayed out on 30-lap old tires, forcing those on new tires to scurry around the Trackhouse Racing driver, creating an opportunity for Briscoe to make an incredibly bold three-wide move.
CHASE BRISCOE WITH AN UNBELIEVABLE MOVE TO TAKE THE LEAD!!!
? : #NASCAR | USA Network pic.twitter.com/eXZJTa2gTS
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 2, 2024
Larson would have to settle for fourth place, but after winning the first stage, would sit atop the reseeded post-season standings, with 40 Playoff Points.
RESULTS: 2024 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington
Despite not being present in the top-10 for most of the race, Ross Chastain strapped on some fresh tires late to score a top-five finish, his fourth of the season. However, with a new winner in Briscoe, it wasn’t enough to get into the Playoffs.
Chris Buescher had a similar story, staying out to gain track position and hopefully make the post-season, but came up 12 points short of Ty Gibbs, who finished 20th-place, off the lead lap, after a late-race accident.
Denny Hamlin was the king of alternate strategy on Sunday, which gained him track position on several occasions, but the SportClips Haircuts machine ended up seventh at the end of 367 laps.
Joey Logano finished eighth, with Corey LaJoie securing his first top-10 finish on a non-superspeedway in ninth.
Rounding out the top-10 was Tyler Reddick, who made up positions in the final laps of the event to secure the regular-season championship by a single point over Kyle Larson, earning himself 15 Playoff Points.
Reddick suffered through the 500-mile event on Sunday, feeling extremely under the weather and not being able to focus on driving the racecar, which the Corning, California native felt impacted his result.
The regular season has concluded with the Southern 500, and the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field has been set.
Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex, Jr., Christopher Bell, Harrison Burton, Joey Logano, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, and Daniel Suarez are the 16 drivers that will compete for the championship.
The first event of the Playoffs will take place next weekend at the superspeedway-adjacent Atlanta Motor Speedway.
