There are 36 cars on the preliminary entry list for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. This race will mark the first of the 10-race 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
As expected, Chris Buescher, who won last week’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, returns in the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang with primary sponsorship from BuildSubmarines.com.
Notable entries for the event include No. 15 JJ Yeley, 51 Ryan Newman, 78 BJ McLeod.
Ryan Preece and Ryan Blaney, who were involved in separate massive crashes at Daytona, are both on the preliminary entry list for this weekend’s race.
NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 Entry List
| Entry | # | Driver | Team | Crew Chief |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing Unishippers Chevrolet | Phil Surgen |
| 2 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske Discount Tire Ford | Brian Wilson |
| 3 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet | Keith Rodden |
| 4 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing Mobil 1 Take 5 Ford | Rodney Childers |
| 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | Cliff Daniels |
| 6 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing Solomon Plumbing Ford | Matt McCall |
| 7 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports Gainbridge Chevrolet | Ryan Sparks |
| 8 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing McLaren Custom Grills Chevrolet | Randall Burnett |
| 9 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | Alan Gutafson |
| 10 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing Smithfield Foods Ford | Drew Blickensderer |
| 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing SportClips Haircuts Toyota | Chris Gabehart |
| 12 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske Menards / Richmond Water Heaters Ford | Jonathan Hassler |
| 13 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing HighPoint.com 'Lady in Black' Ford | Richard Boswell III |
| 14 | 15 | JJ Yeley | Rick Ware Racing Ford | Jerry Kelley |
| 15 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | Matt Swiderski |
| 16 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing BuildSubmarines.com Ford | Scott Graves |
| 17 | 19 | Martin Truex, Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota | James Small |
| 18 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing Yahoo! Toyota | Adam Stevens |
| 19 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Wood Brothers Racing Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford | Jeremy Bullins |
| 20 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske Shell-Pennzoil Ford | Paul Wolfe |
| 21 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing McDonald's Toyota | Bootie Barker |
| 22 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports Liberty University Chevrolet | Rudy Fugle |
| 23 | 31 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | Trent Owens |
| 24 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports StageFront.VI{ Ford | Travis Peterson |
| 25 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports Quincy Compressor Ford | Ryan Bergenty |
| 26 | 41 | Ryan Preece | Stewart-Haas Racing HaasTooling.com Ford | Chad Johnston |
| 27 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet | Luke Lambert |
| 28 | 43 | Erik Jones | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Allegiant Chevrolet | Dave Elenz |
| 29 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing Jordan Brand Toyota | Billy Scott |
| 30 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing Boost by Kroger / Irish Spring Chevrolet | Mike Kelley |
| 31 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports Ally Financial Chevrolet | Blake Harris |
| 32 | 51 | TBA | Rick Ware Racing Parts Plus / Biohaven Ford | Billy Plourde |
| 33 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy Toyota | Chris Gayle |
| 34 | 77 | Ty Dillon | Spire Motorsports Raze Energy Blue Shock Chevrolet | Kevin "Bono" Manion |
| 35 | 78 | BJ McLeod | Live Fast Motorsports Affliction Chevrolet | David Ingram |
| 36 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing Freeway.com Chevrolet | Travis Mack |
