There are 38 cars on the preliminary entry list for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series crown jewel Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the 27th race of the 2025 season and opening race of the Playoffs.
With up to 40 cars permitted to start races in the NASCAR Cup Series, no drivers or teams will head home following this week’s qualifying session.
Ryan Blaney, who won last weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, will return this weekend behind the wheel of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, with sponsorship to be announced.
Among the notable entries set to compete in this event is the No. 44 NY Racing Team, which will have Derek Kraus behind the wheel of its Chevrolet this weekend. Josh Bilicki will pilot the other part-time “open” entry in the field this weekend as he’ll drive the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Here is the complete entry list for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, race 27 of 36.
Cook Out Southern 500 Entry List
| Entry | # | Driver | Team | Crew Chief |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Stephen Doran |
| 2 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Brian Wilson |
| 3 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Richard Boswell III |
| 4 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports | Drew Blickensderfer |
| 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Cliff Daniels |
| 6 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Jeremy Bullins |
| 7 | 7 | Justin Haley | Spire Motorsports | Ryan Sparks |
| 8 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | Randall Burnett |
| 9 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Alan Gustafson |
| 10 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet | Andrew Dickeson |
| 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing Sport Clips Toyota | Chris Gayle |
| 12 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Jonathan Hassler |
| 13 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing Black's Tire Chevrolet | Trent Owens |
| 14 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | Scott Graves |
| 15 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota | James Small |
| 16 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Adam Stevens |
| 17 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing | Miles Stanley |
| 18 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Paul Wolfe |
| 19 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Charles Denike |
| 20 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports All-Pro Auto Reconditioning Chevrolet | Rudy Fugle |
| 21 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Chris Lawson |
| 22 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing Chumba Casino Toyota | Davin Restivo |
| 23 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports TitleMax Ford | Ryan Bergenty |
| 24 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team | Aaron Kramer |
| 25 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB | Travis Mack |
| 26 | 43 | Erik Jones | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB | Ben Beshore |
| 27 | 44 | Derek Kraus | NY Racing | Jay Guy |
| 28 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | Billy Scott |
| 29 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | HYAK Motorsports | Mike Kelley |
| 30 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports Ally Financial Chevrolet | Blake Harris |
| 31 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing | Billy Plourde |
| 32 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Tyler Allen |
| 33 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing Trimble Ford | Derrick Finley |
| 34 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Garage 66 | Carl Long |
| 35 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports | Travis Peterson |
| 36 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports | Luke Lambert |
| 37 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing | Stephan Doran |
| 38 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing | Matt Swiderski |
