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 Busch Light Retro Chevrolet | Stephen Doran |
| 2 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske Discount Tire Ford | Brian Wilson |
| 3 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing Bass Pro Shops / Winchester Chevrolet | Richard Boswell III |
| 4 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports Long John Silver's Ford | Drew Blickensderfer |
| 5 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | Cliff Daniels |
| 6 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing BuildSubmarines.com Ford | Jeremy Bullins |
| 7 | 7 | Justin Haley | Spire Motorsports Gainbridge Chevrolet | Ryan Sparks |
| 8 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet | Randall Burnett |
| 9 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 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 Menards / Dutch Boy Ford | Jonathan Hassler |
| 13 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing Black's Tire Chevrolet | Trent Owens |
| 14 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing Kroger / Tree Top Ford | Scott Graves |
| 15 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota | James Small |
| 16 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing Rheem Toyota | Adam Stevens |
| 17 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford | Miles Stanley |
| 18 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske Shell-Pennzoil Ford | Paul Wolfe |
| 19 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing U.S. Air Force Toyota | Charles Denike |
| 20 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports All-Pro Auto Reconditioning Chevrolet | Rudy Fugle |
| 21 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports Grillo's Pickles Ford | 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 Autodesk / HaasTooling Add-In Ford | Aaron Kramer |
| 25 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota | Travis Mack |
| 26 | 43 | Erik Jones | LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Dollar Tree Toyota | Ben Beshore |
| 27 | 44 | Derek Kraus | NY Racing Chevrolet | Jay Guy |
| 28 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing Pinnacle Toyota | Billy Scott |
| 29 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | HYAK Motorsports Pudgy Penguins Chevrolet | Mike Kelley |
| 30 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports Ally Financial Chevrolet | Blake Harris |
| 31 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing Parts Plus Ford | Billy Plourde |
| 32 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy Toyota | Tyler Allen |
| 33 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing Trimble Ford | Derrick Finley |
| 34 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Garage 66 SKELETRON.com Ford | Carl Long |
| 35 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports Delaware Life | Travis Peterson |
| 36 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports Chili's Ride The Dente Chevrolet | Luke Lambert |
| 37 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing WeatherTech Chevrolet | Stephan Doran |
| 38 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | Matt Swiderski |
