NASCAR returns to its roots with a visit to Darlington Raceway for Sunday’s Southern 500.
At a track that hosted its first Cup race in 1950, the playoffs will begin. Coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. ET Sunday on USA Network. The green flag is scheduled to wave shortly after 6 p.m. ET.
With help from Racing Insights, here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup drivers and teams ahead of the Southern 500.
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick has three top-three finishes at Darlington with the Next Gen car, most of any driver. … Reddick ranks first in the series in laps completed, having run 6,497 of the 6,511 laps (99.78%). … Reddick’s six top 10s at Darlington are his most at any track. … Reddick has started in the top 10 at Darlington nine consecutive races. … Bubba Wallace won the pole for last year’s Southern 500. … Wallace has four top 10s in the last six Darlington races. … Wallace’s pit crew ranks second in the series based on Racing Insights data. Bad news: Riley Herbst finished 34th in the spring at Darlington in his only Cup start there.
NASCAR said in its filing that it plans to issue one of the charters held by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to a team whose name is redacted in the document.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Todd Gilliland has four top-15 finishes in seven Darlington starts. … Zane Smith finished 12th at Darlington in April for his best result there in three Cup starts. Bad news: Noah Gragson has finished outside the top 20 in 13 consecutive races. … Gilliland has finished 22nd or worst in 11 of the last 13 races.
Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer’s fourth-place finish last weekend at Daytona was his first top-five finish since his July 2020 win at Kentucky. Bad News: Custer’s Daytona finish was just his third top-15 result of the season.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: William Byron led the first 243 laps at Darlington in the spring before finishing second. … Byron’s average finish of 9.1 at Darlington in the Next Gen era is best among all drivers. … Byron ranks first in the series in restarts and speed according to Racing Insights. … Chase Elliott’s average finish of 11.9 is the best in the series this season. … Alex Bowman earned the final playoff spot with Ryan Blaney’s win last weekend at Daytona. … Bowman has finished 11th or better in eight of the last 11 races. … Kyle Larson has nine top-10 finishes, including one win, in 15 Darlington starts. … Larson has the top pit crew according to Racing Insights data. Bad news: Bowman has only two lead-lap finishes in his last eight Darlington starts.
A look at the 16 Cup playoff drivers, key facts and a key question for each as NASCAR’s postseason begins this weekend at Darlington Raceway.
Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse has failed to finish three races this season compared to six DNFs at this point a year ago. Bad news: Stenhouse has finished outside the top 20 in 10 of the last 11 races. … Stenhouse has one top-10 finish in 19 Darlington starts.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Chase Briscoe won last yer’s Southern 500. … Briscoe has finished in the top five in two of the last three Darlington races. … Denny Hamlin’s average finish of 7.9 at Darlington is the best of all drivers with more than two starts there. … Hamlin won at Darlington earlier this season, his fifth victory at the track. … Hamlin has won three of the last 11 races at Darlington. … Hamlin has led in the last 11 Darlington races, the track’s longest streak since Darrell Waltrip led 17 consecutive races there from 1976-84. … Christopher Bell has finished in third in each of the last two Darlington races. … Three of Ty Gibbs’ four top fives this season came in the last 12 races. … Gibbs placed second at Darlington in May 2024. Bad news: Hamlin has finished 24th or worse in three of the last four races. … Bell has finished 16th or worse in seven of the last 12 races. … Gibbs is the only JGR driver not to make the Cup playoffs.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: Ty Dillon led nine laps last week at Daytona, his most in a Cup race since June 2017 at Dover. Bad news: AJ Allmendinger has four top-15 finishes in the last 11 races. … Allmendinger’s average finish of 24.4 at Darlington is his worst among all Cup tracks that he’s made at least three starts.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Erik Jones has two wins at Darlington. … Jones has five top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 15 starts at Darlington. … Jones’ fifth-place finish last weekend at Daytona tied for his best result of the season. Bad news: John Hunter Nemechek’s only top-25 finish in six starts at Darlington came in May 2020 when he placed ninth.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Austin Dillon is the only playoff driver not to have a pit road speeding penalty this season. … Dillon has four top-15 finishes in the last six races after having none in the previous nine races. … Kyle Busch has three top 10s in the last five Darlington races, including a runner-up finish in last year’s Southern 500. Bad news: Busch failed to make the playoffs for a second year in a row. … Busch has five consecutive finishes of 16th or worse. … Busch has not led a lap in the last 14 races.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware led a career-high 23 laps last weekend at Daytona. … Ware’s 20th-place finish at Daytona was his second-best finish of the season (he was 13th at Atlanta in June). Bad news: Ware has not started better than 28th in a race this season.
RFK Racing — Good news: Brad Keselowski has seven finishes of 11th or better in the last 10 races. … Keselowski’s only Cup win with RFK Racing came in the May 2024 race at Darlington. … Chris Buescher has three top 10s in the last six races. … Buescher has six top 10s in his last nine starts at Darlington. … Ryan Preece has 12 top-15 finishes in the last 15 races. Bad news: None of the team’s three cars made the playoffs.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Justin Haley’s third-place finish last weekend at Daytona was his first top five on an oval since Texas in September 2022. … Haley has three top-15 finishes in the last seven races after having only two in the previous 13 races. … Haley has three top 10s at Darlington, tied with Daytona for his most any Cup track. … All three of Michael McDowell’s top 10s at Darlington have come in the last seven races there. Bad news: Carson Hocevar has not finished better than 17th in four Darlington Cup starts.
Team Penske — Good news: Ryan Blaney enters the playoffs having scored a career-high six consecutive top-10 finishes, including last weekend’s victory at Daytona. … Blaney has scored points in nine stages in a row. … Blaney finished fifth at Darlington earlier this season. … Fifteen of Joey Logano’s 37 career Cup wins have come in the playoffs. … Logano is the only playoff driver who has won at all three tracks in the first round (Darlington, World Wide Technology Raceway and Bristol). … Cindric finished 11th at Darlington in the spring, his best finish there in seven starts. Bad news: Blaney has an average finish of 18.8 at Darlington and has finished 36th or worse in two of the last three races there. … While Logano has 11 top 10s in 23 Darlington starts, only one of those top 10s have come in the last five races there.
Ryan Blaney went from 13th with two laps to go to win the regular season finale.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain will make his 250th career Cup start this weekend. … Daniel Suarez tied his season-best finish of second last weekend at Daytona. Bad news: Shane van Gisbergen (22.7) and Chastain (21.9) rank lowest among the playoff drivers in average starting position this season. … Suarez has one top-10 finish in 15 Darlington starts.
The 19-year-old will join Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen in Trackhouse Racing’s lineup next season.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry has scored back-to-back top 10s, the first time he’s done that since March. … Berry’s best Cup finish at Darlington is third in the spring 2024 race. Bad news: Berry has finished 30th or worse in three of his four Cup starts at Darlington.
