DARLINGTON, S.C. — A look at the winners and losers from Sunday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
WINNERS
Chase Briscoe — He led 309 laps (the most in the race since Bobby Allison led 329 in 1971) to score his second consecutive Southern 500 victory and advance to the second round. Briscoe also won both stages and finished the night with seven playoff points. He had only 10 playoff points entering the first round. When the points reset for the second round later this month, he’ll have at least 17 playoff points. Said Briscoe afterward: “To add seven (playoff points), that’s a huge deal going forward. I was way more excited about that than locking into the round of 12.”
Joe Gibbs Racing star leads more than 300 laps, holds off Tyler Reddick.
Tyler Reddick — He finished second but scored 18 stage points and finished with 53 total points. Reddick entered the playoffs 14th in the standings after the points were reseeded. His Darlington performance moved him to fourth in the standings heading into this weekend’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway. Sunday’s finish was his third runner-up result at Darlington.
Reddick laments loss despite strong points day
Tyler Reddick feels he was better on the long run than Chase Briscoe, but he ultimately falls short in the Southern 500 despite pocketing a solid points day for the playoffs.
Legacy Motor Club — Erik Jones finished third and John Nemchek placed a career-high fourth. This marked the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500 that Legacy Motor Club placed both of its cars in the top five. Jones’ finish gives him back-to-back top fives (he was fifth at Daytona the previous week) for the first time since 2020. On a night when many playoff teams stumbled, this group shined.
It marks the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500 that both of Legacy Motor Club’s cars placed in the top five.
Non-playoff drivers — Six of the top-10 finishers were not playoff drivers Sunday. That’s the most in a playoff opener. Those six non-playoff drivers were: Erik Jones (third), John Hunter Nemechek (fourth), AJ Allmendinger (fifth), Kyle Busch (eighth), Carson Hocevar (ninth) and Chris Buescher (10th). Both of Allmendinger’s two top-five finishes this season have come in crown jewel races. His other was in the Coca-Cola 600.
LOSERS
Alex Bowman and team — It was a miserable weekend for this group. Bowman entered the weekend last in the standings among the 16 playoff drivers. He qualified 29th — worst among the playoff drivers. Then came the 40-second pit stop at Lap 66. The team didn’t realize the air hose for the rear tire changer’s air gun became disconnected. When the gun didn’t fire, it triggered a flurry of activity to mistakingly get the backup air gun. Seconds passed as the team scrambled. Bowman eventually came back from two laps down to get back on the lead lap but then struggled in the final stage and finished 31st, two laps down.
A 40-second pit stop was among the woes for Alex Bowman.
Christopher Bell — Contact with Carson Hocevar on pit road ruined Bell’s night, resulting in a 29th-place finish and leaving him 11 points ahead of the first driver outside a transfer spot. The incident happened as Bell exited his pit stall and Hocevar went to enter his stall. Bell’s car suffered splitter and underbody damage and was not the same afterward.
Josh Berry — He entered the playoffs below the cutline but qualified third, raising hopes of what the Southern 500 could bring the team. Instead, he lost control of his car and crashed in Turn 2 of the opening lap. He spent the next hour in the garage for repairs before returning but finished last in the 38-car field. Said Berry afterward: “The car bottomed out five or six times and just wrecked. It was definitely unexpected.”
