Chase Briscoe Bests Kyle Busch for Walk-Off Victory at Darlington
The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs got one last shock on Sunday, when Chase Briscoe scored the victory in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, putting himself and the soon-to-dissolve Stewart-Haas Racing into the championship fight.
After starting third, Briscoe quickly proved that his qualifying speed wasn't a fluke, as the only driver able to consistently keep pace with race dominator Kyle Larson, who led 263 of 367 laps in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro.
The makeup of the race changed in the final stage, though, with a long-winded event that had a single caution for cause in the opening 315 laps, having four cautions in the span of the final 52 laps.
Unfortunately for Kyle Larson, that's where the weakness of the Hendrick Motorsports entry was discovered: the short runs. For the first five to 10 laps after the restart, Briscoe, and sometimes even Denny Hamlin, would be able to keep pace with the No. 5, with things becoming less cut-and-dry at the front of the pack.
The pivotal moment of Sunday's Southern 500 was at Lap 342, when Chase Briscoe blasted his No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang down to the bottom lane three-wide while trying to make a pass on Larson, Ty Gibbs, and Ross Chastain -- who had stayed out on older tires -- and made it stick.
CHASE BRISCOE WITH AN UNBELIEVABLE MOVE TO TAKE THE LEAD!!!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 2, 2024
đź“ş : #NASCAR | USA Network pic.twitter.com/eXZJTa2gTS
Another quick caution flag would create an additional opportunity for drivers to trade in their three-lap-old tires for sticker Goodyear tires. Some took that chance, including Kyle Busch, who needed to secure a win to get into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
After restarting near the back of the top-10, Kyle Busch drove onto the apron and passed at least four drivers in the first set of corners, placing him fourth and in an amazing position to challenge the three leaders.
Busch made quick work of Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson, leaving the final 15 laps to be a one-on-one battle between himself and Briscoe, one that left the cars running inches from the wall every single lap, getting everything possible out of their racecars.
RACE RESULTS: Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington
The Richard Childress Racing driver managed to get extremely close to Briscoe, but not close enough and would have to settle for second place to the Stewart-Haas Racing driver, just under four tenths behind.
“For all 320 employees, everybody, to be able to race for a championship in their final year, man, unbelievable,” said Briscoe. “God is just so good. It’s like déjà vu there at the end with Kyle, with the Xfinity race here in 2020. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it.”
Briscoe’s triumph in one of the biggest races of the season locks Stewart-Haas Racing in the Playoffs, with the Mitchell, Indiana-native’s three teammates failing to advance. The organization, founded in 2009, is set to shut down at season’s end.
"We kept saying all week we got one bullet left in the chamber. That bullet hit."
-Â Chase Briscoe, 2024 Southern 500 winner
Christopher Bell ended up third after a quiet afternoon at Darlington, falling an incredible five-plus seconds behind the duel for the victory. Kyle Larson dropped to fourth at the finish, with Ross Chastain rounding out the top five. Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie, and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-10.
With the Southern 500 providing a new winner from below the cutline, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, and Bubba Wallace all failed to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, which begin next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex, Jr., Christopher Bell, Harrison Burton, Joey Logano, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, and Daniel Suarez are the 16 drivers that will compete for the championship.
Tyler Reddick, with a 10th-place finish, made a pair of passes on the final lap of the event, securing the regular-season championship for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season by a single point over Kyle Larson.
Larson heads into Atlanta with the No. 1 seed in the post-season, on the strength of 40 Playoff Points. The first race of the Round of 16 will come on a superspeedway-adjacent racetrack, with a road course and high-wear short track to follow.
JOSEPH SRIGLEY