NASCAR made its annual Labor Day weekend visit to Darlington Raceway, for the crown jewel 73rd Cookout Southern 500. Kyle Larson took home the checkered flag, collecting his third win of the season and the 22nd of his career. The 31-year-old is the first driver to lock himself into the Round of 12.
The fight to the finish was between Larson and Tyler Reddick, who stayed close as the race came down to the wire. With both drivers having a dirt background, riding and maintaining the cushion on the outside wall without gaining a Darlington stripe looked easy to both with high stakes. To put it simply, Reddick couldn’t keep up with Larson, and once when the #5 took command on the final restart, that’s all she wrote for the rest of the field.
Larson led 55 laps, and collected Rick Hendrick’s 299th win, bringing the count only to one more victory for an all-time 300 win mark. The Elk Grove, California native also picked up his first Southern 500 win, including his first Cup win at Darlington.
Nascar’s oldest track is prestigious for many reasons, one of those are the endurance racing conditions. The playoff battle has heated up, as many drivers fluctuate throughout the standings.
(2.) Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron leaves (+45) above the cut line after finishing fourth, and running inside the top-10 for most of the night. (3.) Reddick, who was just short after leading 90 laps is (+30), the #45 has momentum heading into 23XI’s best track as an organization. (4.) Chris Buescher continues RFK Racing’s statement season, (+27) after finishing third. The biggest thing for the #17 in Darlington, was proving they are no fluke in terms of running up front.
(5.) Denny Hamlin, who sustained a loose wheel on a mid-race pit stop, was able to fall back on a 27-point cushion, after finishing 25th and leading 177 laps. The #11 team leaves with a bittersweet feeling, but will look to sweep the set of Kansas races in 2023. (6.) Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr, couldn’t find stride, as the #19 struggled, but remained (+25) after a sluggish 18th-place finish.
(7.) Richard Childress’ Kyle Busch is (+20) after an 11th place result, as (8.) Brad Keselowski falls into line (+18) after a strong showing in sixth-place. (9.) Ryan Blaney is (+16) after finishing inside the top-10 in ninth. (10.) Ross Chastain rebounded nicely for Trackhouse Racing, after finishing 24th in stage 1, he crossed the line fifth to end the race(+13). (11th.) Joey Logano is (+3) after an inconsistent race, slotting in 12th from a pure lack of speed Sunday evening. (12.) Christopher Bell is (+1) after a pole qualifying run on Saturday, but he finished 23rd. The #20 team had a mishap on pit road with timing, as the jack dropped too early on the right side. Later in the race, Bell was caught up in a chain-reaction spin from Todd Gilliland, as the #20 was never able to rebound from early race troubles.
13. Bubba Wallace bounced back after a stage 1 spin, and finished seventh (-1). The #23 team will need to run well at Kansas, as coming into the first round with no prior playoff points wasn’t beneficial to their top-10 run. 14. Kevin Harvick is (-2) after pitting under a caution flag, due to a Ryan Newman spin controversially started by Tyler Reddick. The #4 car had the speed, but struggled to rebound as the laps ran out. 15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr,(-4) and 16. Michael McDowell(-19) both were out of the picture at times throughout the evening in 16th and 34th. Both will need a bounce back in the heartland, after being off the mark for most of the night.
Despite the playoff battle, Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman clashed, as Bowman made a series of aggressive blocks after a restart, which led to Suarez retaliating and hooking the #48 into the wall. That on top of a turn 3 and 4 red flag, for the inside wall lights not working in the middle of stage 2 gave the ‘23 Southern 500 a different feel.
Darlington’s crown jewel produces every time, as this race bought a little bit of everything. From spins, strategy, light outages, controversy, tire wear, a sold out crowd, and hard racing, this prestigious event didn’t lack a single ounce of action.
Arguably the best intermediate track with the next-gen car is up next, meaning an excellent sequel is on deck next weekend. With the playoff race beginning to heat up, we now head to Kansas Speedway, where many postseason drivers will look to rebound in the thick of the Round of 16.
The Slow Restart 