STEWART-HAAS RACING
Goodyear 400
Date: May 12, 2024
Event: Goodyear 400 (Round 13 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Format: 293 laps, broken into three stages (90 laps/95 laps/108 laps)
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of RFK Racing (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
SHR Finish:
● Josh Berry (Started 33rd, Finished 3rd / Running, completed 293 of 293 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 13th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 293 of 293 laps)
● Noah Gragson (Started 36th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 293 of 293 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 26th, Finished 17th / Running, completed 293 of 293 laps)
SHR Points:
● Chase Briscoe (14th with 322 points, 164 out of first)
● Noah Gragson (19th with 239 points, 247 out of first)
● Josh Berry (21st with 230 points, 256 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (28th with 192 points, 294 out of first)
Berry Notes:
● Berry earned his first top-five of the season and his first top-five in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington.
● This was Berry’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was 11th, earned March 31 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
● Berry’s third-place result bettered his previous best finish at Darlington – 30th, earned last May.
● This was Berry’s fourth straight finish of 16th or better. He finished 16th April 21 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, 14th April 28 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, and 15th last Sunday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
● Berry was the highest finishing rookie.
Briscoe Notes:
● Briscoe earned his first top-five and fifth top-10 of the season. It was his first top-five in seven career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington.
● Briscoe’s fifth-place finish was the 11th top-five of his NASCAR Cup Series career, a mark highlighted by his March 2022 win at Phoenix Raceway.
● This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was sixth, earned April 14 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
● This was Briscoe’s 11th straight finish of 21st or better.
● Briscoe’s fifth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Darlington – 11th, earned in his first start at the track in May 2021.
● This was Briscoe’s second consecutive top-15 at Darlington. He finished 15th last August in the Southern 500.
Gragson Notes:
● Gragson earned his eighth top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington.
● This was Gragson’s seventh straight top-20.
● Gragson’s 14th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Darlington – 26th, earned last May.
Preece Notes:
● Preece earned his sixth top-20 of the season and his fifth top-20 in nine career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington.
Race Notes:
● Brad Keselowski won the Goodyear 400 to score his 36th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his second at Darlington. His margin of victory over second-place Ty Gibbs was 1.214 seconds.
● Keselowski’s victory was the first by a NASCAR Cup Series driver/owner since Tony Stewart won at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway on June 26, 2016.
● This was Ford’s 729th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory and its first of the season.
● This was Ford’s 33rd all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory at Darlington. Ford won its first race at the 1.366-mile oval on Sept. 3, 1956 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Curtis Turner.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 38 laps.
● Twenty-eight of the 36 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Kyle Larson remains the championship leader after Darlington with a 30-point advantage over second-place Martin Truex Jr.
Sound Bites:
“It was just a really good day. We had a really good car yesterday in practice. Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify where we should’ve. A lot to take away from that. But overall, the car was really strong. We know we’re capable of days like this, we just need to keep chipping away at it, keep learning, keep getting better. I have a great group of people around me and this is a finish they deserve, for sure.” – Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Harrison’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Our car was extremely good on the really, really long runs. The short run, we kind of gave up too much time. We kind of needed those really, really long runs. It would’ve been interesting to see how the race would’ve played out if it would’ve gone green until the end. We were probably the best car over 40 or so laps, but the race didn’t play out to go with our car. Overall, it was a really good weekend for our guys. It was a good day for Stewart-Haas Racing. Just wish we could’ve been four spots better, but after the last two weeks, we needed a really solid run. I’m really happy to see that a Ford won. I wish it would’ve been us, but it’s nice to see a Ford finally win. Now we go to the All-Star Race and see if we can race our way in.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Started in the back, got put in bad positions on restarts. Got fenced by the 38 (Todd Gilliland), that was frustrating. It was good to see the 4 and the 14 run in the top-five. Just a tough weekend overall for the Overstock.com team. We’ll get ready for next weekend.” – Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Overstock.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday, May 19 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. The race starts at 8 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio beginning at 5:30 p.m. with the undercard NASCAR All-Star Open.
