RICK WARE RACING
Cook Out Southern 500
Date: Sept. 6, 2026
Event: Cook Out Southern 500 (Round 27 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Format: 367 laps, broken into three stages (115 laps/115 laps/137 laps)
Race Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
RWR Finish:
● Cody Ware (Started 37th, Finished 36th / Running, completed 363 of 367 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (35th with 202 points)
RWR Notes:
● Ware’s coolsuit stopped working roughly 30 laps into the Cook Out Southern 500, making an already hot outing in one of NASCAR’s longest races even hotter. He soldiered through the entirety of the 4-hour and 3-minute affair, delivering a gritty performance at the track aptly described as “Too Tough To Tame.”
Race Notes:
● Christopher Bell won the Cook Out Southern 500 to score his 14th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Darlington. His margin over second-place Ty Gibbs was 1.038 seconds.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 44 laps.
● Twenty-five of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Denny Hamlin leaves Darlington as the championship leader with a 12-point advantage over second-place Bell.
Sound Bites:
“It was definitely the hardest day in a racecar I’ve ever had. My team fights really hard, and as much as there were times when I wanted to call it quits today, I hung in there for my team. We were just trying to play a game of survival. It got to a point where I could barely talk, let alone try to give good feedback to my crew chief, but I thought we managed what we had. Thankfully, we were at least able to finish the Southern 500. Not the night we wanted, but those guys don’t ever give up on me, and I’m not gonna give up on them.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 ApexFX Chevrolet
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Enjoy Illinois 300 on Sunday, Sept. 13, at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. The second race in the 10-race Chase starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
