With one race to go in the regular season, everything is on the line for the NASCAR Cup Series drivers at Darlington Raceway’s Southern 500 on Sunday evening.
Who will tame the Lady in Black and advance to the Playoffs in the regular season finale and who will be crowned as the regular season champion? With only three spots remaining in the Playoffs, one thing is certain; the on-track action will be intense.
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick is poised to earn the regular season championship, leading the standings over Hendrick Motorsports drivers, Kyle Larson (-17) and Chase Elliott (-18). Larson, the defending race winner, is hoping to give Reddick a
“I love racing at Darlington, and it was cool to get that first (Cup) win there last year in the Southern 500,” he said. “We’re 17 points down, but we’re going to race hard for stage points and hopefully be able to battle for the Regular Season Championship at the end of the race.”
Thirteen drivers have already earned the opportunity to compete in the 16-driver Cup Series Playoff field by virtue of wins – Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Suarez.
Of the winless drivers, and currently ranked in 14th place, Martin Truex Jr. (+58) is in the best position to advance to the Playoffs. But he acknowledged the demanding nature of the track and the obstacles he will face.
“The challenge is that it’s a long race, a lot of pit stops and a lot of chances for things to go wrong,” he said. “Track position is obviously really important. To go through 13 sets of tires or whatever it is, and track position and what it means there, and to keep track position, it’s tough to stay up front and be consistently really strong. It’s tough to do there, and we hope we can do that on Sunday night.”
He’s followed by Ty Gibbs (+39) in 15th, and Chris Buescher (+21) in 16th place. But that can quickly change if there is a new winner.
The following drivers can clinch with a win at Darlington – Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Todd Gilliland, Carson Hocevar, Michael McDowell, Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Preece, Daniel Hemric, Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, John Hunter Nemechek, Corey LaJoie and Zane Smith.
The Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 is set for 6 p.m. ET Sunday and will be broadcast on USA with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
