Darlington Raceway in South Carolina hosted the 75th annual Cook Out Southern 500, a storied event that honors NASCAR’s heritage as one of its original endurance races, held on what is often celebrated as “NASCAR’s first superspeedway.” This race marked a pivotal moment for many drivers, as it was their final opportunity to secure a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs and remain eligible to compete for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Playoff hopeful Bubba Wallace claimed the pole position alongside Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Carson Hocevar after both delivered exceptional qualifying laps on Saturday afternoon. The green flag dropped at 6 PM EST, signaling the start of an intense battle among 37 drivers vying for a coveted Crown Jewel victory under the lights on Sunday night.
Several story lines prior to the start of the race included the Regular Season Points leader, Tyler Reddick falling ill with a potential stomach bug or food poisoning, but Reddick had full intentions of doing what he came to do, which was bring the car home in one piece as the Regular Season Champion to earn 15 extra Playoff Points towards the overall NASCAR Cup Series Championship, as intended.
The race began unconventionally, as Martin Truex Jr. lost control of his #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota in Turn 2, collecting Ryan Blaney in the process while overcorrecting the car. This caused Truex, who was +39 points to the Playoff cutline to lose that entire deficit and left another Playoff hopeful, Chris Buescher in a situation where if he played his cards right by collecting stage points and finishing the race with minimal errors, it’d be his race to lose. Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain, the other drivers on the outside looking in who’d need to potentially win the Southern 500, also knew it was time to capitalize and run the race of their lives for the next 365 laps.
Once the race resumed, the 23XI Racing teammates, Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick took control of the race, running first and second, while their team co-owner, Michael Jordan, was in attendance to support his drivers’ championship hopes. Green flag pit stops took place on lap 33, with Wallace coming down pit road first. However, it was Kyle Larson who took command of the Southern 500 after pit stops cycled out and would win the Stage 1, collecting ten points and five playoff points.
Another championship hopeful, Chase Brsicoe showed speed early on in Stage 2, running in the Top-5 for the duration of the stage. However, it would be Kyle Larson winning Stage 2 once again, as Denny Hamlin and William Byron, two drivers locked into the title fight, would battle for third and fourth with seven laps to go. The top-5 would include Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, William Byron and Christopher Bell. This allowed for Martin Truex Jr., who was eliminated from the race early on, a playoff berth, as Buescher and the other drivers below the cutline, did not collect enough stage points.
The final stage would be hectic, as Larson and Briscoe once again started on the front row and Briscoe would not go down without a fight. He was over 100 points below the cutline so his only chance at competing for a championship would be to win the Southern 500. With 60-laps to go, Briscoe was passed by Denny Hamlin and would have to hope for a caution to make up some ground. He got one when outside pole sitter, Carson However spun coming out of Turn 4, prompting NASCAR to wave the yellow flag.
The green flag came back out with 48 laps to go. Hamlin and Larson battled side-by-side, as they always have over the years, with Larson prevailing. However, only a few laps later, Chris Buescher spun Todd Gilliland out on the backstretch, being aggressive with intentions of collecting as many points as possible. This would ruin Larson’s comfortable lead and momentum, as the caution didn’t even take five laps to come out
The next restart would happen with 40 laps left to go, allowing NBC to show Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher battle other cars throughout the pack while simultaneously following Kyle Larson as the leader. The caution once again came out as Carson Hocevar once again had an incident, this time destroying his #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, taking hime out of the race all together. The carnage didn’t end there, however.
This eventful Southern 500 was already seeing calamity and chaos like a Superspeedway or Short Track race, and there was more to come. Ross Chastain inherited the lead on the lap 339 restart after pit stops, but just after Chase Briscoe made a three-wide pass for the lead, Josh Berry attempted to drive between Ty Gibbs and Denny Hamlin, sending himself into Gibbs’ #54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, spinning them both around and collecting multiple cars, including Bubba Wallace, who’s playoff hopes were likely over at this point.
The final restart of the long night took place on lap 351, with 17 laps to go. Briscoe restarted almost a car length ahead of Larson after getting a good jump, with Bell following close behind. However, Kyle Busch took four fresh tires on his last pit stop, allowing his #8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to gain a lot of momentum each corner, applying pressure on Briscoe’s #14 Ford, with this pressure causing Briscoe to make a mistake, scraping the wall with two laps to go. However, it would not be enough for Busch, as Briscoe would capture only his second-career victory and first Southern 500 win, locking him into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, leaving Busch out of the post season for the second time in his career, last happening in 2012.
Ross Chastain wound up finishing 5th, missing the playoffs, as well as Bubba Wallace, who finished 16th, and Chris Buescher, who finished 6th. Busch was happy with having second-place finishes on back-to-back weekends, leaving him optimistic about keeping his almost 20-year win streak alive.
Reddick wound up winning the Regular Season Championship, with Larson ending up three points behind this title. Reddick earned the trophy and 15 playoff points, heading into Atlanta for the this weekend’s Quaker State 400 to kick off the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Despite his illness, Reddick got it done, leaving his owners Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin very pleased.
This was definitely one of the best Southern 500’s of all time, with a lot of drama, storylines and action as Darlington Raceway has never hosted an event with this much on the line and pressure at the track “too tough to tame”. Kyle Petty, son of NASCAR Hall of Famer, Richard Petty, liked what he saw and praised this race heavily. From a driver desperately needing to win laying down a burner of a qualifying lap to start first, NASCAR’s best driver dominating and losing the race and a drivers desperate to get into the post-season causing accidents and winning the race after having to capitalize at NASCAR’s toughest track, the 2024 Southern 500 will go down as one of the greatest races of all time in NASCAR history and is an event everyone will be talking about for a very long time. This year’s Playoffs are going to be insane and you won’t want to miss this Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway at 3PM EST on USA Network.
Every Man on Every Crew, LLC. 
Leave a comment