Chase Briscoe Shocks NASCAR with Darlington Playoff Race Win and Gets His Ticket to the NASCAR Cup Playoffs

Matt Kelley - AP

DARLINGTON,SC – RIS -  Chase Briscoe went three-wide to pass Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead, then outran two-time series champion Kyle Busch to win the Southern 500 on Sunday night and make the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs ON Sunday at Darlington Raceway.

Briscoe pulled away on a final restart with 17 laps in the regular-season finale and held off Busch, who, like Briscoe, needed a victory to reach the postseason.

"We just won the Southern 500," an emotional Briscoe said on his radio.

The victory, the second of Briscoe’s career, propels the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in the regular-season finale. Busch, winless and out of the postseason, fell 0.361 seconds short of triumph. Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain completed the top five. Chris Buescher, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie and Tyler Reddick completed the top 10.

As it sometimes happens at Darlington, racing accidents were plentiful.   A crash on Lap 344 collected two playoff hopefuls. Ty Gibbs was pinched in the Turn 1 wall atop a three-wide situation with Josh Berry and Denny Hamlin, spinning Berry and collecting William Byron, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suárez, Bubba Wallace and Noah Gragson. Gibbs and Wallace entered Sunday’s contest vying to make the 16-driver postseason grid via points eligibility; Gibbs was able to continue and raced his way, claiming the final position on points while Wallace was ousted.

Martin Truex Jr. nearly had his playoff hopes upended after a Lap 3 error sent him into the Turn 1 wall with Ryan Blaney, ending the day of two former champions early. Truex attempted a pass on William Byron and misjudged, bouncing off Byron’s left rear and sending Truex into a skid. His overcorrection led him into the SAFER barrier with Blaney, eliminating both from the race and resulting in a 36th-place finish for Truex and 37th — last — for Blaney. Truex was nonetheless able to clinch his spot in the postseason at the conclusion of Stage 2.

At the end of the race, it was impressive driving that sealed the victory.  Busch, a two-time Cup champion on new rubber seemed to have the upper hand, but great driving helped him stay in front to help Stewart Haas Racing get it’s first win of the season.

"Everybody knows I'm a diehard Tony Stewart fan," said Briscoe through tears. "To get this No. 14 car back in Victory Lane for all 320 something employees, and to be able to race for a championship in their final year is unbelievable. God is just so good. It's like deja vu there at the end with Kyle [Busch], with the Xfinity race here in 2020. I was so loose. I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it”.

Tyler Reddick won the regu.ar season championship, nipping Kyle Larson, who had dominated most of the race, He will get 15 bonus points when the playoffs start in earnest at Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend.

Speaking on the closure of SHR, Briscoe said: "The day we found out the team wasn't going to exist anymore. We went over to the shop floor and we all looked at each other and we said, we're in this to the end. We're not gonna give up. We kept saying 'we got one bullet left in the chamber' and that bullet hit."

Unofficial Results: Cook Out Southern 500, September 1, 2024 - Darlington Raceway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
 1) 3, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford, 367, 3, 2, 4, 29, 5, 57, Running
 2) 17, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet, 367, , , , , , 35, Running
 3) 9, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 367, 5, 5, 1, 1, , 46, Running
 4) 4, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 367, 1, 1, 8, 263, 2, 53, Running
 5) 22, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Retro Chevrolet, 367, , , 1, 3, , 32, Running
 6) 10, Chris Buescher, No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford, 367, 10, , , , , 32, Running
 7) 14, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, 367, 6, 3, 4, 21, , 43, Running
 8) 23, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 367, , , , , , 29, Running
 9) 19, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Chili's Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet, 367, , , , , , 28, Running
10) 6, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Upper Deck Toyota, 367, 4, 8, 1, 1, , 37, Running
11) 20, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Gold Filters Chevrolet, 367, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 30, Ryan Preece, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 367, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 11, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 367, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 12, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford, 367, , 10, , , , 24, Running
15) 16, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Toys for Tots Chevrolet, 367, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 1, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 U.S. Air Force Toyota, 367, 2, 9, 3, 37, , 32, Running
17) 33, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford, 367, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 32, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, 366, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 27, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 366, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 13, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 366, 7, 6, 1, 1, , 26, Running
21) 24, Harrison Burton, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 365, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 36, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Drumstick Chevrolet, 365, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 26, Zane Smith #, No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet, 364, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 28, Erik Jones, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota, 364, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 18, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Mobil 1 Toyota, 364, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 34, Shane Van Gisbergen(i), No. 16 Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet, 364, , , 1, 4, , 0, Running
27) 21, Justin Haley, No. 51 NC Fraternal Order of Police Ford, 363, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 31, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Colortech Ford, 363, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 25, Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Chevrolet, 362, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 8, William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet, 344, 8, 4, 1, 2, , 17, Accident
31) 15, Josh Berry #, No. 4 Overstock.com Ford, 343, 9, 7, 2, 5, , 12, Accident
32) 29, Noah Gragson, No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Ford, 343, , , , , , 5, Accident
33) 2, Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Bon Secours/Swamp Rabbits Chevrolet, 335, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 35, Kaz Grala #, No. 15 MEAT N' BONE Ford, 332, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 37, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 W Ford, 278, , , , , , 0, Steering
36) 5, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 2, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 7, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, 2, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Total Race Length: 367 Laps, 501.322 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 55 Mins, 14 Secs.
Average Speed: 127.87 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.361 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 5, 23, 14, 45, 20, 11, 54, 24, 4, 17
Stage 2 Top 10: 5, 14, 11, 24, 20, 54, 4, 45, 23, 6

Comments: Chase Briscoe won the Cook Out Southern 500, his second NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Cautions: 7 for 39 laps;
Laps: 4-9 (No. 19, 12, 24 incident turn 2 [None]);
117-122 (Stage 1 Conclusion [99]);
232-237 (Stage 2 Conclusion [77]);
315-319 (No. 43, 77 incident turn 4 [3]);
323-327 (No. 38, 17 incident backstretch [9]);
337-341 (No. 77 incident turn 4 [2]);
345-350 (No. 23, 24, 10, 4, 99, 3, 54 incident turn 2  [48]).

Lead Changes: 26 among 11 drivers;
B. Wallace 1-34;
T. Reddick 35;
W. Byron 36-37;
D. Hamlin 38-41;
S. Van Gisbergen(i) 42-45;
K. Larson 46-70;
T. Gibbs 71;
D. Hamlin 72-77;
K. Larson 78-117;
B. Wallace 118;
K. Larson 119-152;
J. Berry # 153-156;
K. Larson 157-185;
C. Bell 186;
D. Hamlin 187-191;
J. Berry # 192;
K. Larson 193-232;
C. Briscoe 233;
K. Larson 234-272;
D. Hamlin 273-278;
B. Wallace 279-280;
K. Larson 281-315;
C. Briscoe 316;
K. Larson 317-337;
C. Briscoe 338;
R. Chastain 339-341;
C. Briscoe 342-367.