Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Motorsport

Chase Briscoe goes back-to-back in dramatic Southern 500 Darlington win

Chase Briscoe Chevrolet Ford Tyler Reddick Toyota Alex Bowman Denny Hamlin Ross Chastain Southern 500 Erik Jones

Chase Briscoe led 309 of 367 laps in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and swept the stages, but he nearly lost it all in the final corner. Tyler Reddick made a huge dive to the inside, but he couldn't quite get there, allowing Briscoe to earn his second consecutive Southern 500 -- doing so with two different teams.

Briscoe is the first driver to go back-to-back in the crown jewel event since Greg Biffle in 2005-2006, and just the eighth ever to do it.

"There at the end, that was way harder than it needed to be," said Briscoe after the race. "Man, just incredible. As a fan, I've watched Martin [Truex Jr.] dominate a lot of races, and it was fun to be behind the wheel of it. So cool to win two Southern 500s in a row. This is my favorite race of the year. Just because you race fans, every time we come here the place is sold out, the atmosphere here is like nowhere else."

"A great way to start our Playoffs. That was a lot of fun."

With the victory, Briscoe is automatically locked into the Round of 12.

Reddick finished second, followed by the Legacy Motor Club duo of Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek, while A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top five.

Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar, and Chris Buescher filled out the remainder of the top ten. Ross Chastain, who had to save two laps of fuel due to a fueling issue on his final stop, fell back to 11th.

Other playoff drivers deeper in the field: Austin Cindric in 12th, Chase Elliott 17th, Ryan Blaney 18th, Kyle Larson 19th, Joey Logano 20th, William Byron 21st, Austin Dillon 23rd, Christopher Bell 29th, Alex Bowman 31st, Shane van Gisbergen 32nd, and Josh Berry 38th.

SVG is sitting on the bubble in the playoff battle, and the four drivers in the elimination zone after the Southern 500 are Logano (-3pts), Dillon (-8pts), Bowman (-19pts), and Berry (-19pts).

Stage 1

It didn't take long for things to get out of control on Sunday night. Berry, who started third, lost control in Turn 1, Lap 1. He slid up into the door of Reddick, and spun into the wall in front of the entire field. Somehow, everyone avoided piling into the No. 21, but Berry will begin the playoffs in a very deep hole.

Bowman started deeper in the field than any other playoff driver, but it didn't get any better after the green flag. He struggled in the pack, and a mistake-filled 40-second pit stop under green where the air gun became detached from the hose and left him trapped two laps down.

The opening stage featured two cycles of green-flag pit stops, but it was Briscoe firmly in control of the race.

Near the end of Stage 1, a thrilling battle for the free pass unfolded around 25th place. SVG, making his first appearance in the playoffs, was desperately running down Todd Gilliland and Riley Herbst for the free pass. On the final lap of the stage, he passed both cars in the same corner, even swapping paint with Herbst.

That was enough to secure SVG the free pass, as Briscoe earned the Stage 1 win over Reddick, Hamlin, Chastain, and Wallace.

Stage 2

Briscoe and Hamlin shared the front row on the restart, but the two teammates actually touched wheels. After a brief battle, Briscoe once again drove off with the lead as Hamlin faded. He openly wondered on the radio if there was something wrong with his car.

Bowman took the wave-around on old tires, hoping for a quick yellow. He did not get it, and remained trapped multiple laps down as he was forced to pit road under green.

Carson Hocevar was involved in some wild battles in the middle of the pack, slamming doors with Chase Elliott before squeezing Chris Buescher into the wall. He spun out on his own soon after, resulting in a caution.

But the drama was not over for Hocevar, who actually collided with Bell as he tried to enter his stall, spinning out. The collision caused damage to the nose of Bell's car, and trapped Blaney in his box as the incident unfolded directly in front of him.

There were more mistakes from playoff drivers, with a slow stop for Hamlin putting him to the rear of the field. Byron had a loose wheel, costing him all of his track position as well.

Briscoe held off Chastain on the restart, as two-time Southern 500 winner Erik Jones made an impressive charge up into the runner-up spot.

Briscoe was just cruising out front, but he complained about no cool suit and no helmet fan due to a voltage issue, making things very uncomfortable inside his car.

The field made another round of green-flag pit stops with just over 40 laps to go, which saw no mistakes from the playoff contenders.

Cody Ware got punted by Ryan Preece and went for a spin with 28 laps to go, forcing the caution flag to fly.

The field came down pit road for fresh rubber, and on the restart, Jones made a wild three-wide move for the lead. It didn't work out as Briscoe maintained his advantage in front of the field.

When Busch got sideways in front of him, Blaney attempted to lift, only to get run over from behind by Dillon. He spun out, but narrowly avoided slamming the inside wall.

This caution helped Bowman to get one of his two laps back after another wave-around gamble. He got bad on the lead lap at the end of the stage, snagging the free pass as well.

Briscoe swept the stages, followed by Reddick, Jones, Larson, and A.J. Allmendinger in Stage 2.

Stage 3

Reddick got the lead on the restart, but it didn't last as Briscoe quickly moved back ahead.

Legacy Motor Club was having a stellar run, putting two cars inside the top five as the run continued.

The first of two green-flag pit stops began on Lap 274 of 367, but one car decided to jump onto a one-stop plan. That was SVG, who didn't pit until after Lap 300 with no plans to return to pit road.

As battles raged around the track, Chastain and Buescher had quite the moment, with the No. 17 hitting the wall. He then gave Chastain a shot in the rear bumper in a show of disapproval of the hard racing.

Unfortunately, SVG's gamble did not work out for him. Derek Kraus pulled to the side of the track as his No. 44 went in flames, forcing a yellow flag with just over 50 laps remaining in the race.

Briscoe held onto the lead on the restart that followed, but he had to fend off a hard-charging Reddick in the closing laps as a quartet of Toyotas from three different teams controlled the race.

Photos from Darlington - Race

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	367	3:51'07.213		11	60
2	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45	Toyota	367	+0.408 3:51'07.621	0.408	12	53
3	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	367	+0.537 3:51'07.750	0.129	12	42
4	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	367	+1.250 3:51'08.463	0.713	11	38
5	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	367	+6.158 3:51'13.371	4.908	12	38
6	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23	Toyota	367	+6.712 3:51'13.925	0.554	12	41
7	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	367	+12.013 3:51'19.226	5.301	12	38
8	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	367	+12.140 3:51'19.353	0.127	14	29
9	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	367	+15.230 3:51'22.443	3.090	12	28
10	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17	Ford	367	+15.381 3:51'22.594	0.151	13	27
11	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	367	+15.791 3:51'23.004	0.410	12	38
12	A. Cindric Team Penske	2	Ford	367	+17.158 3:51'24.371	1.367	12	28
13	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford	367	+17.886 3:51'25.099	0.728	13	24
14	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4	Ford	367	+19.705 3:51'26.918	1.819	13	23
15	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6	Ford	367	+23.077 3:51'30.290	3.372	12	22
16	R. Preece RFK Racing	60	Ford	367	+24.184 3:51'31.397	1.107	12	23
17	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	367	+24.395 3:51'31.608	0.211	12	20
18	R. Blaney Team Penske	12	Ford	367	+25.407 3:51'32.620	1.012	14	20
19	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	367	+26.858 3:51'34.071	1.451	12	30
20	J. Logano Team Penske	22	Ford	367	+27.533 3:51'34.746	0.675	12	17
21	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	367	+28.003 3:51'35.216	0.470	12	17
22	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	367	+28.583 3:51'35.796	0.580	12	15
23	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	367	+29.462 3:51'36.675	0.879	12	14
24	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41	Ford	367	+30.388 3:51'37.601	0.926	13	13
25	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	366	+1 Lap 3:51'36.142	1 Lap	15	12
26	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34	Ford	366	+1 Lap 3:51'37.071	0.929	14	11
27	J. Haley Spire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	366	+1 Lap 3:51'38.360	1.289	12	10
28	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35	Toyota	366	+1 Lap 3:51'39.232	0.872	12	9
29	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	365	+2 Laps 3:51'08.653	1 Lap	14	12
30	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	365	+2 Laps 3:51'09.061	0.408	13	7
31	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	365	+2 Laps 3:51'10.951	1.890	12	6
32	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	365	+2 Laps 3:51'16.498	5.547	11	5
33	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	365	+2 Laps 3:51'25.192	8.694	12	4
34	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	365	+2 Laps 3:51'35.095	9.903	11	3
35	T. Hill Garage 66	66	Ford	354	+13 Laps 3:51'21.745	11 Laps	12
36	D. Kraus NY Racing Team	44	Chevrolet	282	+85 Laps 3:17'14.474	72 Laps	12	1	Mechanical
37	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51	Ford	249	+118 Laps 2:51'48.395	33 Laps	9	1	Suspension
38	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	239	+128 Laps 3:51'11.635	10 Laps	14	2
View full results