In the NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale, Chase Briscoe came in clutch to win the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, Sept. 1, punching his ticket to the Cup Series playoffs in the process.
With the window of opportunity to make the postseason closing at The Track Too Tough to Tame, bubble teams threw some hail mary pit strategies to try and get above the cut line.
Perhaps no call was gutsier than No. 1 crew chief Phil Surgen keeping Ross Chastain out while everyone else pitted for four tires on lap 337 at a racetrack that is well known for chewing up rubber.
While that decision did not work out, as Chastain ended up missing the playoffs, there was another strategy call that made the difference at Darlington.
Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch’s Dueling Pit Strategies
When the race’s seventh and final caution came out on lap 344, it set the stage for one last strategy split among the lead lap cars.
With only a small handful of green-flag laps on their tires, the leader Briscoe and several cars stayed out while the back half of the lead lap put on four fresh Goodyears. Kyle Busch won the race off pit road and took the inside of the fourth row for the final restart on lap 350.
Two laps later, Busch was already up to second and closing on the back bumper of Briscoe, who opened up a lead of about seven car lengths with a strong restart. Try as Busch might, though, Briscoe held him off for the win.
Ironically, on a night when four tires was the way to go due to Darlington’s old surface, it was the choice to stay out by No. 14 crew chief Richard Boswell that helped boost his driver Briscoe into the playoffs.
No. 45 Crew Aids Ailing Tyler Reddick
Cup Series drivers are accustomed to servicing the race cars, whether it be putting on fresh tires, adding fuel or making adjustments to help the handling.
For the No. 45 23XI Racing team, they had an additional task throughout the evening at Darlington: taking care of their under-the-weather driver. Earlier on Sunday, Tyler Reddick came down with a stomach bug, impacting his ability to focus behind the wheel of his Toyota.
To help Reddick feel better, No. 45 crew chief Billy Scott provided him with crackers and medicine to settle his stomach. On the first try, Reddick dropped the medicine in the car, so the crew mixed it in with a water bottle to make it easier to consume.
Reddick’s symptoms were bad enough that Scott and the No. 45 team briefly considered bringing Martin Truex Jr., a fellow Toyota driver who wrecked out on lap 3, in as a substitute. But at the end of the night, Reddick gutted out a 10th-place effort, thanks in part to the help of his crew.
That finish was good enough to secure Reddick the regular season title by one point over Kyle Larson, along with the 15 playoff points that come with it. If Reddick makes the run to a championship, we’ll look back at his intestinal fortitude at Darlington as a key moment in the season.
Look Ahead to Next Week
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs commence next Sunday, Sept. 8, with the running of the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Expect pit strategy at Atlanta to look dramatically different than what we saw at Darlington. With the superspeedway style of racing and a newer track surface, the door will be open for teams to gamble on fuel-only and two-tire pit stops to move up in the pack. Atlanta’s unique pit road entry by turn 3 could also come into play to make or break a playoff driver’s championship chances.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.