Who… should you be talking about after the race?
He and his team were informed they’d be out of a job at the end of the year. His only shot at taking his team to the payoffs one more time was winning. And Chase Briscoe rose to the occasion, winning the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, one of NASCAR’s most prestigious events.
With a perfectly executed dive to the inside on a late restart, Briscoe got past Kyle Larson, the driver he’d been dogging for much of the night. He dispatched Larson, Kyle Busch and finally leader Ross Chastain, then survived another late restart, holding off a charging and hungry Busch to win by a couple of car lengths.
A second career win has been a long time coming for Briscoe, whose first came at Phoenix Raceway in the spring of 2022. The former dirt racer is one of NASCAR’s good guy figures, hand-picked for the No. 14 by Tony Stewart.
The victory was an emotional one for the 29-year-old, who shed tears on the cool-down lap, understanding the weight of his victory. He’d made the playoffs, but he’d also won the Southern 500, a race where drivers must face not only the field but a track referred to as The Lady in Black because of how difficult she is to navigate.
But Briscoe raced the track first, getting into position, and his competition second, making his move when the race came to him. Briscoe’s duel with Busch for the win was classic Darlington, and should go down as an all-time classic as well.
And don’t forget Kyle Busch. He restarted eighth on the final re-rack and immediately staked a claim at the front, sweeping by all but Briscoe in what seemed like a single pass, and setting his sights on the lead with slightly fresher tires than Briscoe. He closed on the leader, and each time, Briscoe parried the move, taking away his runs.
Busch had one last shot entering the first turn on the final lap, and he threw the No. 8 into the corner with a run that would have put some drivers in the wall. He got just inside of Briscoe’s left rear, but Briscoe had the momentum off the top of the corner and held him off. He didn’t have enough to make a run into turn 3 or off turn 4 and had to settle for second.
Yet in that last run, Busch showed both the hunger to win and a new-found maturity, which was also evident in how he handled himself in his post-race interview. A win this year would mark 20 years in a row that Rowdy has gotten to the winner’s circle. A few weeks ago, that looked like a longshot. It doesn’t look like that any more.
What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?
For the third week in a row, a driver outside the playoff picture on points took home a win, securing a spot. Austin Dillon had his eligibility revoked because he punted two other drivers out of his way to win, but both Harrison Burton and Briscoe punched their postseason tickets.
And they were both fantastic feel good stories: Both are in lame duck positions with Burton out of the No. 21 after the season and Briscoe’s team shutting down (he has a ride for 2025 with Joe Gibbs Racing), yet Burton grabbed the 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing and Briscoe the coveted Southern 500.
But do feel-good stories belong in the title hunt?
You can make a case for Briscoe; 18th in points, he’s ahead of fellow playoff driver Austin Cindric on that front. All in all, four playoff-bound drivers finished outside the top 16 in points, meaning four drivers with better seasons miss the show.
That’s not a good look. Granted, those drivers (Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, Chastain and Busch) also had opportunities to win and didn’t execute. But when many fans argue that the current championship system makes the title seem cheap, having the driver who finished dead last among all full-time drivers in the title hunt doesn’t bolster any argument against them.
NASCAR eliminated a rule that drivers had to be in the top 30 in points as well as having a win after there was a very small possibility that a legit contender could miss that mark if out with a long injury. But it’s time to take that risk and bring it back, except raise the bar to at least 25th in points, if not 20th.
Where… did the other key players wind up?
Pole winner Wallace had a good car early, leading the first 34 laps and staying in the top two for most of stage one. Wallace also scored a couple of points in the second stage, but as the track changed with the night, the No. 23 lost a little speed as the battle for the final playoff spot with Buescher heated up. A bad pit decision on a late caution hurt, but it was a tangle ahead of him that he couldn’t avoid that ended his playoff bid even before Briscoe ended it for Buescher as well.
Point leader Reddick entered the night hoping to hold onto that lead and nab the playoff points that come with the regular season title. He wasn’t feeling well behind the wheel, but he ran inside the top five throughout the first stage. He faded to eighth in stage two, but despite feeling, by his own admission, “f*****g horrible,” Reddick was able to grit it out, falling back out of the top 10 but racing his way to 10th, good enough to win the regular season title by a single point. The grit he showed makes him dangerous in the playoffs.
Defending race winner Larson entered the night in the hunt for the regular season title as well. He took over the lead on the first round of pit stops and didn’t relinquish it for the rest of the opening stage. He won the second stage as well, and had the race stayed green, Larson would probably have run away with it. But a Hail Mary pit call by Chastain left Larson fighting for clean air for the first time, and a brilliant move by Briscoe to take the lead and the clean air from Larson ended Larson’s bid. He finished fourth.
When… was the moment of truth?
OK, so it wasn’t the door-banging finish of Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch, but Sunday’s race should go down as a Darlington classic. Briscoe’s pass for the lead was perfectly executed, and he managed the next restart expertly as well.
Kyle Busch, meanwhile, came from eighth on the final restart with a vengeance. He made run after run at Briscoe and fell just short.
What stands out this week is what stood out then, though — everyone involved raced the finish clean. Nobody drove through anybody to try for a win. Briscoe’s winning pass was absolutely brilliant. Busch’s runner-up finish was hard-fought and well-earned.
There was playoff drama, sure, but in the end it came down to racing for a win in the Southern 500. That’s what Briscoe takes with him for the rest of his career. Unless he wins the title, the rest is an afterthought.
What we saw Sunday night (Sept. 1), dancing with The Lady in Black, is what NASCAR is, and has always been. Every race won’t be perfect (and never was), but this one was pretty darn close to it.
Why… should you be paying attention this week?
The title run starts here. With the field set, from here on out, it’s all about who can enter the playoffs with momentum and sustain it.
While playoff points can keep a driver in, nobody can afford a bad race, let alone two, in a round, so consistency will matter.
Who does that favor? Joey Logano has won titles on his consistency. Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell have shown playoff consistency in previous years as well.
Larson and William Byron are also solid picks to move on along with Reddick and Chase Elliott.
Who’s more likely to struggle in the opening round? Burton has just two top 10s this year, including his win at Daytona a week ago. That’s not going to be enough. Ty Gibbs has been tantalizingly close to winning earlier this year, but is streaky. He’ll reel off a few top finishes only to struggle for a few weeks. It’ll depend on which side of that cycle he hits entering the postseason. Martin Truex Jr. is a driver who can win any time but just hasn’t looked like a steady contender this year.
Briscoe also squeezed in at the 11th hour and has the odds stacked against him, especially with Stewart-Haas Racing closing its doors at season’s end.
How… important is the regular season championship?
In terms of the playoffs, it’s a very big deal because of the playoff points that come with it. Those points could mean the difference between elimination or moving to the next round. So they’re worth fighting for.
While most fans don’t really care about the regular season title, the ones who don’t like the playoffs should, because it’s a full-season points title without the manipulation that will come when the playoffs start, with points resets and eliminations. It’s the best, most consistent driver throughout the first 26 races being honored.
In some ways, it’s more difficult to win than the season title, because it’s not ultimately decided by one race (though it can be decided in one race as happened this week), but rather by weeks of performance. That it can still come down to the 26th race proves the mettle of the teams involved.
For Reddick to gut out the finish he needed means something. For Larson, the missed Coca-Cola 600 looms large; a last-place finish there would have changed the picture. Should Larson be eliminated by fewer than 15 points in any round, that missed opportunity can be blamed.
And if it doesn’t come down to race 26, that’s testament to a driver being Just. That. Good.
It’s kind of too bad that that doesn’t matter any more. The regular season battle this year was a good one.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
Congratulations to Reddick, he earned it. Larson gave it one hell of a try, and almost pulled it off. I hope he continues driving like today. Now if Hamlin would blow an engine on the first lap in the next three races I will enjoy the rest of the races.
The 5 won the owner’s title with the points Mr. H got for the substituted event.
Agree on all 3 comments, especially that last one!
Let the cream rise to the top, but it’s more about who gets hot at the end of the year not so much about the entire year, as noted by Amy. I can see both sides of the playoff debate. I lean towards not, but will just sit back and watch it all play out.
Congratulations to Briscoe for running a good race. They didn’t give it to him he earned the victory.