Darlington Raceway has a well-earned reputation for being one of NASCAR’s toughest tracks.
It demands excellence from its challengers. Drivers must be bold enough to run inches off the wall lap after lap, but savvy enough to know how hard to push their cars over the course of a long race.
The most prolific winners at Darlington are titans of the sport: David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. Although racing at Darlington presents a high degree of difficulty, the track has a way of bringing out the best in drivers who embrace the challenge. In Sunday night’s (Sept. 1) Southern 500, Chase Briscoe battled the Lady in Black and earned the biggest victory of his racing career.
Briscoe’s win came under exceptionally difficult circumstances. He and the No. 14 team were well below the playoff cut line coming to Darlington for the regular-season finale. Winning the race was the only way he could have advanced to the playoffs, but Briscoe’s lone Cup Series victory came back in March 2022 at Phoenix Raceway.
Since then, Stewart-Haas Racing has been in a downward spiral, a decline that saw the organization shut out of victory lane in the Cup Series in 2023. The malaise continued into this season, and news broke in late May that SHR would close at the end of the year. Briscoe secured a new ride with Joe Gibbs Racing for 2025, but the impending closure of his already struggling team offered little hope for this season.
To make matters worse, the No. 14 team was in a serious slump heading to Darlington.
Briscoe had been hovering around the playoff bubble early in the season, and a second-place result in the rain at New Hampshire Motor Speedway kept him within striking distance of reaching the postseason on points. The next week at Nashville Superspeedway, Briscoe’s fuel tank ran dry while battling for the win on the fifth and final overtime attempt. From there, the No. 14 went into free fall, struggling just to finish in the top 15 as Briscoe slipped further and further below the cut line. In seven races, he went from 25 points out of the playoffs to 144 out.
Sure, a win could have saved him, but Briscoe had only led 14 laps all season. A victory seemed out of the question.
However, Darlington provided an opportunity.
Briscoe fired off with top-five speed, a pace he maintained throughout the day-to-night transition. It looked like the No. 14 team could get its best finish in months.
Yet the only way to get into the playoffs was with a win and Kyle Larson had everyone covered. The No. 5 was the class of the field, easily winning the first two stages and leading 263 laps. But the move of the race came with 26 laps to go when Briscoe made a jaw-dropping pass for the lead on Larson and Ross Chastain. Diving three-wide into turn 3, Briscoe went all the way to the apron and narrowly cleared Larson before the race’s seventh and final caution flag flew two laps later.
Briscoe held on to the lead after the race resumed, but the toughest part of his night was still to come.
Kyle Busch, needing a win of his own to reach the postseason, was flying through the field on fresh tires. Busch rocketed to second place and had Briscoe in his sights with 10 laps to go. The No. 8 closed to within a quarter second of the No. 14, and any slip by Briscoe would have cost him a crown jewel win and his playoff berth. Yet even with the winningest driver in the field breathing down his neck, Briscoe held on and captured the checkered flag.
The battle between Briscoe and Busch brought back memories of another Darlington race. In 2020, Briscoe was competing for SHR in the NASCAR Xfinity Series but faced an uncertain future.
When the Xfinity Series returned to action after a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, its first race was at Darlington. Briscoe ran well in this event, but he had to hold off a hard charge from Busch during the closing laps. Busch tracked Briscoe down and led the white flag lap, but Briscoe fought back on the final circuit and claimed the victory. Although this was not Briscoe’s first Xfinity win or even his first win of 2020, it was the first real indication that he could be a competitive Cup Series driver one day. It also helped to launch the nine-win season that earned Briscoe an opportunity to drive the No. 14.
Four years later, Briscoe has won another race at Darlington over Busch. The victory gets him into the playoffs at the last possible moment. It ends a 93-race winless drought for Briscoe and a 73-race winless drought for SHR. The team’s Cup Series win total now stands at 70, with its potential last win delivered by Briscoe, a Tony Stewart fan growing up, racing Stewart’s old number. The victory even comes in a storied race like the Southern 500, a race that Stewart himself never managed to win.
Additionally, the win is the best example yet of Briscoe’s ability to close out a tight race. He has taken some heat for driving recklessly in races like the Bristol Dirt Race and Coca-Cola 600 in 2022, events where late spins by Briscoe while battling for the win knocked other drivers out of contention.
Those criticisms resurfaced earlier this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Chicago street course. But at Darlington, Briscoe showed poise and patience while following Larson. When the time came, he used just the right amount of aggression to make the decisive pass, then maintained his composure in the final laps while holding off Busch. Sunday’s race is proof that Briscoe can compete at a high level and has earned his chance to race with a top-flight team like JGR.
In the meantime, Briscoe has 10 races left to run with Stewart-Haas.
It is hard to imagine the No. 14 team making a deep playoff run with all the organizational turmoil. But at this point, any postseason success is gravy.
Briscoe’s Southern 500 win will go down as one of the defining moments of his career. Just like in 2020, a trip to Darlington brought out the best in him and may unlock a path to greater success in the next chapter of his career.
Bryan began writing for Frontstretch in 2016. He has penned Up to Speed for the past eight years. A lifelong student of auto racing, Bryan is a published author and automotive historian. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Southern Kentucky.