Long ago, former racer Harold Brasington took a trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the track's annual 500-Mile Race, and subsequently decided to bring a 500-mile race to his home state in South Carolina. In 1950, Brasington's vision was realized with the opening of Darlington Raceway and first annual Southern 500, which instantly became the marquee event for NASCAR's still-fledgling Strictly Stock division in its second season of competition.
Some 74 years later, the Southern 500 remains a marquee event and one of the crown jewel races in the NASCAR Cup Series, connecting generations of racers from Johnny Mantz all the way to Erik Jones and more than fulfilling what Brasington sought to bring to the people of the south. But it was likely beyond event the wildest parts of Brasington's imagination that this Labor Day tradition would also be the beginning of NASCAR's race for the championship.
This weekend, the NASCAR playoffs begin with the Cook Out Southern 500. The 16 drivers who qualified for the playoffs will start the Round of 16 to mark the first step toward determining which of them will earn the right to hoist the Bill France Cup at Phoenix in November -- let alone the Johnny Mantz Trophy at the end of 500 grueling miles at Darlington.
How to Watch the Southern 500
Date: Sunday, Sept. 3
Location: Darlington Raceway -- Darlington, S.C.
Time: 6 p.m. ET
TV: USA Network
Stream: fubo (try for free)
What to Watch
One of the defining storylines of last year's Southern 500 was the sheer amount of playoff contenders who were either set back or outright eliminated from contention thanks to on-track issues. Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain all experienced major mechanical problems, while Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe were both caught up in a crash on lap 113. All told, that amounted to nearly half the drivers in the Round of 16 suffering major setbacks.
Some of that can be attributed to mere tricks of racing nature, but the playoffs always have a way of illustrating which drivers and teams are ready to step up in terms of performance and preparation, and which are not. There's some extra intrigue this year as to which teams are playoff ready, as a record 10 different race teams have qualified for the Round of 16.
While JTG Daugherty Racing and Front Row Motorsports have put cars in the playoffs before, and 23XI Racing was part of last year's owner's championship playoffs, each organization has yet to prove that they can prepare and perform at a level that allows them to make a sustained playoff run. That isn't to say, however, that they can't -- after all, Trackhouse Racing being playoff first-timers last year didn't stop them from finishing runner-up in the championship standings with Ross Chastain.
News of the Week
- Joe Gibbs Racing has swapped the pit crews of the No. 20 and No. 54 teams, meaning that Christopher Bell will now have Ty Gibbs' pit crew throughout the playoffs. The No. 54 crew has been among the top performing pit crews all season, and it won the Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro back in May.
- After both Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton missed the playoffs, Team Penske has traded crew chiefs with Wood Brothers Racing for the rest of 2023 into 2024. Brian Wilson takes over as crew chief for Cindric, while Jeremy Bullins returns to the Wood Brothers as the new crew chief for Burton.
- Matt DiBenedetto has announced that he will not return to Rackley W.A.R. in 2024 after two seasons of driving for the team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. DiBenedetto becomes a free agent with significant Cup experience, having raced full-time in Cup from 2015 to 2021 with nine top fives, 31 top 10s and a best finish of second three times.
- Legacy Motor Club has tabbed NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series star Carson Hocevar to drive their No. 42 Chevrolet this weekend at Darlington. Hocevar will make his second career Cup start after making his debut driving for Spire Motorsports at Gateway in June.
- NASCAR has added language to the sport's rule book outlining a procedure on if a race cannot run to its scheduled distance due to impending darkness or other factors, saying that the sanctioning body can predetermine a time at which the white flag will come out to signal one lap to go. The update to the rule book comes after the inaugural race at Chicago was shortened by darkness mid-race to the chagrin of Christopher Bell's team.
- In the Craftsman Truck Series, Ty Majeski and the No. 98 ThorSport Racing team have been issued an L2-level penalty by NASCAR after the team was found to have an illegal wheel assembly at the Milwaukee Mile. Majeski, who advanced to the Round of 8 after winning at IRP, has been docked 75 championship points and five playoff points, while crew chief Joe Shear Jr. has been fined $25,000 and suspended for the next four races.
Driver to Watch
Last year's playoffs opened in unprecedented fashion, as the first four races were all won by non-playoff drivers for the first time ever. That streak of non-playoff drivers stealing the show was kicked off by Erik Jones, who won last year's Southern 500 for his second triumph in this race, joining a very select fraternity of drivers who have won this event multiple times.
With another win this year, Jones can join an extremely select fraternity of three-time Southern 500 winners -- a group that includes Herb Thomas, Buck Baker, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott and Denny Hamlin. However, the 2023 season has seen Jones and his team take a significant step back from the level of performance they reached in 2022.
Aided in part by Legacy Motor Club's impending move to Toyota and lame duck status with Chevrolet, Jones has had just five top 10s in 2023 with a best of sixth at Talladega and an average finish of 20.1. By comparison, Jones had two top fives and nine top 10s entering the Southern 500 a year ago, and would add his win and four more top 10s by season's end.
By most metrics, this season has been an extreme letdown for Jones. However, the summer months have seen Jones show flashes of his form from a year ago. Of Jones' five top 10s, three have come since mid-June, including a 10th-place finish at Michigan the last time the Cup Series raced on a non-superspeedway oval at Michigan.
Pick to Win
Martin Truex Jr. (+500): After winning the regular season championship, Martin Truex Jr. enters the playoffs tied for the top seed thanks in some small part to the way he ran at Darlington in the springtime. Before a run-in with Ross Chastain while racing for the win in Stage 2, Truex led 137 of the first 138 laps and had overall pace that made him look virtually unbeatable.
No doubt that Truex's team dialed the No. 19 in with the Southern 500 in mind, which might mean that the rest of the field is in huge trouble this weekend. It also helps that Truex has won this race before, as he took the checkered flag in the Southern 500 back in 2016.
