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Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington was chock full of storylines and had an emotional ending seeing Chase Briscoe take the checkered flag to advance to the 16-driver Cup Series postseason field.
For 367 laps and 500 miles, NASCAR and its drivers put on a show, perhaps even the best in the 74-year history of the Southern 500. At least, that’s the opinion of NBC Sports analyst Kyle Petty, who raved about all the happenings at Darlington. From Kyle Larson leading 263 laps to Briscoe snapping a 93-race winless streak, the 2024 Southern 500 had it all.
“The Southern 500 — it should be the starting race of the season and the closing race of the season, the cutoff race and we should run all 10 of the playoff races at Darlington,” Petty said. “What a fantastic Southern 500. I have nothing negative to say. Let me tell you something: Most dramatic race I think I’ve seen in a long, long time. Maybe the best Southern 500 I’ve ever seen. There was so much going on. Yes, yes, yes, Kyle Larson dominated but hey, did anybody know where he went the last 10-15 laps? We didn’t even mention him post-race. The guy leads 200 laps at Darlington, and you don’t mention him.”
Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace playoff hopes end in Southern 500
While much of the focus after the race was centered around Briscoe’s triumph, two other drivers suffered an unfortunate fate at Darlington. As a result of Briscoe’s victory, both Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace were eliminated from playoff contention. Buescher and Wallace were battling for the 16th and final playoff spot, with Wallace at one point closing the gap to just two points.
It didn’t matter in the end as Briscoe will be competing for a Cup Series championship. Buescher and Wallace, meanwhile, are left wondering what they could have done different in the previous 25 races.
“Bubba Wallace had the most amazing qualifying lap I’ve ever seen at Darlington,” Petty said. “To put that thing on the pole, he was carrying that car and knew he had to something to make the playoffs. Chris Buescher, we know what happened to him and Tyler Reddick the first race [at Darlington]. He didn’t get that sticker, he didn’t get that sticker this race either. But those guys scraped and scrapped and did everything they could, came home sixth or seventh.
“But in the end, where did Chase Briscoe and SHR come from? Those guys don’t show up all year, crew chief talked about all the shenanigans that were going on at the shop, the chaos that was happening over there, the 325 [fired] employees — they had to do something for that team. They had to do something to make it happen. He willed that car to victory. It was an emotional Victory Lane. It was an emotional day. That’s a great story for the sport and the sport’s better for teams like SHR. This sport is better for drivers like Chase Briscoe.”
