Full race results, post-race notes and updated driver standings are at the end of this story.
Darlington Raceway’s motto is “The Track Too Hard to Tame,” and it lived up to its name once again in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500, the inaugural race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
After a regular season considered one of the best in recent memory, with 16 different winners and the most green flag passes for the lead in a regular season, it should come as no surprise that Sunday’s 367 laps around the 1,366 egg miles. The oval in the shape of South Carolina provided a lot of storylines and another first in the history of the series.
When the checkered flag fell after 500 miles, it was Petty GMS Racing’s Erik Jones who parked the iconic No. 43 in victory lane at one of the most iconic tracks on the calendar. It was the first time in the history of the NASCAR playoff system that a non-playoff driver won the inaugural Cup playoff race.
“It’s unbelievable, I’m so proud of these guys,” Jones said excitedly about his third career Cup Series victory and second at Darlington. be the day It was going to be hard to win, but there was no better place.
“I love this track; I love this race. On that trophy twice, man. I was excited to be in it once, but to have it there twice, very good.”
Erik Jones celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Jones becomes the first driver in Cup playoff history to win the first playoff game, but did not qualify for the playoffs in the same season. (Photo by Harold Hinson/HHP for Chevy Racing)
It marked the first victory for the No. 43 car at Darlington in 55 years to date and was the 200ththe Cup Series victory for the iconic number. It was also the first Cup Series victory for the Petty GMS team, which was formed early in the 2022 season in a merger of the two formerly separate organizations.
While Jones wasn’t the most dominant car of the night, he ran inside the top 10 throughout the race and was ready to take advantage when the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch experienced trouble just laps apart.
With 30 laps to go, Truex was leading Busch when the former radioed his team that he had lost power steering and that with his No. 19 Toyota overheating, he would have to relinquish the lead to Busch.
Just a few laps later, he waved a caution flag for Cody Ware hitting the wall in turn n. 2 for the second time of the night, and all the leaders hit pit road for fresh Goodyear rubber.
Once again, it was the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team that held the lead for their driver with a great pit stop. The crew of the No. 43 Petty GMS also held a critical position for Jones, who was scheduled to restart in second position.
Busch had led a race-high 155 laps on the night, and with Truex pulling his No. 19 Toyota behind the wall, he seemed to be setting himself up nicely for a Busch win and a Round of 12 berth. Except as the field circled under caution, smoke began to billow from Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.
As a result, he would take his car to pit road and hand over the lead to Jones.
Busch would finish with a disappointing 30the and it puts him in a situation where he must almost win the next two races if he hopes to advance to the round of 16.
As for Truex, who did not qualify for the playoffs this season, he finished 31St..
When asked how he felt after removing his race suit and getting out of the truck, Busch replied, “I don’t know. The sun will rise tomorrow.
“Just unfortunate circumstances for us tonight. Simply proud of the effort. All the stuff that guys have done and been through, just all the news and everything that’s going on throughout the year. They have dug in and never given up and continue. I just had a great car and I have nothing to show for it. That’s what I really, really hate about it.”
Busch leaves Darlington in the 11ththe position in the championship standings, eight points above the cut-off line.
Truex finished the regular season in fourth position in the points standings, but without a win, missing out on qualifying for the playoffs due to a record 16 different winners.
“It’s been tough and this is another tough night for sure, but we’ll come back next week and fight again,” Truex said. “(I’m) just angry, upset, angry. We deserve better and no matter what we do this year, it seems wrong.
“When we race well, things go wrong and when we race poorly, nothing happens. Just one of those years where we can’t make anything go our way. It’s almost the fifth time I should have won this race and I’ve just done it. I won once, so pretty pissed off.”
While Jones led the last 23 tracks, it was no walk in the park as he had to hold off Denny Hamlin, who has four wins at Darlington on his resume (the most of all active Cup Series drivers). ) and an average result of 7.7. on the track (the best among this year’s playoff contenders).
“Man, I was focused straight ahead,” Jones said of the final few laps when asked if he was driving through the rearview mirror or through the windshield. “Honestly, it’s the calmest I’ve ever been in the race car looking for a win, really.
“I remember the last time I won here and I was pulling my guts out. My nerves were pounding, my stomach was hurting and today it was business as usual.”
“I feel good about this track and I knew Denny (Hamlin) would keep me clean. I knew it was going to be difficult for him to get through. It was hard to get through the whole day, and we had a good restart there.
“But man, so proud of everyone. What a dream come true. That’s all you can say.
Usually in the first round of the playoffs, the final top 10 standings are dominated by playoff drivers. That wasn’t the case in Game 1, as the top 10 featured four non-playoff drivers with Jones in victory lane, Michael McDowell in sixth, Brad Keselowski in seventh and Bubba Wallace in ninth.
Not to be overshadowed by the race and playoff image, though, there were some very pointed comments from veteran driver and 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.
On lap 276, flames were shooting out of Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Fortunately, he was able to stop and get out quickly before security teams arrived on the scene. Harvick’s career was over and after entering the playoffs five points above the cut line, he fell to 13 points below the cut line.
“I’m sure it’s just bad parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times,” said an embittered Harvick. “They haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the security stuff. We let it go on and on.
“The car started to burn, and as it burned, flames started coming out of the dashboard. I ran a couple of laps and then as the flame got bigger it started burning things and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out of the brakes and some of the brake line but the fire was through the board. .
“What a mess for no reason. We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burnt out car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of the shit.” parts.
“I just stopped. The rocker was on fire for a couple of laps. I just stopped because I couldn’t see anymore because the flames were coming through the dash and I couldn’t bring myself to sit there and get burned.”
Harvick stands at 16the and final position on the grid and despite his 16 points, the highest in the series.the-The appearance in the playoffs runs the risk of being eliminated in the first round.
Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe also find themselves below the cut line as the series heads to Kansas Speedway next weekend for race two of the three-race opening round.
