Briscoe Conquers Southern 500 for Second Year: NASCAR Domination

Chase Briscoe Conquers Darlington and Pursues the NASCAR Cup Title

Chase Briscoe demonstrated his dominance in the world of motorsports by obtaining his second consecutive victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The driver seeks to consolidate his path towards his first NASCAR Cup Series title. Briscoe overtook Tyler Reddick on the final lap, becoming the eighth driver in the history of the competition to achieve consecutive victories at this circuit, known as “Too Tough to Tame.” This list includes legends like Dale Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon, and Bobby Allison.

The expectation was to compete for wins. It definitely took longer than I expected, but tonight I feel like we showed what we are capable of.
Chase Briscoe

Briscoe led from the start, winning both stages and dominating 309 of the 367 laps. In addition to advancing to the next round, he became the first driver with consecutive wins in this race since Greg Biffle in 2005 and 2006.

Chase Briscoe lideró la carrera desde el principio, ganando ambas etapas y liderando 309 de 367 vueltas antes de superar a Tyler Reddick en el Darlington Raceway.

“It’s incredible to win two Southern 500s in a row,” said Briscoe, 30. “This is my favorite race of the year.” Last year, Briscoe secured his place in the playoffs with a bold maneuver in the final laps. This time, he proved to be the strongest from the start. After Reddick passed him on the restart of the final segment, Briscoe regained the lead and held the position after their final pit stops. Reddick attempted an attack on the last lap, but couldn’t make it. Briscoe secured his second victory of the season and the fourth of his career. “It was much harder than necessary,” said Briscoe, who also won at Pocono in June. The owner of the Briscoe team, Joe Gibbs, recalled how the driver came to the team after racing for Stewart-Haas Racing. Gibbs was surprised at how quickly Briscoe’s crew chief, James Smalls, got the car competing for wins. “Certainly, this wasn’t something we expected,” Gibbs admitted. Erik Jones finished third, followed by John Hunter Nemechek and AJ Allmendinger. Playoff drivers Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin, Briscoe’s teammate, rounded out the top spots.

Playoff Aspirants’ Problems

The race was not favorable for several contenders. Only four playoff drivers finished in the top 10. Josh Berry, who was already below the cut line, had an incident at the start of the race and had to go to the garage. Alex Bowman, one of the two winless playoff drivers this year, had problems, including a faulty air hose. Ryan Blaney, winner of a NASCAR title two years ago, went off track on lap 209. The four drivers below the cut line are Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Bowman, and Berry.

It wasn’t what we expected.
Joey Logano

Toyota at the Top

The top four positions were occupied by Toyota drivers, something that has only happened three times since the brand joined the Cup Series in 2007. Six of the top seven also drove Toyotas, including Briscoe, Reddick, Wallace, and Hamlin. Hamlin co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, with Reddick and Wallace in the top six.