Chase Briscoe led 309 of the 367 laps on Sunday night to win the Southern 500 for the second consecutive year. Last year the victory in the regular-season finale got him into the postseason, but this year with Darlington returning to the playoffs, the victory clinches Briscoe a spot into the Round of 12. While it was pretty much a flawless night from the No. 19 team, plenty of other playoff teams had issues. Josh Berry would wreck on the opening lap after a terrific qualifying effort and finish the evening over 100 laps down. He now is -19 to the cutline along with Alex Bowman, who also had a miserable evening. Joey Logano and Austin Dillon are the other drivers who are on the outside of the bubble looking in after one race in the Round of 16. Shane van Gisbergen is 12th in the standings after a hard fought night and is +3 to the cutline.
Denny Hamlin (+43), Kyle Larson (+38), Tyler Reddick (+35) and Bubba Wallace (+25) all have to be happy after solid runs at Darlington with where they sit in relation to the bubble after the first race. Next up for these drivers is World Wide Technology Raceway just outside St. Louis. The 1.25 mile track actually is similar to Darlington in the sense that the radius of one end of the track is much tighter than the other set of corners. That's pretty much where the similarities end, however, as WWT Raceway
Chase Briscoe led 309 of the 367 laps on Sunday night to win the Southern 500 for the second consecutive year. Last year the victory in the regular-season finale got him into the postseason, but this year with Darlington returning to the playoffs, the victory clinches Briscoe a spot into the Round of 12. While it was pretty much a flawless night from the No. 19 team, plenty of other playoff teams had issues. Josh Berry would wreck on the opening lap after a terrific qualifying effort and finish the evening over 100 laps down. He now is -19 to the cutline along with Alex Bowman, who also had a miserable evening. Joey Logano and Austin Dillon are the other drivers who are on the outside of the bubble looking in after one race in the Round of 16. Shane van Gisbergen is 12th in the standings after a hard fought night and is +3 to the cutline.
Denny Hamlin (+43), Kyle Larson (+38), Tyler Reddick (+35) and Bubba Wallace (+25) all have to be happy after solid runs at Darlington with where they sit in relation to the bubble after the first race. Next up for these drivers is World Wide Technology Raceway just outside St. Louis. The 1.25 mile track actually is similar to Darlington in the sense that the radius of one end of the track is much tighter than the other set of corners. That's pretty much where the similarities end, however, as WWT Raceway is much flatter and will also have significantly less tire wear. Qualifying and strategy will likely play a significant factor in the outcome, as the playoff drivers battle to score points, or even better win the race and lock themselves into the Round of 12.
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NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings After Darlington
1. William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24
Last Week: 1
It was a really surprising race for the 2025 Regular Season Champion. In the spring race at Darlington, Byron sat on the pole and led the first 243 laps before settling for a runner-up finish. On Sunday he only managed an 11th place qualifying effort, but failed to make up any ground during the opening portion of the race. A loose wheel in the second stage would send Byron to the back and force the team to have to battle through traffic. After rebounding to score a point at the end of the second stage, the final part of the race was plagued by a couple slow stops and an ill-handling car, which all culminated with a disappointing 21st place finish. Call if playoff pressure or nerves, but this performance is certainly not what we've come to expect out of the No. 24 bunch all season, especially at one of their better tracks. Nevertheless, given all the bonus points they earned in the regular season combined with plenty of other playoff driver struggles, they still sit +25 to the cutline. Expect a better performance from Byron and company at Gateway, which is somewhat similar to Iowa where the No. 24 team won a few weeks back.
2. Ryan Blaney, Team Penske No. 12
Last Week: 2
Blaney was the car that many people had their eye on going into the Southern 500. He showed excellent long-run speed in practice, something that he used to come from the back to the front on multiple occasions in the spring race at Darlington, which he would have won without a late caution. Blaney started 12th, but did not make much progress in the opening stage. He was only only able to grab one stage point in the first segment, and then disaster struck late in the second stage. Blaney had to check up for Kyle Busch getting loose in front of him and then Austin Dillon got into the back of the No. 12 and spun him around. Blaney did an excellent job to keep it off the inside barrier, but a lot of floor damage was done to the car trying to get his machine back to pit road with a flat front tire. The team was able to make some minor repairs and salvage an 18th place finish at the end of the night, but that broke a six-race top-10 streak. Blaney still sits in a decent position at +22 to the cutline. He'll head to Gateway where he has been strong over the last three years since it returned to the Cup Series schedule. Blaney has qualified in the top-5 and led laps in each of those three races. His lone finish outside the top-6 was last year when he ran out of fuel coming to the white flag while leading.
3. Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 5
Last Week: 3
Larson was by far the best running Hendrick Motorsports driver for much of the night on what was a very poor performance for the company as a whole. Darlington has been one of Larson's best tracks in his career with over a 1,000 laps led, but the car just didn't seem to be doing what he wanted to be able to challenge the leaders. Nevertheless, the No. 5 executed well in the opening two stages to be able to collect 12 stage points. The final stage was a big struggle, however, as the team lost the handle on the car and they faded all the way down to 19th place. Even with the disappointing finish, Larson grew his lead over the cutline from 32 points at the start of the race to 38 with just two races left. The team feels to have lost some speed from the early part of the year, but the execution seems to be better over the last month. He'll head to Gateway where he has finished top-10 in each of the last two races there.
4. Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11
Last Week: 4
Expectations are always high for Hamlin and the No. 11 team when we come to Darlington, but after a great effort on Saturday to take his second pole of the season, there was a feeling that Hamlin would be out front quite a bit on Sunday night. Ironically, it was actually Chase Briscoe who qualified second that would lead the large majority of the race. Hamlin finished third in the opening stage and looked to have one of the best long-run cars in the field. On the restart to the second stage, Hamlin had slight contact with the No. 19 car, which Hamlin thought did some damage to the performance. A terrible stop from the No. 11 pit crew on the next caution, however, is really what sent the night into an uphill battle. Stuck way back in the worst air he had experienced all night, Hamlin could not make any progress. The team had to make a few adjustments to get the car better in traffic, and that combined with some better pit stops in stage 3, helped Hamlin drive back up to a solid seventh place finish. Hamlin sits comfortable at +43 to the cutline, but at this stage in his career, wins, especially at crown jewel races, are what the driver of the No. 11 is really chasing. He and the team haven't executed great of late, but they are bringing fast cars to the track and are capable of clicking off win No. 5 this season at any point.
5. Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19
Last Week: 6
It was truly one of the best executed races in recent memory for Briscoe and the No. 19 team on Sunday night. They once again put in a tremendous qualifying effort to start on the front row for the ninth time this season. It quickly became clear that in the race Briscoe had the best short-run car out there. There were a few different occasions where someone would get a better jump on the restart, but Briscoe was able to quickly battle back and get around all challengers. The pit crew also did not make one mistake all night and kept their driver up front. Briscoe was a little vulnerable on the long-run, but with all the challenges of dirty air in these NextGen machines, he pretty much just needed to not make a big mistake and there was going to be no way for a hard-charging Tyler Reddick to pass him. It was somewhat of a vintage performance for this No. 19 team who has dominated plenty of races like this over the years with Martin Truex Jr. behind the wheel. Briscoe and crew chief James Small are hitting on all cylinders and they have picked up a lot of momentum this summer for this playoff run.
6. Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing No. 45
Last Week: 9
Reddick makes the biggest jump in the Power Rankings this week after a strong showing at Darlington which included a second place finish in all three stages. The day started with big concern early after Josh Berry got loose under him on the first lap off of turn two. Reddick did an outstanding job to save the car and somehow limit the damage to basically just a couple scratches. On the last run of the night, which turned out to also be the longest run of the night on tires, Reddick was clearly faster that fellow Toyota Chase Briscoe. He threw about everything he could at the No. 19, but the dirty air was just too much to overcome. Reddick and the No. 45 team are still looking for their first win of the season, but after the speed he showed at Darlington and Richmond recently, it feels like it's not far away. Next up is Gateway where Reddick qualified and finished inside the top-5 last year.
7. Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing No. 23
Last Week: 10
Wallace and the No. 23 Toyota were fast again this week. He quickly surged from his eighth starting position to take the lead from Chase Briscoe on lap 35. He was really the only driver to pass Briscoe not counting the first lap of a restart all night. Wallace would have a slight hiccup on pit road later in the stage, which ended up costing him a potential stage win and bonus point. The No. 23 seem to lose just a tic of speed once the sun went down, and he ran between 3rd to 7th for most of the rest of the night. Nevertheless, this was exactly the kind of run that this team needed to open up the playoffs. Wallace now sits +25 on the cutline and is in good position to advance to the Round of 12 with two more solid races. Wallace has now led laps in five of the last seven races with five top-10s in that span. Gateway has not been a great track for this No. 23 team the last three years, but expect a better showing given their recent surge of form.
8. Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports No. 9
Last Week: 5
Elliott takes a tumble in the Power Rankings after another off night at Darlington. Finding more speed in qualifying was a focus coming into the weekend, but it didn't pay dividends as Elliott had to start 21st. Like the rest of the HMS cars on Sunday night, it was a struggled to pass cars and move forward. Elliott had a decent long-run car and was able to get closer to the top-10 in the second half of the race. A poor pit stop, however, sent the No. 9 right to the back of the pack and ended any chances of collecting a good finish. Elliott did have a quality final run, which helped him get up to 17th place, the best finishing HMS car of the night. Nevertheless, the speed really just hasn't been there for this team over the last month after an extremely good run of races in June and July. Elliott sits 11th in the standings and just nine points above the cutline. This No. 9 team needs to find something at Gateway next week, and that starts with a strong qualifying effort, as it's been very difficult to pass on flat tracks in the NextGen era.
9. Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20
Last Week: 8
It's been a trying summer for Bell and this No. 20 team. They started off the season on fire winning three of the first four races and then also adding a victory in the All-Star Race, but since then they haven't really been in the hunt all that much for victories. Bell has led just 88 laps over the last 20 races, and 67 of those came at Dover, really his best shot to win over the last several months. Sunday night seemed much the same for Bell who was just not quite as good as some of the other Toyotas. He then had contact with Carson Hocevar on pit road in stage two, which broke a piece of his splitter and basically killed the rest of his night from there. Bell ended up in 29th place and now only is +11 to the cutline. Both the speed and execution from this team need to be better if they are going to get to where many people expected them to be early in the season. Bell has finished top-11 in each of his three starts at Gateway.
10. Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22
Last Week: 7
Unlike Bell, Logano did not really even sniff the top-10 all night. This team had put a lot of focus into Darlington in recent weeks, but it certainly did not pay off Sunday night. Logano was a distant third to his two teammates for most of the night, but Penske as a whole didn't really seem to hit it all that well at Darlington. Logano has led just five laps over his last 11 non-drafting tracks. The good news is that Logano gets to go to Gateway next week which really seems to suit Penske. The No. 22 won the inaugural Cup race at WWT Raceway in 2022, and he followed that up with a third in 2023 and a fifth last year. Logano finished fourth and Richmond and ninth at Iowa, two other recent races on shorter/flatter tracks as well. Expect Paul Wolfe to be on top of the strategy game to try to get Logano out in clean air at some point as his driver sits three points below the cutline.
Knocking on the Door
Austin Cindric, Team Penske No. 2
Last Week: N/A
Cindric is close to breaking into the top-10 of the Power Rankings due to his consistency over the last several weeks. He has finished 16th-or-better in six of his last seven starts, and the one he didn't was at Daytona where he was taken out in an early wreck. Given Cindric's record on drafting tracks, he likely would have been battling for the win there. Cindric ran 7th to 13th for pretty much the entire race at Darlington. The team was able to avoid issues all night and get out with a solid 12th place finish. Cindric sits ninth in the standings and +12 to the cutline. As long as he keeps qualifying well and avoiding issues in the race, Cindric should be able to advance. He also won last year at Gateway from the outside pole.
Chris Buescher, RFK Racing No. 17
Last Week: N/A
Most people expected the RFK cars to be better at Darlington, but Buescher was still able to grind out his 14th top-10 finish of the season. That's tied for the second-most in the Cup Series. That said, the No. 17 team has also scored just 89 stage points, which ranks 15th on the season. Obviously the lack of a win is the biggest reason why Buescher was unable to make the playoffs, but running better early in races would have also helped to potentially have been able to point his way in. Nevertheless, this No. 17 team will keep looking to pick up a win before the end of the season like they were able to accomplish last season after missing the playoffs. Buescher has finished top-15 each of the last two years at Gateway.
Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club No. 43
Last Week: N/A
It was a true banner day for Legacy Motor Club. After a terrible 2024 season, it's been clear this team has brought more speed to the track in 2025. Both drivers have been more consistently finding themselves running around the top-10, and Darlington was the best performance maybe ever for this team. Jones led the way with his third place finish, which was the second straight top-5 for the No. 43 after a fifth place showing at Daytona. John Hunter Nemechek also led 15 laps en route to a P4 finish. Darlington has been such an amazing track for Jones throughout his Cup Series career with two Southern 500 wins among nine top-10s in 16 starts. He and crew chief Ben Beshore will look to keep the momentum rolling at Gateway where Jones finished seventh back in 2022.
