DARLINGTON, S.C. – Chase Briscoe knew he carried the full weight of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing into the final laps Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. And he couldn't have been happier.
“I feel like I run better under heavy pressure,” Briscoe said. “I love the Game 7, pressure-heavy moment.”
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He made a dramatic, three-wide, late-race pass and held on to win the Southern 500 and qualify for the playoffs, giving Stewart-Haas Racing a final chance to add to its championship legacy before it shuts down after the season.
Briscoe and his team head to the postseason reveling in that pressure in the final days of the program that won NASCAR titles with Tony Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in 2014.
Briscoe got a call from Stewart, his owner, and drivers came up to congratulate him on the win.
Briscoe took the lead with the three-wide pass over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead, then outran two-time series champion Kyle Busch at the end.
Briscoe pulled away on a final restart with 17 laps and held off Busch, who like Briscoe needed a victory to reach the postseason.
“We just won the Southern 500!” an emotional Briscoe said on the car radio.
Briscoe is prepared for more milestones with Stewart-Haas.
“Yeah, this group, the day we found out that the team wasn't going to exist anymore, we went over to the shop board, looked at each other and said, ‘We’re in this to the end,'” Briscoe said. “I was saying all week, `We've got one bullet left in the chamber.' That bullet hit.”
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. got the final two postseason spots on points, while Bubba Wallace and Chastain, both within 27 points of the cutoff line when the race began, came up short.
Briscoe's dramatic move spoiled another dominant Darlington run by Kyle Larson, who led 263 laps but was not the same after getting passed by the winner. Larson was trying to overtake Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points title — and the 15 bonus points the leader receives — but came up a point short.
Christopher Bell was third, followed by Larson, Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie and Reddick.
Truex, racing his last season before retirement, just needed a solid, problem-free run at the track “Too Tough To Tame” to advance. Instead, he left his fate in others' hands when he crashed out on Lap 3 as his car slid up and hit defending NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney.
But following Larson’s victory in the second stage — he also won the first stage — NASCAR announced that Truex had wrapped up a spot in the 16-driver playoff field.
Bubba Wallace entered the weekend as the first-man out of the playoffs and got a boost when he won his first Darlington pole Saturday. But with 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan in his pit box to watch, Wallace got caught up in a six-car wreck 24 laps from the finish.
Jordan, wearing a headset and watching intently, threw his hands up and bowed his head when he saw Wallace involved in the wreck.
“Wasn't good enough for 16th this year, hate that," Wallace said. “Stinks saying that, but wasn't for a lack of effort.”
Busch came up short a second straight week, losing to a fellow winless driver this season. He was beaten by Harrison Burton last week at Daytona.
“Hate it for our guys,” said Busch, who won titles in 2015 and 2019. “Something to build on and get better for. We just missed a lot early in the year, the middle part of the year to be in this spot, on the outside looking in.”
Reddick's race
Tyler Reddick worked through a stomach illness as he held off Larson to win the regular season. He said his son was ill last week at Daytona and, as most parents know, that left Reddick susceptible to getting sick.
Reddick felt it coming on midday Friday and thought it had cleared up earlier Sunday. Then it came on in full force once the race began. Reddick thanked his crew, who kept him medicated and hydrated to make it through.
“At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself,” he said. “Thankfully, they kept that from happening.”
Playoff field
Reddick won the regular-season title, with Larson in second. The rest of the playoff field is: Chase Elliott, followed by Christopher Bell, William Byron, Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Briscoe, Gibbs and Truex.
The first round starts in Atlanta, then goes to Watkins Glen and Bristol before the field is cut to 12.
Honoring Cale
Cale Yarborough, the Hall of Famer driver who died at age 84 on New Year’s Eve, was remembered at his hometown track as Dale Jarrett drove the 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass that Yarborough used to win his third straight Cup Series title in 1978 during pace laps. Yarborough won five of the Labor Day weekend crown jewel races, second to Jeff Gordon’s six, at Darlington after growing up there a few miles away.
Up next
The playoffs start next week at Atlanta on Sunday, with the first round continuing at Watkins Glen and Bristol the following two weeks.
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AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing