Chase Briscoe takes Darlington, securing spot in NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12

Chase Briscoe won his second consecutive Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, dominating the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs opener at Darlington Raceway.

Briscoe led 309 of 367 laps and swept the first two stages to secure a spot in the Round of 12.

Briscoe, driving a Toyota, held off a late push from Tyler Reddick. Reddick got close over the final 10 laps, but couldn’t complete the pass. Briscoe crossed the finish line 0.408 seconds ahead of Reddick and 0.537 seconds ahead of Erik Jones, who finished third.

“So cool to win two Southern 500s in a row,” Briscoe said. “A great way to start our playoffs. That was a lot of fun.”

Briscoe is the first driver to win consecutive Southern 500s since Greg Biffle in 2005 and 2006.

John Hunter Nemechek was fourth, with AJ Allmendinger in fifth. Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin finished sixth and seventh, respectively, helping Toyota place six cars in the top seven for the first time in a Cup race.

While Briscoe celebrated, many other playoff drivers faced issues.

Josh Berry’s championship hopes took an immediate hit on lap 1 when his car made contact with Reddick’s and hit the wall. Berry finished last in 38th and dropped to 16th in the playoff standings, 19 points below the cut line.

Other playoff contenders also struggled. Alex Bowman had a 40-second pit stop and finished 31st, while Christopher Bell was involved in a pit-road collision and came in 29th.

Chase Elliott finished 17th, the best among the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers. He sits nine points above the elimination line.

Top-seeded Kyle Larson finished 19th, and teammate William Byron was 21st. They remain third and fifth in the standings, respectively.

Shane van Gisbergen was burned by an inopportune caution after running long before pitting in the final stage and finished 32nd, spending most of the 22 Playoff points he earned with four wins during the regular season.

Van Gisbergen is 12th in the standings, just three points ahead of 20th-place finisher Joey Logano, the first driver below the elimination line. Richmond winner Austin Dillon came home 23rd and is 14th on the Playoff grid, eight points behind van Gisbergen.

Cook Out Southern 500

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Darlington Raceway
Darlington, South Carolina
Sunday, August 31, 2025

1. (2) Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 367.
2. (4) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 367.
3. (19) Erik Jones, Toyota, 367.
4. (30) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 367.
5. (22) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 367.
6. (8) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 367.
7. (1) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 367.
8. (23) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 367.
9. (26) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 367.
10. (15) Chris Buescher, Ford, 367.
11. (6) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 367.
12. (10) Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 367.
13. (24) Zane Smith, Ford, 367.
14. (34) Noah Gragson, Ford, 367.
15. (32) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 367.
16. (27) Ryan Preece, Ford, 367.
17. (21) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 367.
18. (12) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 367.
19. (5) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 367.
20. (14) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 367.
21. (11) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 367.
22. (16) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 367.
23. (9) Austin Dillon (P), Chevrolet, 367.
24. (18) Cole Custer, Ford, 367.
25. (17) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 366.
26. (28) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 366.
27. (13) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 366.
28. (33) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 366.
29. (7) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 365.
30. (35) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 365.
31. (29) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 365.
32. (20) Shane Van Gisbergen # (P), Chevrolet, 365.
33. (25) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 365.
34. (31) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 365.
35. (38) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, 354.
36. (37) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, Mechanical, 282.
37. (36) Cody Ware, Ford, Suspension, 249.
38. (3) Josh Berry (P), Ford, 239.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 130.148 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 51 Mins, 7 Secs.
Margin of Victory: .408 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 37 laps.
Lead Changes: 24 among 10 drivers.