NASCAR race at Darlington: Playoffs mark a new season, starting lineup, how to watch

A new season begins in Darlington.

The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs kicks off at Darlington Raceway for the Cook Out Southern 500, which will begin at 6 p.m. on Sunday barring any (more) inclement weather. You can catch the race on USA Network or on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

There will still be 30-plus drivers zooming around the track, finishing out their seasons and upholding their sponsorship deals and contracts, but 16 of them will be chasing a championship. And based on what many of those 16 say, this year’s playoffs don’t have a clear favorite.

At NASCAR’s playoff media day, regular-season champion Chase Elliott said that “he doesn’t really see a favorite” and that the “narrative of how many winners we have, it’s not a fluke.” Denny Hamlin, despite having another solid two-win season, said he felt like he and his team was “one in the crowd” and “too inconsistent” to be in the championship contender conversation this year.

Kyle Larson said that he and Elliott — two of the top-performing drivers in the series — are not any more likely to win it all than their two other playoff-bound Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Alex Bowman and William Byron.

“I don’t view their regular seasons as anything different,” Larson said of Bowman an Byron with a shrug. “When they go into the playoffs, I view William and Alex as threats just as much as Chase or I would be. They’ve been every bit as fast as we have. We’ve just had some things go our way that maybe they haven’t.”

In so many words: it’s all wide open.

Joey Logano, who took home the checkered flag in Darlington in May, took the pole at qualifying on Saturday afternoon. It’s his second pole in 18 races at Darlington Raceway and his 24th pole in 498 NASCAR Cup Series races.

Bubba Wallace, who announced earlier this week that he’d be switching from the No. 23 car to the No. 45 car for the final 10 races of the season as 23XI Racing competes for the Owner’s Championship, will start eighth. Ty Gibbs will drive the No. 23 entry at Darlington and will begin in P21.

The playoff driver with the worst starting position is Daniel Suarez. The TrackHouse Racing driver and his No. 99 car team will begin Sunday evening’s race at the rear after his car failed inspection three times. In addition to not being allowed to qualify, he had his car chief ejected and lost pit stall selection. He’ll serve a pass-through penalty at the race’s start, per NASCAR rules.

Here’s what else you need to know:

How to watch NASCAR race at Darlington

• Race: Cook Out Southern 500
  
  

• Distance: 367 laps / 501.32 miles

• Stages: 115 / 230 / 367

• Where: Darlington Raceway
• When: 6 p.m. ET
• TV: USA Network
• Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR
• Purse: $7,823,733

Darlington Cup race starting lineup

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story provided incorrect track details like track distance and number of laps per stage. That has since been rectified.

This story was originally published September 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription