NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Start Playoffs on Top in Southern 500 at Darlington?
The NASCAR Playoffs are finally upon us once again. Race one of the 10-week marathon will take place Sunday at Darlington Raceway. The Southern 500 is here, giving all drivers and teams one of the most physical, grueling challenges of the season. Who’s turn is it to dance with The Lady in Back and tame Darlington? Here are a few favorites heading into the Cook Out Southern 500.
Denny Hamlin
One of the all-time best at Darlington Raceway is Denny Hamlin. Driver 11 has four Darlington triumphs, most recently the Southern 500 two years ago. A 7.7 average finish across 22 career South Carolina starts leads all drivers in NASCAR history. Entering the weekend as the third Playoff seed, Hamlin envisions another strong day ahead for team 11.
“It’s a great racetrack,” Hamlin said. “(Darlington is) a place that I enjoy going and have had a lot of success at, so I have a lot of confidence going there to start the Playoffs. I know my crew chief (Chris Gabehart) and my team are fired up about this weekend. I expect us to have a good run and to have a shot at winning. We just have to execute the race. It’s very long with a lot of pit stops and restarts and the track changes throughout the race. We just have to stay on top of our adjustments and eliminate mistakes and we can have a good night.”
Hamlin is one of three drivers running Darlington double-duty, also competing in Saturday’s Xfinity race. Between maximum lap time, loving this track and confidence, the stars may be aligning for a Denny Hamlin win. The 11 should be among the class of Sunday’s field, as long as no unforced errors happen on this team.
Kevin Harvick
Making his 32nd and final Darlington start on Sunday is Kevin Harvick. A three-time winner in South Carolina, Harvick’s knowledge and respect for this track trumps the rest of the field. Still winless in his retirement tour season, Darlington is a place where Harvick could sneak back into victory lane.
“Darlington favors the guy who can be very disciplined and is able to push the car right to 99.9 percent of where that tire run is, and be able to put the car up against the wall and not overstep those boundaries,” Harvick said. “You have to be very disciplined there to get everything out of the car and keep up with the tire fall-off and not tear anything up – on your own, let alone being around everybody else.”
“No matter how hot it is, it’s just a mentally taxing race. It’s just you against the track and being able to have that mindset and know that every lap you have to be up on top of the wheel in order to keep yourself from rubbing up against the wall or doing something that’s detrimental to your car, but also pushing the car hard enough and keeping up with the tire fall-off and understanding all the things that are going on. There are just a lot of moving pieces at Darlington, but it’s really taxing, mentally.”
“I know the characteristics of the racetrack, as far as having to respect it and racing the track. I know what that means, and I’ve definitely been in the wrong position and got carried away and had it bite me before. But it’s a place that I look forward to going to. It’s a place where I enjoy racing and love the challenges that go with it. I think over the last several years we’ve been fortunate to have some success there. The expectation is to go there and have a chance to race up front and put yourself in contention. So that’ll be the expectation as we go back this time and, hopefully, we can do that and have some fun.”
Harvick was a close runner-up in May, so his performance here has remained constant. If not for last year’s untimely Southern 500 fire, Harvick would have over a decade-long steak of Darlington top-10s. This DNF ultimately ended Harvick’s Playoff run a season ago. Hoping for redemption this time around, Harvick could be happy in victory lane one final time.
William Byron
Darlington’s winner from May, William Byron came in clutch four months ago. Leading only seven laps total, Byron returned the No. 24 Chevrolet to a familiar spot in Darlington’s winner’s circle. Entering the Playoffs as the co-points leader, expect Byron to have a great shot at the Darlington season sweep.
“I think we have the potential to run well at all of the tracks in the Playoffs,” Byron said. “We’ve won at some of the tracks and others we have had good runs at before. We have a good notebook built for our team for the next 10 races. I don’t think you can go into any round too overly confident though. Anything can happen in these races and it’s about executing and minimizing your mistakes. The first few races will be continuing to do what we’ve been doing and doing our best to get to round after round. We obviously want to make it to Phoenix Raceway with a chance to run for the championship. I think we have the team to do it. You don’t want to only focus on that and make mistakes early on that take you out of contention.”
The winningest driver and team of 2023 so far shows few signs of slowing down. Byron admittedly got a bit lucky in the Darlington spring race, thanks to leaders ahead of him crashing out. After conquering The Lady in Black once, the 24 should only be better for Sunday’s marathon night.
Martin Truex Jr.
Tied with Byron atop the points standings is two-time Darlington victor Martin Truex Jr. MTJ has been one of the most consistent drivers in recent Darlington memory. Driver 19 has laps led in seven-straight races here. Truex was well on his way to a dominant Southern 500 win last fall, until his water pump failed. Shut out of the top-10 here since 2021, Truex should be one to beat Sunday, as the prerace odds-on favorite.
“It’s very unique, I love it,” Truex said. “It’s really hard on tires and hard to get your car working good. For me, I’ve had a lot of really good runs there and have won a bunch of races and have been really strong in the last four years, so I really enjoy it. I’ve had bad cars there years ago and I can see how that could be just miserable if you don’t have a good car. Fun track and a place I really like.”
“The challenge is that it’s a long race, a lot of pit stops and a lot of chances for things to go wrong. Track position is obviously really important. To go through 13 sets of tires or whatever it is, and track position, what it means there. To keep track position, it’s tough to stay up front and be consistently really strong. It’s tough to do there, and we hope we can do that on Sunday night with our Bass Pro Shops Camry TRD.”
Steady and consistent has been the rallying cry for Truex all season long. Heading into one of his best racetracks, the 19 could make a long night even more dreadful for the competition. This Joe Gibbs Racing team is firing on all cylinders, appearing in many people’s eyes as the championship frontrunner.
Kyle Larson
Shockingly still winless across 11 trips to Darlington is Kyle Larson. Seven of those races have been a top-10 run though, with 715 laps led here. Perhaps Larson hasn’t been closer to Darlington victory than earlier this season. On a late restart, the 5 got ran wide by Ross Chastain, causing them both to wreck out. Larson’s been runner-up three times before at Darlington; is now finally the time for that elusive Southern 500 win?
“Darlington is a great track for us,” Larson said. “I’ve ran really well there, basically my whole career, but just haven’t gotten the win yet in the Cup Series. Hopefully, this weekend is a little bit different and we can put together a solid 500 miles to get that first win at the track ‘Too Tough to Tame.'”
Larson has done everything short of win at Darlington, a dry spell that will end eventually. Entering the 2023 Playoffs as the sixth seed, Larson does have some cushion above the elimination line. Despite this, expect the 5 to be one of the ones to beat Sunday. Larson is also running the Xfinity race, so a weekend sweep could be in order for driver No. 5.
Joey Logano
Another past Darlington winner who can never be counted out is Joey Logano. In last year’s spring race, the No. 22 Ford started on pole, led 107 laps, and nudged William Byron out of the way for the victory. Far from repeating this performance, Logano was a dismal 18th in May. This poor result ended a streak of three-straight Darlington top-10s for the 22. Logano enters Darlington eyeing another strong result for the Penske team.
“The first round is just don’t screw it up,” Logano said. “I know that’s easy to say and a little harder to do, considering what’s on the line. Obviously as hard as Darlington is too, with as many laps right next to the wall and as many pit stops as there are. There’s plenty of opportunities to screw it up, so trying to just get through that one is the goal. That’s one of our better racetracks as a team anyway, so just maximize that day. It seems like, to me, the first race of each round is the most important race. It sets you up for the next two and how you would attack those. If you can get through that day and have thirty-something points over the cut, you’re in pretty good shape to be smart the next two races and get through. If you put yourself a little bit behind the eight ball after Darlington, then you have a little more challenging next two weeks to get through. So to me, the first race of each round is very important.”
After a lackluster regular season, Joey Logano’s gap over the cut line is one measly point. Logano does not need to win at Darlington, but a strong night is required. If the 22 can survive the inevitable chaos, expect him to sneak his way up front late.
Not only is Sunday a chance at winning the most demanding race of the year. This weekend will also see one Playoff driver take a big step ahead towards the Championship stage in Phoenix. Darlington’s green flag will fly Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. The Cook Out Southern 500 never leaves us hungry on storylines or drama. All of this anticipation and hype are only further emphasized with the Playoffs beginning.
Written by Peter Stratta
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