Throughout the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, drivers have maintained that to have a shot at this year’s championship, they need to go into the 10-race, 16-driver Chase ranked among the top-four or five in the reseeded standings.
However, as the series prepares for the opening Chase green flag in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at the venerable Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (5 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), there exists a fresh outlook at that title shot. Momentum, history, and passion cannot be discounted. And the 1.366-mile Darlington oval certainly has a history of delivering big storylines.
No. 1 Chase seed and perennial title challenger Denny Hamlin certainly expects as much.
“If you would use numbers, you would say yes,” Hamlin said of the title favoring the six Toyota drivers in the Chase field. “But there are drivers that I believe step up in these scenarios in the playoffs, in the Chase. So, I don’t believe that the advantage is quite as steep maybe as what it was.”
Certainly, Hamlin, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota heads to Darlington feeling very good about his own chances in the Chase opener and the opportunity after the points reset to reestablish himself the season’s top contender.
His five wins at Darlington are most among active drivers and his 8.0 average finish in 28 starts at the track is best all-time. It’s his personal best at tracks he’s competed on more than eight times.
And when it comes to winning one of the sport’s “crown jewel” races – the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500 – no one on the grid has won more than Hamlin (seven).
He and his JGR teammate Chase Briscoe – the two-time defending Southern 500 champion – are the only two drivers in the field with multiple wins at the track in the last 13 races there.
Briscoe, the driver of the No. 19 JGR Toyota, comes into the Chase ranked fifth in the championship after a solid performance in the closing regular season races. Last year, his 309 laps led to victory were the most at the track since the late Dale Earnhardt led 335 laps in the 1986 spring race there. A win Sunday would tie Briscoe with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to win three consecutive Southern 500s.
“I definitely am excited to start [the Chase] with the Southern 500,” Briscoe said, adding, “I don’t feel like there’s really a weakness out of any of the Chase races for us. To hopefully go to, Darlington, the goal is a 76-point day, win both stages, win the race, and have the fastest lap.
“And we were able to do that last year, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again. If we do that the 45 points to Denny, even if he runs second in all the stages, it’s cut in half already. That’s the goal and hopefully we can do that.”
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney is ranked second to Hamlin in the reseeded Chase point standings, now only 25 points back. 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who leads the series with five wins this year is third, 35 points off his team co-owner Hamlin, with JGR’s Ty Gibbs (-40) and Briscoe (-45) completing the top-five in the standings.
JGR’s Christopher Bell, reigning series champ Kyle Larson and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, Penske’s Joey Logano and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher round out the reseeded top-10. Spire Motorsports teammates Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar, followed by Hendrick’s William Byron, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Penske’s Austin Cindric are ranked 11th-15th.
RFK’s Ryan Preece, who delivered the most clutch effort of the season – and perhaps his own career – raced his way into the 16th and final Chase position with a stunning victory in last week’s regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Of these drivers, it’s worth noting, Reddick won from pole position at Darlington this spring. …Buescher’s eight top-10 finishes at the track since 2021 are the most in the field. …the driver who has led the most laps in the Southern 500 has finished 22nd or worse in half the last six races. …the three-time series champ Logano has not led a lap in the last seven Darlington races. …Elliott has only a single top-10 in the last 12 races of the season coming into Darlington. …Blaney’s average finish in the spring races at Darlington is 14th, but his average finish in the Southern 500 is 20th. … Larson’s average finish in his first eight races at Darlington was 5.5 but in the last nine races at the track it’s 21.7.
Although he did not qualify for this year’s Chase, owner-driver Brad Keselowski goes to Darlington optimistic. He swept both Stage wins in the Spring and finished runner-up to Reddick. His average running position of 2.5 is best among all drivers and Darlington is also the site of his last victory (May 2024).
Practice for the Southern 500 is at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday with Busch Light Pole Qualifying set for 5:15 p.m. ET. Both will be broadcast on TruTv, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Hamlin is the defending pole winner.
— NASCAR Wire Service —