No offense to Chase Briscoe. Not but, anyway, we’ll get round to that down beneath.
However critically, Darlington isn’t purported to be so beneficiant. The outdated woman is choosy about handing out such treats — she’s extra of a back-of-the-hand than a kiss-on-the-cheek sort. However boy howdy, did she ever make Briscoe really feel heat and fuzzy.
“I used to be crying after the checkered,” Briscoe mentioned after Sunday night time’s shocker. “I simply gained the Southern 500. It is a crown jewel.”
And he gained it with Stewart-Haas teammates who’re principally boxing up their stuff because the crew’s ultimate season in NASCAR winds down. And within the ultimate race of the common season and due to this fact the final remaining shot at making the playoffs.
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Did somebody say shot?
“We stored saying all week, we obtained one bullet left within the chamber,” Briscoe mentioned. “That bullet hit.”
A couple of others caught some shrapnel. Let’s undergo the gears to wrap up the common season’s irregular end.
First Gear: Darlington delivers a NASCAR shocker
Truthfully, it’s sufficient to make you surprise. If a little bit of desperation and hell-bent-for-leather willpower works prefer it did Sunday night time for Briscoe, why on Earth can’t they … oh, I don’t know … replicate it a number of different occasions throughout an extended season? His No. 14 crew hadn’t led a single lap at a non-plate race since Week 8 at Martinsville.
… Till Sunday night time, and the way he obtained there was a factor of magnificence. He sat fourth on a restart with 26 to go, behind Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and the man who dominated a lot of the night time, Kyle Larson. Approaching Flip 3, Briscoe noticed a possibility down low, pounced, caught the touchdown and by no means gave up the lead.
You’ll’ve thought it was Dale Earnhardt or David Pearson in that automobile. Or possibly Kyle Busch.
Sure, Kyle Busch, who deserves one other pat on the again, this time for arriving late to the Sunday night time get together however practically stealing the present. He caught Briscoe late however couldn’t end it off. Perhaps he might’ve dealt with Briscoe, however no person beats the weather, it seems.
“As soon as I obtained inside his air, I actually didn’t have sufficient to energy via that, to get nearer,” Busch mentioned. “I used to be form of sliding already.”
Solely a racer can reside with emitting soiled air.
Second Gear: Kyle Larson loses 15; Tyler Reddick loses lunch
Kyle Busch misses the playoffs for the primary time since 2012, when the playoffs hosted 12 as a substitute of 16 racers. However he’s been given one thing to work with in latest weeks, and don’t be shocked if he will get a win over the subsequent 10 weeks to make it 20 straight seasons with a minimum of one trophy.
In the meantime, Kyle Larson goes to the playoffs with the lead within the standings because of his 40 bonus factors gathered via the 12 months. The 40 are eight higher than second-place Christopher Bell, however Kyle’s 40 might’ve been 55 and his lead may very well be 23 if he hadn’t misplaced to Tyler Reddick by one level for the regular-season championship.
As a substitute, it is Reddick who gladly accepts that 15-point bonus. And oh how he earned it on a sickly night time. Hope you do not have a weak abdomen.
Keep in mind when Larson missed the Coke 600 as a result of rain delay for his Indy 500 debut? Zero laps at Charlotte, zero factors, and whereas his bonus-points cushion will carry him via the Spherical of 16 and possibly assist so much within the Spherical of 12, there might come a time when he wished he had these 15 additional factors.
You possibly can’t blame Kyle, although. There’s no means he and Rick Hendrick might’ve pulled the plug on that Indy effort after all of the work. Like tens of millions earlier than them, they obtained rained on after they didn’t want rain, and it’s too dangerous.
Anybody need to assist begin a GoFundMe effort for Larson and the Hendrick crew? Didn’t suppose so.
Third Gear: NASCAR playoffs actually a 9-man affair
Subsequent up is Atlanta and the beginning of the 10-week playoff run with 16 drivers dreaming of a championship however, frankly, solely 9 of them legit contenders. That’s proper, solely 9.
You may make a championship case for the entire high 9: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Stronger circumstances for some (Larson, Hamlin, and so on.) than others (Chase, Kez and Joey).
However beneath these 9 you’ve got a pair of non-winners (Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex at fifteenth and sixteenth) and 5 drivers whose lone 2024 wins had been by far the spotlight of their seasons — Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe.
These 5 totaled 14 top-fives in a mixed 130 begins this season, with Bowman supplying six of them.
At this level, it is best to most likely hand over on Truex sunsetting on a excessive notice in his ultimate season. Since late June, he’s completed higher than twenty fourth as soon as in eight begins, capping that hunch at Darlington with a Lap 3 lack of grip that despatched himself and Ryan Blaney to the physique store.
Of spots 10-through-16 coming into the playoffs, the one potential dark-horse is Gibbs. You get the sensation, as soon as he will get that first win, others will movement. Who’s to say the inevitable gained’t seem in September?
Fourth Gear: NASCAR 2025 brings Bowman Grey, The Rock, and Mexico Metropolis
Since we final gathered right here, NASCAR launched its 2025 schedule and there appears to be one thing for each camps — the outdated and new faculties.
For the outdated, North Wilkesboro stays as host to the All Star weekend, whereas one other historic stock-car playground — Bowman Grey Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. — is subsequent 12 months’s house to the season-opening Busch Conflict.
As a bonus, The Rock is easing again into the image. NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Collection will race at Rockingham Speedway subsequent April.
Harold Brasington, who constructed and opened Darlington in 1950, constructed The Rock 15 years later simply north of the Carolina state line. From the mid-’60s to twenty years in the past, the Cup Collection raced there twice a 12 months and it was typically fabulous — a 1-mile observe with turns banked at 22 and 25 levels can produce loads of velocity and enjoyable.
For the new-age race fan and, possibly extra importantly the trendy racing government, there’s the brand new market of Mexico Metropolis becoming a member of the Cup schedule subsequent 12 months. Yeah, it’s one other street course, which is taking one in every of Richmond’s two Cup dates, nevertheless it’s a target-rich setting with a ton of auto-racing followers within the area.
However don’t simply imagine me, imagine the racers who’re indignant they aren’t racing there — specifically these open-wheel guys. Wire tales out of Milwaukee this previous week had six-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon and others — together with well-liked racer and Mexico native Pato O’Ward — bemoaning the actual fact NASCAR beat IndyCar south of the border.
Followers of geo-political theater would possibly scratch their heads at such scheduling strikes, however when it comes to market entries, it’s what the promoters name fairly a get.
— Attain Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com