Kyle Larson won the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway advancing to the next round of the playoffs and sending a message to the field that he remains a force to be dealt with.
The first race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs began Sunday evening at Darlington with Christopher Bell on the pole.
Denny Hamlin would score the first playoff points winning the first stage as Bubba Wallace spun on the closing lap of the stage. An unexpected red flag came out during the second stage due to a power outage of the lights in turns 3 and 4. Hamlin would win the second stage of the race.
Hamlin’s night would go bad when he had to pit for a loose wheel on lap 270 following a green flag stop losing a lap in the process.
With less than 40 laps to go Kyle Larson would find himself out front ahead of Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski and William Byron.
Larson would remain up front finishing ahead of Reddick, Buescher, Byron and Ross Chastain who rebounded from early race struggles. The first non-playoff finisher was Chase Elliott in eighth.
Darlington Raceway Cup Series Results
September 3, 2023
|
POSITION
|
START
|
LED
|
BEHIND
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
K. Larson#5
|
18
|
55
|
Winner
|
|
2 |
T. Reddick#45
|
3
|
90
|
0.447
|
|
3 |
C. Buescher#17
|
8
|
0
|
0.898
|
|
4 |
W. Byron#24
|
23
|
0
|
0.930
|
|
5 |
R. Chastain#1
|
27
|
0
|
3.160
|
|
6 |
B. Keselowski#6
|
5
|
0
|
6.517
|
|
7 |
B. Wallace#23
|
19
|
0
|
7.586
|
|
8 |
C. Elliott#9
|
13
|
0
|
7.977
|
|
9 |
R. Blaney#12
|
4
|
0
|
8.224
|
|
10 |
E. Jones#43
|
20
|
0
|
8.533
|
|
11 |
K. Busch#8
|
11
|
0
|
8.887
|
|
12 |
J. Logano#22
|
6
|
0
|
8.969
|
|
13 |
A. Allmendinger#16
|
16
|
0
|
9.432
|
|
14 |
A. Almirola#10
|
10
|
0
|
11.269
|
|
15 |
C. Briscoe#14
|
12
|
0
|
12.093
|
|
16 |
R. Stenhouse Jr#47
|
25
|
0
|
12.742
|
|
17 |
C. Hocevar#42
|
15
|
0
|
12.991
|
|
18 |
M. Truex Jr#19
|
31
|
0
|
13.444
|
|
19 |
K. Harvick#4
|
7
|
1
|
13.558
|
|
20 |
A. Dillon#3
|
28
|
0
|
14.390
|
|
21 |
T. Gibbs#54
|
17
|
0
|
14.990
|
|
22 |
C. LaJoie#7
|
22
|
3
|
15.157
|
|
23 |
C. Bell#20
|
1
|
41
|
1 Lap
|
|
24 |
J. Haley#31
|
29
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
25 |
D. Hamlin#11
|
2
|
177
|
1 Lap
|
|
26 |
T. Gilliland#38
|
30
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
27 |
R. Newman#51
|
35
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
28 |
R. Preece#41
|
34
|
0
|
3 Laps
|
|
29 |
T. Dillon#77
|
26
|
0
|
3 Laps
|
|
30 |
J. Yeley#15
|
33
|
1
|
5 Laps
|
|
31 |
A. Cindric#2
|
14
|
0
|
6 Laps
|
|
32 |
M. McDowell#34
|
9
|
0
|
–
|
|
33 |
A. Bowman#48
|
24
|
0
|
–
|
|
34 |
D. Suárez#99
|
21
|
0
|
–
|
|
35 |
H. Burton#21
|
32
|
0
|
–
|
|
36 |
B. McLeod#78
|
36
|
0
|
|
