By Field Level Media
Sep 05 (Field Level Media) - Chase Briscoe smiled and conceded he never really had held a specific love for Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, the track nicknamed "Too Tough to Tame." But a 2020 win in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series capped with back-to-back trips to Victory Lane for winning the last two Southern 500s, certainly solidified the historic track as one of his all-time favorites.
This Sunday, Briscoe can tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to win
the Southern 500 for three consecutive years. And he's very aware of what a victory in Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) would mean -- for prosperity and for his current championship run.
"To do that three times in a row would be something really, really special," Briscoe said. "So definitely it's on the radar. One of my favorite races of the year, but certainly, also still aware, just of the situation: you can't wreck trying to win this deal, just with the points and the Chase and everything else."
Briscoe led four laps and finished 12th here in the Spring. The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota goes into this opening race of the 16-driver, 10-race 2026 championship run ranked fifth, 45 points behind leader and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin. He is only 20 points behind second place, Team Penske's Ryan Blaney.
"Just something about this place has always just kind of fit my driving style, I guess," Briscoe added. "I think the first time I ran here was like 2018 or ‘19 in the Xfinity car, and I just remember coming here in my first five laps on the racetrack, thinking man, this place is awesome.
"Like it just fit how I drive for whatever reason. So, I've always just loved this place and yeah, it's been probably the best track for me statistically in my career, I would say, definitely across the Cup Series.
--Reddick ready
Tyler Reddick put together one of the most impressive season starts in the sport's recent history -- claiming his first Daytona 500 win and then hoisting trophies at the next two consecutive races. The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota has won five times -- a personal single season high -- and at one point held a 129-point advantage over Denny Hamlin 12 races into the season.
Among his triumphant early season work was a victory in the Darlington 400-miler -- from pole position.
But a tough-luck spring-into-summer stretch for the No. 45 team, allowed his team co-owner Hamlin to rally past and claim the regular season title. And he'll now start with a 35-point advantage over Reddick, who sits third in the championship standings.
But with four finishes of 11th or better in the last five races, including a pole position and third-place run at Daytona last week, Reddick still enters the Chase portion of the schedule feeling hopeful that he can win his first series title.
With weather forcing the cancellation of Saturday's Busch Light Pole Qualifying at Darlington, Reddick will start from pole position for the eighth time this year.
"I don't think we need to flip a switch or do anything," Reddick said of overcoming the rough mid-summer stretch. "We are going to be rolling back into tracks where we have won at, where we have led laps at, where we are extremely fast at.
"All things seem to be going the right direction at the right time," he added. "It would have been great to hang on to the points lead. It would have been great to not fight the things that we did, but as much as the bad finishes were hard on our standing in the points, we learned a lot from it and with this Chase, the gap is gone and we are seeded and we are going to go now."
"We learned a lot about ourselves when we weren't great," he said. "I sternly believe every team in this Chase is going to face some adversity. ... to stay locked in like we have, if we have situations come up in the Chase, we're going to be ready for it. We'll know how to handle it."
--Preece still smiling
Last week's winner in the Daytona International Speedway regular season finale, RFK Racing's Ryan Preece was still grinning Saturday afternoon in Darlington. The 35-year old Connecticut native rallied from 17th place in the standings before the race to hoisting a trophy in Victory Lane afterward -- making up 31 points in the standings to claim that final championship position.
This Sunday marks his first ever appearance in the Chase and he likes his chances, especially considering he's coming off such a big win -- the first points-paying victory of his career
"I'm happy I have my voice back, well, kind of anyways," said Preece, the driver of the No. 60 RFK Ford Mustang. "I definitely felt like I made it a heck of a week, but it's business as usual. It's nice to know the final 10 weeks we're racing for something. We'll try to go on a run. We definitely have momentum on our side."
Preece has scored top-10 finishes in three of the last five races and led laps both in a ninth place finish at New Hampshire two weeks ago and at Daytona. Even 100 points down to the championship leader Hamlin as the points re-set, he's going into the weekend feeling as optimistic as he possibly can. As the most recent race winner, no one has more momentum.
"How you feel as a race car driver when you show up every week, that is real," Preece said of the momentum. "You show up and if you've had three or four weeks where you've wrecked in a row, I mean, the month of June it felt like I couldn't do anything right and if you think it doesn't affect you as a driver, you're lying to yourself. You're just going into a race thinking, ‘Man, I just want to finish this one.'
"So, for me, being aggressive -- Loudon is the one I'll look at because we had a strong car there and we were around the top five, top three all day for the most part. So, that's why when I look at Darlington I think, why not? If we can pick up where we left off last week and have a strong run here, who knows?"
*OF NOTE. .... NASCAR formally recognized NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Jeremy Clements for becoming the series all-time starts leader. In June he eclipsed Kenny Wallace's mark (547) for most green flags in the series and goes into Saturday night's race at his home track, Darlington, extending his record to 555 races.
--By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
