HLs: Darlington kicks off Cup Series Chase
Relive the action from Darlington Raceway as drivers battle in the opening race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase.
Video Transcript
Hope you're with friends and family on this Labor Day weekend.
It's a special time in the NASCAR Cup Series.
This is a tradition that goes back decades.
It is right in the heart of NASCAR.
This is the Cook Out Southern 500.
This is Darlington Raceway.
Let's go.
The chase is on.
Daniel Suarez to the front with authority.
Ahead of Tyler Reddick, here comes the number one seed, Denny Hamlin, on the inside to second place.
Reddick chose the outside.
Suarez took advantage, took the lead.
The 11 rolled the bottom.
You see back in the field, two and three wide through the narrower turns three and four, or the smaller radius.
Now to actually the narrower driving lane, but the higher speed turn one and two.
Well, Denny Hamlin made a run at Suarez, but got really tight right behind him.
That gives Reddick some forward momentum.
Suarez asserting himself early as a contender, pushing, shoving, trying to keep this position.
Hamlin gonna have a big run, though.
This is intense for the first couple of laps of 500 miles.
Denny Hamlin to the front.
Will there be a concession?
Small.
A little concession from the seven.
He'll settle back in second.
It's just amazing to me.
We come to a racetrack that's so difficult, and on the first lap it is an immediate battle.
No worries at all.
They just immediately got aggressive.
This has been wild, Jeff.
Yeah, watch this right here.
Little bit of a block.
That's typical Darlington.
Gibbs got kinda held up on the exit because of being side by side.
Hosouvar s- Hosouvar saw that, took advantage of it.
His car is rolling the bottom of the racetrack, Dave.
So Jeff, the radio traffic to the driver after all of that was, "Be smart.
November."
Jeff, what happens in November?
Trying to win a championship.
Here's how that pass for the lead happened.
Yeah, he was running Denny Ham- Hamlin down pretty quickly.
Used the speed in one and two to get close enough to him to put a little bit of a slider on him, knowing that he was gonna be slow on the exit of turn four.
But he had the preferred spot.
I think Denny probably could have been door to door with him getting to one, but Denny knew there was no chance he was gonna beat him off two.
Competition caution will happen on the next lap after 35 laps.
Daniel Suarez was very happy that caution came out.
He fell all the way back to 17.
Logano and Hosouvar side by side, the 22 and the 77.
How about at the start of this race that Erik Jones has made?
Phenomenal.
There's the 43 Dollar Tree for Legacy Motor Club, the green and white car, bottom screen.
Take you back just a few moments ago between Ross Chastain and Carson Hosouvar.
Hosouvar to the left.
Oh.
Bubba Wallace running in ninth position.
We showed him getting on pit road.
He almost missed the entry.
This is the most difficult pit road.
I mean, he came so close to missing it.
This is Why is it so difficult?
Number one, you can't see it.
Look how out of control he is.
You cannot see that orange box that you have to have all four tires below until you get there.
And once you get to that apron of the racetrack, there's no grip whatsoever.
Well- Battle right here.
We've seen this earlier in the race.
The 45 of Reddick just seems to have more pace on a longer run than Denny Hamlin.
Yeah, 22 laps on the tires, to your point.
Christopher Bell right behind him.
Christopher has run these guys down.
This is a challenging racetrack.
We've talked about it, Steve, how hard it is, how long this race is.
He can't run into traffic.
He can't heap up the tires.
For if he can be that much faster than the 11 car for 35 laps, there's a chance he can get up inside the top three, perhaps even battle Tyler Reddick for a stage win.
Look at this battle right here.
I mean, there's The top five are all within just over a second from each other.
Wallace has already gone around Briscoe.
MJ back in the house.
He's got that little grin.
He should have his grin.
His car's running first.
And fourth.
And fourth on the attack.
I love this move right here.
He's been watching Christopher Bell run the bottom.
He jumps up to the top.
Oh, big run.
Oh, he'll be side by side with him.
This is for third, with 16 laps to go in stage one.
And executes another move.
So it's just his boss and his teammate left.
There's a problem, and that will conclude stage one.
You remember, new rule as of several races ago, if there is a caution within 10 laps from the end of a stage, that will conclude the stage.
I think so, probably like a left rear.
Problem for Brad Keselowski.
Here's what happened.
Rolls into the top of three and four.
77 underneath him.
Oof.
Yeah, these- Contact from the seven.
The seven into the six.
Around Brad goes.
Hosouvar just spins him out.
I mean, this is the thing that everybody gets so frustrated Carson Hosouvar about.
I mean, he just comes up the racetrack and hits him.
I mean, he just People are, you know, drivers are tired of it.
Be honest, in the garage area, everyone is over it.
And fans can not like that, but this is why.
They just He just, you know, simply turns him around.
Yeah, Preece, the original stop had some issues.
I didn't see exactly what it was, but here's the re-pit stop.
Seems like they're gonna double check the right rear, which I hate tightening it with it jacked up on the left.
They loosened and tightened the left front, so we'll just have to keep an eye on the 60.
Another moment for Brad Keselowski in the six to build some Marines forward for RFK.
Here's what happened to him.
Same spot, interestingly enough Yeah, this one though I think's gonna be self-induced, trying to come to pit road.
Just try- he knows he needs to get one more downshift.
Rear tires just wheel hop a little bit and around he came.
And we talked about how difficult this pit road is.
You are better off giving up two seconds getting on pit road versus spinning out.
He said he was way too free on the extremities, entry and exit.
They came into pit road together, lead.
They're leaving pit road together.
How about the 2311 teammates battling out on the racetrack?
There goes Bubba on the inside of Tyler Reddick, and here comes Chase Briscoe.
One extra lap, that's what it took.
Bubba Wallace was on pit road one lap sooner.
You're looking at nearly three seconds of fall off.
He was two and a half seconds back.
Take you back a few moments ago and show you something that happened to Chris Buescher.
This is before he pitted.
Oh.
Trying to leave the corner, back of the car just did not have the grip that he wanted.
Hit that wall pretty hard.
Check this out.
Oh, I love that shot.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
He turned right at the end of the straightaway.
Chase that wall that you love so much, Jeff, but then in the middle, just a little bit of contact.
Reddick finishes up his stop at the end of pit road.
Oh, issues.
Whoa.
Left out of the 45.
They're gonna have to back him up.
Back up, back up, back up, back up.
Back up.
Back up.
Jack it up.
Tighten up the left front.
You heard clear communication on the radio.
Loosen it up, tighten it up.
Gonna cost the 45 multiple spots on the racetrack.
Great job by the driver stopping.
Hopefully the pit crew member was okay.
You saw him get drug out by that air gun.
Brees also on pit road.
And that's gonna cycle Chase Briscoe to the top.
Briscoe is on the same cycle lap count as Wallace, and so too Now, remember that separation was caused between the 2311 teammates because of that slow stop for Tyler Reddick.
Briscoe and Wallace, same lap.
Unbelievable.
Sub nine second pit stops for both of these cars.
8.89.
Christopher Bell just got by the 23 of Bubba Wallace.
Christopher Bell with a, that four lap fresher tires than Chase Briscoe, and he has been quite a bit quicker.
And here's that replay of what happened to Buescher.
Going through turns one and two, and another, or three and four actually, another contact with the wall.
So Steve, here's the plan.
They wanted to confirm the right rear toe link is bent.
It is indeed bent, as the battle between Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin rages on the racetrack for the fourth position.
So the toe link is bent, Steve.
They're going to change that at the next stage for Chris Buescher.
Kyle Larson with three lap fresher tires has zipped by Denny Hamlin, but here comes a move for the lead.
Christopher Bell on his JGR teammate.
Slides up into the top spot.
He is the first car one lap down right now.
He has got to do everything in his power to stay there.
If he i- if he can get that done, then he can get back on the lead lap.
He needs to be a fan of this guy right here, Todd Gilliland, who's the last car in the lead lap.
You know, other races, has the 34 cut the 20 some slack.
1.8 seconds, Bell might say, "Hey" Yep.
"I'm gonna let the 34 run off in front of me.
He's, he's done me solid.
I don't want to damage the right side of my car."
Todd did a great job right there, was able to keep him behind him.
Big points.
Big points for Christopher Bell.
Maximum 10 go to him.
That's his fifth stage win of the season.
Nicely done.
And Kyle Larson, that's big for the five as well.
I think it was on the right side.
Oh, the right front tire changer didn't get a clean roll.
He knew it could roll away.
He had to go back and he'd get it.
Also an issue for Denny Hamlin.
Check this out.
Right side's off.
This time it's a right rear, had to come back and jack it up to tighten it, so two Joe Gibbs Toyota slow pit stops.
13 seconds for Bell, nearly 16 seconds for Hamlin.
Look and listen to this.
Yeah, so the 19 had a fuel issue.
Kim reported it.
He was trying to save some gas, and then across the line he reports he's out of gas, and then radio issues.
Listen in.
Can you run around on the caution on the flat here?
Can you hear me?
Yeah, I'm just, I'm coasting as long as I can.
I mean, yeah, I think so.
Maybe have a couple of 10, though.
Gotta maintain speed here.
Come on.
Better get on the subway.
Just run the flat.
Run the flat.
Gonna come this time.
I won't make it.
Can you not hear me?
Pit this time.
So what I hear there is the spotter trying to let him know that he has to get, keep, he has to keep up pace.
James Small and Briscoe talking about how much fuel isn't running.
There's a lot to digest.
It's a little hard to unpack, but Jeff, I think it's clear multiple people on the button at the same time, miscommunication, but the fueling issue still causes the 19 to pit a lap early.
He doesn't lose a lap in the situation, but he now will be tail end under penalty for the start of the final stage.
With all that said, now we have 130 go, and look at that sight.
Beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
And considering what happened to Tyler Reddick on pit road, Reddick is back up into fifth place.
Remember when he won here earlier this year, he overcame a 16.9 second stop to win.
As we begin stage three of the Cook Out Southern 500 here in Darlington, it's Kyle Larson leading the field to green.
And that five team, five car, driver of the five, owner of the five, has to love that sight to see Kyle Larson driving off the front of the field at Darlington.
But Blaney in that 12 car, he had trouble in that restart.
He got into turn one, and he had everybody stacked up.
His car did not drive the way he thought it would.
Three wide here.
Whoa.
Bell up high.
Elliott in the middle.
Oh, a stackup.
It involves Hamlin and McDowell, both slow.
Oh.
Banging, banging.
Contact there.
I don't know if the 11 has a flat.
11's got a problem it looks like.
Can he get Yeah, still going slow.
Damage.
Damage.
Damage on the 11, so some contact happened be- in three and four.
Let's see what happens.
Has to be the exit of four.
Here comes Michael McDowell from behind.
Bang.
I don't know if McDowell was getting a run and Denny chopped the gas, or if there was just contact between them.
It's hard to tell from that angle whether the 11 was out of the gas or not.
Listen.
It's hard for me to tell.
A lot of pedaling of the throttle.
Kyle Larson is loving everything he's seeing, because currently as the tires age, his lead only continues to grow.
Put 3.2 seconds on Bubba Wallace.
Also on pit road, Chase Elliott.
He said, "I don't know, tighter, looser."
A little confusion on the nine as to what the right way to go is.
Oh, it's a spinner on the front stretch.
Oh boy, Zane Smith in the Aaron's 4.
Try to keep it rolling here.
Kind of in the middle right here.
McDowell down low.
Ross Chastain up high.
Contact.
A stackup.
Let's see if we can see here what happens.
Um- Yeah, McDowell just gets up the racetrack does the number one seed, Denny Hamlin, but a problematic night.
Yeah, they came in, took the right sides off, looked at both toe links.
Neither was changed.
They circled back around, now they're coming in and looking at working on the left side.
Did he get into the wall?
Yeah, I believe he did.
I think there was a little touch of the fence.
These guys fighting over second place.
Christopher Bell dives to the inside.
And Marty, for Joey Logano, despite balance issues as well as whispers of an engine issue, he's been able to maintain that 10th position.
And while this has not been a headline Oh, looks like we have an issue.
Yeah, it's William Byron.
Big problem on the 24.
Yeah, we saw, heard some radio.
I couldn't tell what it was.
I don't know if he had a flat tire, but he definitely has spun around.
Running in the ninth position.
Right side tires are up, but it looks like it's tipped over on the left s- no, left side tires look up as well.
Here's what happened to William Byron.
That is wild.
At big speed.
Something is broken, but they could not find it when they came in to diagnose it, and r- and Rudy is pretty frustrated- Oh, wow because they couldn't figure out what it is.
Left front.
It's the left front, not the left rear.
There's smoke pouring out of the left front.
I mean, there's definitely a major issue with this 24 car.
Smoke now pouring out of the left front.
So something is definitely broken on the 24 car.
William Byron said it just blew up.
It just blew up.
So a, an engine issue, Steve?
Yeah.
They're gonna check on the left front here is what Rudy is saying now.
Well, we're coming to the restart.
They're gonna wave it off, probably from the smoke from the 24 to make sure there's no fluid.
Great decision by NASCAR.
Yep.
We don't need, we don't need this to be the determining factor of who wins this race today.
Two teammates on the front row.
Let's go.
Bottom lane did an incredibly good job.
Briscoe and Bell fight it out at the front, the two teammates into turn one.
Bell up high.
Now it's three JGR Toyotas in the top three positions.
Reddick gets by Larson for now.
Here comes Berry.
But look at these two out in front.
Briscoe determined to come back from that hiccup with the fuel.
Bell determined not to finish second for the eighth time, and look at this.
Gibbs in the Monster Mobile.
Gibbs needs to check up a little bit here, give a little bit of space, get some momentum on corner exit.
Joey Logano finding a way to gobble up some points at the end of a race.
Passes the 23 car, moves into the ninth position.
Oh, watch out.
Watch out.
Watch out.
Yellow on the racetrack.
Is this for Ryan?
Potential fluid on the racetrack.
Here they come.
I think everyone's gonna come.
Oh, Larson stays.
Okay.
Okay, couple of the Penske guys stayed out as well.
Pole and restart zone, and yet again we see Kyle Larson launch out of there.
In front, leading the field to green.
How do the old tires hold up?
Chase Briscoe on the flat on the 19 car, trying to get some grip on those new tires.
He's able to pass the 60 of Truex.
But he's- Oh, Cindric almost gets wrecked.
His teammate Ty Gibbs got a better run.
He's up to fourth already.
Sideways off two.
Bell getting by Logano to get into second.
Here he comes with those four new tires.
And 54 is coming.
He's fast.
Whoa, that was close for Christopher Bell.
Bell's gotta make this move.
Bell has been in position so many times, and has not been able to make the race-winning move to get the win.
Now he's loose.
And his teammate is right with him.
Frustratingly, he watched his teammate, who's chasing him now, win in Iowa.
Watch the 20 here.
There was wall contact.
Oh, Larson low.
Oh, yeah.
Larson said, "I can run low too."
Oh, he's there.
Christopher Bell on the inside.
Christopher Bell for the lead.
Is this the moment where he becomes a Southern 500 winner, and becomes a winner in 2026?
But here comes Ty Gibbs.
This is the fight for third.
Oh, his tires are falling off, this five car.
Yeah, he just doesn't have anything to fight with anymore.
Blaney's gonna try to fight for the position as well.
One to go, presented by Credit One Bank, and it's the Mobile One Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing of Christopher Bell.
He's been in the postseason half a dozen times.
He's finished top three in the championship.
He's also been locked out in the former playoff era, and not been able to race to the championship.
Well, he's changing the theme and changing the tone.
Finally, Christopher Bell wins in 2026.
Southern 500.
He's a Southern 500 champ.
Great job, brother.
Proud of you.
Proud of you, V team for stepping up there.
Find me some marbles, brother.
Find me some marbles.
