2023 Cook Out Southern 500

2023 Cook Out Southern 500

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Race 27 of 36 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series
Date	September 3, 2023 (2023-09-03)
Location	Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.198 km)
Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.666 km)
Average speed	120.906 miles per hour (194.579 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing
Time	29.065
Most laps led
Driver	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Laps	177
Winner
No. 5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	USA
Announcers	Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and Todd Gordon
Turn Announcers	Dave Moody (1–2) and Jason Toy (3–4)

The 2023 Cook Out Southern 500, the 60th running of the event, was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on September 3, 2023, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 367 laps on the 1.366-mile (2.198 km) egg-shaped oval, it was the 27th race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, the first race of the 2023 NASCAR playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 16.

Report

Background

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.
• (P) denotes playoff driver.
• (OP) denotes owner’s playoffs car.

Practice

Christopher Bell was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 29.197 seconds and a speed of 168.428 mph (271.059 km/h).^[10]

Practice results

Qualifying

Christopher Bell scored the pole for the race with a time of 29.065 and a speed of 169.193 mph (272.290 km/h).^[11]

Qualifying results

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage One Laps: 115

Stage Two Laps: 115

Final Stage results

Stage Three Laps: 137

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 13 among 7 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 8 for 51 laps
• Red flags: 1 for 10 minutes
• Time of race: 4 hours, 8 minutes, and 47 seconds
• Average speed: 120.906 miles per hour (194.579 km/h)

Media

Television

USA covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, two–time Darlington winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. called Stages 1 and 3 of the race from the broadcast booth. Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty called Stage 2 of the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Kim Coon and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 William Byron 2,075 4 2 Kyle Larson 2,074 (–1) 7 3 Tyler Reddick 2,060 (–15) 4 Chris Buescher 2,057 (–18) 2 5 Denny Hamlin 2,057 (–18) 4 6 Martin Truex Jr. 2,055 (–20) 2 7 Kyle Busch 2,050 (–25) 1 8 Brad Keselowski 2,048 (–27) 1 9 Ryan Blaney 2,046 (–29) 2 10 Ross Chastain 2,043 (–32) 11 Joey Logano 2,033 (–42) 5 12 Christopher Bell 2,031 (–44) 3 13 Bubba Wallace 2,030 (–45) 1 14 Kevin Harvick 2,029 (–46) 1 15 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2,027 (–48) 3 16 Michael McDowell 2,012 (–63) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 1,000 2 Ford 929 (–71) 3 Toyota 927 (–73) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

This page was last edited on 1 November 2023, at 16:44