Chase Briscoe’s three-wide, late-race pass over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain won Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington to qualify for the playoffs.
NASCAR’s playoffs begin just south of Atlanta at one of its fastest tracks, a 1.54-mile quadoval with superspeedway qualities like Daytona and Talladega and a similar rules package to boot.
Turns feature 28-degree banking and are tighter than its larger, longer counterparts, and lap speeds under 30 seconds are common.
Atlanta starts the Cup playoffs this year because of the Olympic break and was moved from July after several years. Kyle Larson (four wins) tops the 16-driver playoff field with Christopher Bell seeded second and Tyler Reddick third.
Daniel Suárez earned his way into the playoffs with his thrilling three-wide, photo-finish victory in the February spring race, edging Ryan Blaney by .003 seconds and Kyle Busch by .007. Suárez is seeded 11th in the playoff field.
Briscoe's win also allowed Stewart-Haas Racing to pursue a third and final championship before shutting down after the season. Briscoe held off Busch with Bell third. Reddick’s 10th-place finish clinched the regular-season championship by a point over Larson, who led 263 laps before Briscoe passed him.
The NASCAR 16-driver playoff opens Sunday when the series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Practice and qualifying is 11:30 am Saturday. Race time is 2 pm Sunday afternoon.
Three races remain in the regular season in the XFinity Series - including this weekend's race in Atlanta - followed by Watkins Glen and Bristol ahead of the 12-team playoffs.
Riverton-native Justin Algaier remains the points leader with Chandler Smith second, Austin Hill third and defending champion Cole Custer fourth. Shane Van Gisbergen leads with three victories this season.
Practice and qualifying is 10 am Saturday morning. Race time is 2 pm Saturday afternoon.
The Craftsman Truck Series is off until Bristol in two weeks.
The playoff field will be cut from 10 to eight after races at Bristol and Kansas.
Christian Eckes, who finished third behind Riggs, leads the playoff standings. After one race, Ben Rhodes and Rajah Caruth are behind the cut line, ninth and 10th in the standings.
Layne Riggs, the son of former NASCAR driver Scott Riggs, dislocated his shoulder celebrating his landmark victory. The team popped it back in place.
