Deja vu of sorts: Jones puts No. 43 back in Darlington victory lane after 55 years
Full race results, post-race notes and updated driver standings are at the bottom of this story.
Darlington Raceway’s tagline is “The Track Too Tough to Tame,” and it lived up to its name once again in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500, the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
After a regular season deemed one of the best in recent memory, with 16 different winners and the most green flag passes for the lead through a regular season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Sunday's 367 laps around the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval in South Carolina provided a plethora of storylines and another first in series history.
When the checkered flag fell after 500 miles, it was Petty GMS Racing's Erik Jones who parked the iconic No. 43 in victory lane at one of the most iconic tracks on the schedule. It marked the first time in the history of the NASCAR playoff system that a non-playoff driver had won the opening race of the Cup playoffs.
“It's just awesome, just so proud of these guys," an excited Jones said of his third career Cup Series victory and his second at Darlington. "We've been so close all year, and I didn't think today was going to be the day. It was going to be a tough one to win, but no better fitting place.
“I love this track; I love this race. On that trophy twice, man. I was pumped to be on it once, but to have it on there twice, pretty cool.”
Erik Jones celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Jones becomes the first driver in Cup playoff history to win the playoff opener but did not qualify for the playoffs in the same season. (Photo by Harold Hinson/HHP for Chevy Racing)
It marked the first win for the No. 43 car at Darlington in 55 years to the day and was the 200th Cup Series win for the iconic number. It was also the first Cup Series victory for the Petty GMS team, which formed at the beginning of the 2022 season in a merger of the two formerly separate organizations.
While Jones wasn’t the most dominating car of the night, he ran inside the top-10 throughout the race and was ready to take advantage when the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch both experienced issues just laps apart.
Coming up on 30 laps to go, Truex was leading Busch when the former radioed his crew that he lost power steering, and with his No. 19 Toyota overheating, he would have to yield the lead to Busch.
Just a few laps later, a caution flag flew for Cody Ware pounding the wall in Turn No. 2 for the second time of the night, and all the leaders hit pit road for fresh Goodyear rubber.
Once again, it was the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing crew maintaining the lead for their driver with a great pit stop. The No. 43 Petty GMS crew also picked up a critical position for Jones, who was slated to restart in the second position.
Busch had led a race-high 155 laps on the night, and with Truex pulling his No. 19 Toyota behind the wall, it appeared to be setting up nicely for a Busch victory and a ticket to the Round of 12. Except as the field circled under caution, smoke began billowing from Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.
As a result, he would take his car to pit road and yield the lead to Jones.
Busch would finish a disappointing 30th and puts him in a near must-win situation in the next two races if he hopes to advance to the Round of 12.
As for Truex, who missed qualifying for the playoffs this season, he finished 31st.
When asked how he was feeling after changing out of his race suit and exiting the hauler, Busch responded: “I don’t know. The sun will come up tomorrow.
“Just unfortunate circumstances for us tonight. Just real proud of the effort. All the stuff the guys have done and gone through – just all the news and everything that’s going on all year. They’ve dug in and never given up and continue. Just had a great car and don’t have anything to show for it. That’s what I really, really hate about it.”
Busch leaves Darlington in the 11th position in the championship standings, eight points above the cutline.
Truex finished the regular season in the fourth position in the point standings, but without a victory, missed qualifying for the playoffs due to a record 16 different winners.
“It’s been tough and this is another tough night for sure, but we’ll come back next week and fight again,” Truex said. “(I'm) just mad, upset, angry. We deserve better and no matter what we do this year it seems wrong.
"When we run good, stuff goes wrong and when we run bad, nothing happens. Just one of those years that we can’t get anything to go our way. It’s about the fifth time I should have won this race and I’ve only won it once, so pretty pissed off.”
While Jones led the final 23 circuits, it wasn’t a walk in the park as he had to hold off Denny Hamlin, who has four Darlington victories on his resume (the most of all active Cup Series drivers) and an average finish of 7.7 at the track (the best among this year's playoff contenders).
“Man, I was focused forward,” Jones said of the final few laps when asked if he was driving out of the rearview mirror or the windshield. “Honestly that's the calmest I've been in the race car going for a win ever, really.
"I think back to the last time winning here and I was driving my guts out. My nerves were pounding, my stomach was hurting, and today it was just business as usual.
“I just feel good about this track and knew Denny (Hamlin) would run me clean. I knew it was going to be tough for him to pass. It was tough to pass all day, and we got a good restart there.
“But man, so proud of everybody. Just what a dream come true. That's all you can say.”
Typically in the opening round of the playoffs, the top-10 finishing positions are dominated by playoff drivers. That wasn’t the case in the opener, as the top-10 featured four non-playoff drivers with Jones in victory lane, Michael McDowell in sixth, Brad Keselowski in seventh and Bubba Wallace in ninth.
Not to be overshadowed by the race and the playoff picture though were some very pointed comments from veteran driver and 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.
On Lap 276, flames billowed out of Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Thankfully he was able to come to a stop and quickly climb out before safety crews arrived on the scene. Harvick’s race was over and after entering the playoffs five points above the cutline, he fell to 13 points below the cut.
“I’m sure it’s just crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times," a bitter Harvick said. "They haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the safety stuff. We just let it keep going and keep going.
“The car started burning and as it burned the flames started coming through the dash. I ran a couple laps and then as the flame got bigger it started burning stuff up and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out the brakes and part of the brake line, but the fire was coming through the dash.
"What a disaster for no reason. We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burned up car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of crappy ass parts.
“I just stopped. The rocker was on fire for a couple laps. I just stopped because I couldn’t see anymore because the flames were coming through the dash and I couldn’t make myself sit in there and burn up.”
Harvick finds himself in the 16th and final position on the grid and despite his series-high 16th-playoff appearance risks elimination in the opening round.
Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe also find themselves below the cutline as the series heads to Kansas Speedway next weekend for the second race in the three-race opening round.
