How the 16 Playoff Drivers Historically Perform at Darlington Raceway

Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are set to kick off with Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, one of the four crown jewel events in the NASCAR Cup Series. The opening round of the Playoffs, the Round of 16, will consist of three races (Darlington, Gateway, and Bristol). At the conclusion of the three races, four drivers will be eliminated from Playoff contention.

That being said, the path to an eventual championship, could require a solid run in Sunday's event at Darlington Raceway. Who has run well there in the past among the 16 Playoff drivers?

Denny Hamlin, who enters this weekend's race as the No. 3 seed in the Playoffs, has the most wins at Darlington Raceway, arguably one of NASCAR's toughest track, of any active driver with five victories. Only eight active drivers have past wins at Darlington, and of those eight, only five have made it into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Hamlin is the only Playoff driver with multiple wins at Darlington.

Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Joey Logano have scored one win apiece at the egg-shaped oval in South Carolina.

Byron nearly joined Hamlin on the list of multi-time winners at Darlington in the Spring as he led 243 laps from the pole in the 297-lap Goodyear 400, but his car ultimately faded in the closing laps, and he finished runner-up to, ironically enough, Hamlin.

While he has yet to win a race at Darlington, Tyler Reddick has been really good there. In his 12 career starts, Reddick has four top-five finishes, and he has the third-highest average finish among active drivers (12.3), and he trails only Hamlin (7.9) and Brad Keselowski (12.0).

Every driver in the Playoff field has scored a top-five finish in NASCAR Cup Series competition at Darlington Raceway, aside from Austin Cindric, who has yet to crack the top-10 at Darlington through his seven career starts at the track, and Shane van Gisbergen. If either driver is going to advance into the Round of 12 and make a sustained run at a championship, they'll likely need a career-best finish at Darlington Raceway this weekend.

But there is reason to believe in Cindric as he did score his career-best Darlington finish (11th) in the Spring. Likewise, SVG, who is still learning his craft at oval tracks, feels most comfortable at Darlington as he feels it's a track that has suited his driving style since first running it in the NASCAR Xfinity Series a season ago.

“I think you have to be very precise [at Darlington]. You’ve got to be millimetre perfect every lap, comfortable to run against the wall, and the proximity to the wall, and then the repetition and consistency. I think that seems to suit me, and the way the cars slide around, I really enjoy that place,” Van Gisbergen said at NASCAR Playoff Media Day.

Here is the career statistics breakdown for all 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Drivers (sorted by Playoff seeding) at Darlington Raceway:

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top5	Top10	Avg. Fin	Laps Led
Kyle Larson	15	1	7	9	12.5	1,048
William Byron	14	1	5	7	15.0	331
Denny Hamlin	26	5	14	19	7.9	1,010
Ryan Blaney	17	0	1	4	18.8	24
Christopher Bell	12	0	3	4	14.2	57
Shane van Gisbergen	2	0	0	0	23.0	4
Chase Elliott	17	0	4	8	15.8	151
Chase Briscoe	9	1	2	2	15.9	29
Bubba Wallace	14	0	1	4	18.5	53
Austin Cindric	7	0	0	0	18.3	0
Ross Chastain	12	0	3	4	17.5	134
Joey Logano	23	1	6	11	13.3	293
Josh Berry	4	0	1	1	25.0	5
Tyler Reddick	12	0	4	6	12.3	319
Austin Dillon	18	0	2	5	15.6	0
Alex Bowman	15	0	1	4	19.8	42