Darlington sends Chase Briscoe to NASCAR playoffs. Kyle Busch denied

No offense to Chase Briscoe. Not yet, anyway, we’ll get around to that down below.

But seriously, Darlington isn’t supposed to be so generous. The old lady is picky about handing out such treats — she’s more of a back-of-the-hand than a kiss-on-the-cheek type. But boy howdy, did she ever make Briscoe feel warm and fuzzy.

“I was crying after the checkered,” Briscoe said after Sunday night’s shocker. “I just won the Southern 500. This is a crown jewel.”

And he won it with Stewart-Haas teammates who are basically boxing up their stuff as the team’s final season in NASCAR winds down. And in the final race of the regular season and therefore the last remaining shot at making the playoffs.

GREAT AMERICAN READCelebrate a fast-paced history of the Daytona 500 with new book; foreword by Richard Petty

Did someone say shot?

“We kept saying all week, we got one bullet left in the chamber,” Briscoe said. “That bullet hit.”

A few others caught some shrapnel. Let’s go through the gears to wrap up the regular season’s irregular finish.

First Gear: Darlington delivers a NASCAR shocker

Honestly, it’s enough to make you wonder. If a bit of desperation and hell-bent-for-leather determination works like it did Sunday night for Briscoe, why on Earth can’t they … oh, I don’t know … replicate it several other times during a long season? His No. 14 team hadn’t led a single lap at a non-plate race since Week 8 at Martinsville.

… Until Sunday night, and how he got there was a thing of beauty. He sat fourth on a restart with 26 to go, behind Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and the guy who dominated most of the night, Kyle Larson. Approaching Turn 3, Briscoe saw an opportunity down low, pounced, stuck the landing and never gave up the lead.

You would’ve thought it was Dale Earnhardt or David Pearson in that car. Or maybe Kyle Busch.

Yes, Kyle Busch, who deserves another pat on the back, this time for arriving late to the Sunday night party but nearly stealing the show. He caught Briscoe late but couldn’t finish it off. Maybe he could’ve handled Briscoe, but nobody beats the elements, it turns out.

“Once I got within his air, I really didn’t have enough to power through that, to get closer,” Busch said. “I was kind of sliding already.”

Only a racer can live with emitting dirty air.

Second Gear: Kyle Larson loses 15; Tyler Reddick loses lunch

Kyle Busch misses the playoffs for the first time since 2012, when the playoffs hosted 12 instead of 16 racers. But he’s been given something to work with in recent weeks, and don’t be shocked if he gets a win over the next 10 weeks to make it 20 straight seasons with at least one trophy.

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson goes to the playoffs with the lead in the standings due to his 40 bonus points accumulated through the year. The 40 are eight better than second-place Christopher Bell, but Kyle’s 40 could’ve been 55 and his lead could be 23 if he hadn’t lost to Tyler Reddick by one point for the regular-season championship.

Instead, it’s Reddick who gladly accepts that 15-point bonus. And oh how he earned it on a sickly night. Hope you don’t have a weak stomach.

Remember when Larson missed the Coke 600 due to the rain delay for his Indy 500 debut? Zero laps at Charlotte, zero points, and while his bonus-points cushion will carry him through the Round of 16 and maybe help a lot in the Round of 12, there may come a time when he wished he had those 15 extra points.

You can’t blame Kyle, though. There’s no way he and Rick Hendrick could’ve pulled the plug on that Indy effort after all the work. Like millions before them, they got rained on when they didn’t need rain, and it’s too bad.

Anyone want to help start a GoFundMe effort for Larson and the Hendrick team? Didn’t think so.

Third Gear: NASCAR playoffs really a 9-man affair

Next up is Atlanta and the start of the 10-week playoff run with 16 drivers dreaming of a championship but, frankly, only nine of them legit contenders. That’s right, only nine.

You can make a championship case for all of the top nine: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Stronger cases for some (Larson, Hamlin, etc.) than others (Chase, Kez and Joey).

But below those nine you have a pair of non-winners (Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex at 15th and 16th) and five drivers whose lone 2024 wins were by far the highlight of their seasons — Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe.

Those five totaled 14 top-fives in a combined 130 starts this season, with Bowman supplying six of them. 

At this point, you should probably give up on Truex sunsetting on a high note in his final season. Since late June, he’s finished better than 24th once in eight starts, capping that slump at Darlington with a Lap 3 loss of grip that sent himself and Ryan Blaney to the body shop. 

Of spots 10-through-16 entering the playoffs, the one possible dark-horse is Gibbs. You get the feeling, once he gets that first win, others will flow. Who’s to say the inevitable won’t appear in September?

Fourth Gear: NASCAR 2025 brings Bowman Gray, The Rock, and Mexico City

Since we last gathered here, NASCAR released its 2025 schedule and there seems to be something for both camps — the old and new schools. 

For the old, North Wilkesboro remains as host to the All Star weekend, while another ancient stock-car playground — Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. — is next year’s home to the season-opening Busch Clash.  

As a bonus, The Rock is easing back into the picture. NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series will race at Rockingham Speedway next April.

Harold Brasington, who built and opened Darlington in 1950, built The Rock 15 years later just north of the Carolina state line. From the mid-’60s to 20 years ago, the Cup Series raced there twice a year and it was often fabulous — a 1-mile track with turns banked at 22 and 25 degrees can produce plenty of speed and fun.

For the new-age race fan and, maybe more importantly the modern racing executive, there’s the new market of Mexico City joining the Cup schedule next year. Yeah, it’s another road course, which is taking one of Richmond’s two Cup dates, but it’s a target-rich environment with a ton of auto-racing fans in the region.

But don’t just believe me, believe the racers who are angry they aren’t racing there — namely those open-wheel guys. Wire stories out of Milwaukee this past week had six-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon and others — including popular racer and Mexico native Pato O’Ward — bemoaning the fact NASCAR beat IndyCar south of the border. 

Followers of geo-political theater might scratch their heads at such scheduling moves, but in terms of market entries, it’s what the promoters call quite a get.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com