Kyle Larson wins Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, advances to Round of 12

Kyle Larson has won at Darlington in the Cook Out Southern 500 and will advance to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs. This is the first time Larson has ever won at Darlington and it is his first Southern 500.

An old-fashioned battle between two of NASCAR’s best young drivers, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson. Let’s not forget Chris Buescher put his nose into this thing to prove he was still the hottest car in the field.

However, the night, and the win at the Southern 500, belonged to Kyle Larson. This is his third win of the season and earns him a spot in the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs.

REPOST to congratulate @KyleLarsonRacin! 🏁

He wins the #NASCAR Playoff opener at Darlington in the Southern 500! pic.twitter.com/glXWzVmMff

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 4, 2023

Kyle Larson started off the season strong. He looked like he was the short track king with strong performances at Las Vegas and Phoenix as well as Richmond and Martinsville. However, the team stopped being so dominant after he won the All-Star Race.

Reddick gave a hard effort at the end of the race. It just didn’t look like he had the air or the speed to catch Larson at the very end of the race. The 45 team had a good points day but came up short of the win and will be wondering what more they could have done.

Kyle Larson overcomes frustration to win at Darlington

This race did not start with Kyle Larson in the lead. He started P18 and had to work his way through the field in the first stage. We’ve seen him do it in his best performances of the season and he did it today as well.

With a fast Chevy Camaro, it made it look like cars were standing still at times. However, Ross Chastain did give Larson fits when he was fighting for the free-pass position. Despite those early frustrations, which included light issues and shifting troubles, Larson went on to win at Darlington.

Denny Hamlin was in the lead for a lot of the race tonight. Hamlin would go on to have a wheel issue that he had to pit under green to fix. It led to him going down a lap and he just never recovered. Eventually, Hamlin was involved in a wreck which all but ensured he wouldn’t advance much further than a lap down.

A lot went wrong for other drivers. Even Kyle Larson had his own issues. The Southern 500 is a marathon, not a sprint, and the 5 team was just the best team in the longrun today.