Cook Out Southern 500
Location: Darlington, S.C.
Course: Darlington Raceway
Format: 1.37-mile oval
Laps: 367
Cook Out Southern 500 Preview
The Chase for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship gets underway this week with Darlington Raceway’s traditional Labor Day weekend Cook Out Southern 500. Ryan Preece raced his way into the 16-driver field with an emphatic win last week at Daytona, but the points have now been reset and the final 10 races will define the season for these contenders. Denny Hamlin enters The Chase as the top seed after winning the regular season championship, holding a 25-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney. Although this season’s format does away with the elimination rounds used in recent years, the margin for error remains slim. Hamlin’s advantage could disappear in a single race and, as Preece proved last week, the increased value of a win could become a defining factor in the championship fight. Tyler Reddick dominated the spring race at Darlington, and all it takes is for one of these 16 drivers to get hot this week to put themselves in position to claim the Cup Series trophy.
Key Stats at Darlington RacewayNumber of races: 130Winners from pole: 22Winners from top-5 starters: 79Winners from top-10 starters: 109Winners from 21st or lower starters: 6Fastest race: 141.383 mphPrevious 10 Darlington Winners
2026 spring – Tyler Reddick
2025 fall – Chase Briscoe
2025 spring – Denny Hamlin
2024 fall – Chase Briscoe
2024 spring – Brad Keselowski
2023 fall – Kyle Larson
2023 spring – William Byron
2022 fall – Erik Jones
2022 spring – Joey Logano
2021 fall – Denny Hamlin
Darlington Raceway again hosts the iconic Southern 500 this holiday weekend. The punishing oval has been a mainstay on the NASCAR schedule since 1950, hosting 130 Cup Series races. As with any race at this track, tire wear will be a major focus. Darlington’s abrasive surface makes tire management critical throughout each stint, as drivers who preserve their grip often gain positions later while others fade. The track’s unique corners also create a preferred line that runs right up the outside wall, especially in turns 3 and 4. That high line, combined with the stepped banking, leaves very little margin for error, and many drivers will brush the outside barrier at some point to collect their “Darlington stripe.” With only one consistently fast groove, track position is crucial, and each of the last five Cup Series races at Darlington has been won by a driver starting in the top three. Practice speeds do not always predict race results here, so fantasy players should place more weight on qualifying position when setting their lineups.
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DraftKings Value Picks for the Cook Out Southern 500
Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap
DraftKings Tier 1 Values
Denny Hamlin – $11,000
Tyler Reddick – $10,500
Ryan Blaney – $10,200
Kyle Larson – $10,000
DraftKings Tier 2 Values
Chase Briscoe – $9,800
Christopher Bell – $9,600
William Byron – $9,400
Chase Elliott – $9,000
DraftKings Tier 3 Values
Ty Gibbs – $8,800
Chris Buescher – $8,600
Bubba Wallace – $8,500
Brad Keselowski – $8,300
DraftKings Tier 4 Values
Carson Hocevar – $7,900
Erik Jones – $7,500
Austin Cindric – $7,200
Josh Berry – $6,900
Optimal DraftKings Lineup for the Cook Out Southern 500
Christopher Bell – $9,600
Ty Gibbs – $8,800
Chris Buescher – $8,600
Brad Keselowski – $8,300
Erik Jones – $7,500
Austin Cindric – $7,200
Christopher Bell (DK $9,600, FD $11,500) is our most expensive selection this week, and with The Chase getting underway, he needs to start turning his strong runs into long-awaited wins. Seven of his 11 top-five finishes this season have been runner-up results, and he has earned top-fives in three of the last five races leading into Darlington. Last week at Daytona marked just his second finish outside the top 10 in the last nine races. With a pole and two third-place finishes at Darlington on his resume, he has a real chance to get the job done this week. It would be the perfect way to begin a championship charge, and his recent success suggests that once he finds that breakthrough, he will be hard to overcome.
Bell’s teammate Ty Gibbs (DK $8,800, FD $10,500) comes to this week’s race poised to continue a trend of Darlington success in the Southern 500. While his average finish from eight total starts at the track is 13.9, his average finish in this fall race from the last three seasons is 5.7. His best result was a runner-up finish in 2024 when he led 34 laps, too. Gibbs is having the best season of his career and this week he arrives at a race he has been succeeding in for several years. With an opportunity to potentially claim a series championship on offer, fantasy players should expect to see the best version of Gibbs yet at Darlington.
Chris Buescher (DK $8,600, FD $9,000) will get his championship effort off the mark at one of his best tracks this week. At Darlington, the RFK Racing veteran has eight top-10 finishes from 18 series starts and an average finish of 15.2. That number has been getting better recently, too. Six of Buescher’s last seven Darlington races have produced top-10 finishes and he led 41 laps at the track this past spring. After starting on the front row a week ago at Daytona but suffering an early exit, he is poised to rebound this week at Darlington.
RFK Racing team owner Brad Keselowski (DK $8,300, FD $8,000) has also been hitting paydirt at Darlington. He finished second at Darlington in the spring after winning both stages and leading 142 laps. That was his eighth top-five finish at the track, too. He has two prior wins with the last coming in 2024’s spring race. The biggest risk in choosing the former champion this week is that he might compromise his race to benefit his two teammates in the championship battle. However, Keselowski has yet to win a points race driving the car he owns, and checking that box would be high on his list as well.
Erik Jones (DK $7,500, FD $7,500) always seems to deliver at this track. The Legacy Motor Club driver has two prior Darlington victories to his credit along with an average finish of 12.6 from 17 starts. This spring, he started just 24th but finished the race 10th. In last year’s fall race, he finished third despite starting 19th. Jones hasn’t finished in the top 10 since his fifth-place run at Atlanta in July, but a stop at Darlington should give him a chance to end that streak and kick off a new run of improved finishes.
Fantasy players should not overlook Austin Cindric (DK $7,200, FD $7,000) this week. At Darlington, he hasn’t finished outside of the top 15 in the last four races and scored his best ever finish at the track this past spring. His recent consistent form has also earned him a spot in the championship fight and he enters this weekend’s race with eight of his last nine races ending with top-15 finishes. He also has two top-10s from the last three. Momentum is on Cindric’s side and just a small step forward in performance could unlock a run of top-10 finishes for the No. 2 team.
NASCAR Cup Series Betting Picks for the Cook Out Southern 500
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook as of 2:30 PM ET Friday
Race Winner – Ryan Blaney +850
Top-five finish – Ty Gibbs +210
Top-10 finish – Daniel Suarez +340
Driver Matchup – Ryan Preece -155 vs. Daniel Suarez +115
This weekend’s Southern 500 is a wide-open race, which makes choosing the winner correctly a difficult proposition. Every manufacturer has won at Darlington since the introduction of the new car, and there have been eight different winners in the last nine races. The most distinguishing factor to take into consideration is starting position. Seven of the last nine races were won by a driver starting inside the top five, so fans are advised to take qualifying results into consideration before finalizing their choices. Those willing to select early might want to consider Ryan Blaney, though. The Team Penske driver is in his best form of the season with two wins and a third-place finish from the last seven races. He also brings an improving Darlington record into the weekend. Blaney finished fifth and third in the last two Southern 500 races, which make him a worthy early consideration for this challenging choice.
Ty Gibbs has also been improving at Darlington, especially in the fall. From eight series starts, he has one top-five and three top-10s for an average finish of 13.9. Most of those top finishes came in spring races, though. However, Gibbs is racing like never before. With a championship chance in his sights, Gibbs has delivered six top-10 finishes from the last nine races. With The Chase getting underway this week, Gibbs has ample motivation to replicate his spring Darlington form in this fall race with a top-five finish.
Daniel Suarez is also worth considering for a top-10 finish or in his matchup against Ryan Preece. Suarez has only two career top-10 finishes at Darlington, but his seventh-place result in the spring was his best in 17 starts and came in his first race at the track with Spire Motorsports. The move to Spire may have unlocked what Suarez needed to improve at Darlington. Teammate Carson Hocevar finished ninth and fourth in the last two races there, providing further evidence that Spire has figured things out. Preece, meanwhile, has never finished in the top 10 at this track and only secured his spot in The Chase a week ago at Daytona. Suarez has known he was in for a bit longer, giving his team a head start on preparations. He is attracting good odds for either wager, making both worth considering.
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The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it’s possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. C.J. Radune plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: DraftKings: cjradune, RaceDayScore: cjradune.