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Joe Gibbs Racing star leads more than 300 laps, holds off Tyler Reddick.<\/p>\n
Tyler Reddick \u2014 He finished second but scored 18 stage points and finished with 53 total points. Reddick entered the playoffs 14th in the standings after the points were reseeded. His Darlington performance moved him to fourth in the standings heading into this weekend\u2019s race at World Wide Technology Raceway. Sunday\u2019s finish was his third runner-up result at Darlington.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Reddick laments loss despite strong points day<\/p>\n Tyler Reddick feels he was better on the long run than Chase Briscoe, but he ultimately falls short in the Southern 500 despite pocketing a solid points day for the playoffs.<\/p>\n Legacy Motor Club \u2014 Erik Jones finished third and John Nemchek placed a career-high fourth. This marked the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500 that Legacy Motor Club placed both of its cars in the top five. Jones\u2019 finish gives him back-to-back top fives (he was fifth at Daytona the previous week) for the first time since 2020. On a night when many playoff teams stumbled, this group shined.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n It marks the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500 that both of Legacy Motor Club\u2019s cars placed in the top five.<\/p>\n Non-playoff drivers \u2014 Six of the top-10 finishers were not playoff drivers Sunday. That\u2019s the most in a playoff opener. Those six non-playoff drivers were: Erik Jones (third), John Hunter Nemechek (fourth), AJ Allmendinger (fifth), Kyle Busch (eighth), Carson Hocevar (ninth) and Chris Buescher (10th). Both of Allmendinger\u2019s two top-five finishes this season have come in crown jewel races. His other was in the Coca-Cola 600.<\/p>\n LOSERS<\/p>\n Alex Bowman and team \u2014 It was a miserable weekend for this group. Bowman entered the weekend last in the standings among the 16 playoff drivers. He qualified 29th \u2014 worst among the playoff drivers. Then came the 40-second pit stop at Lap 66. The team didn\u2019t realize the air hose for the rear tire changer\u2019s air gun became disconnected. When the gun didn\u2019t fire, it triggered a flurry of activity to mistakingly get the backup air gun. Seconds passed as the team scrambled. Bowman eventually came back from two laps down to get back on the lead lap but then struggled in the final stage and finished 31st, two laps down.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n