DARLINGTON, SC (WMBF) – NASCAR\u2019s postseason is almost here, and the path to the championship is set to begin on one of the sport\u2019s most legendary tracks.<\/p>\n
The Cook Out Southern 500 weekend is scheduled to kick off the postseason chase at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 5 and 6. <\/p>\n
This year\u2019s highly anticipated event will mark the official return of the NASCAR Chase postseason format, serving as the opening playoff race for both the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Series and the NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n
Darlington Raceway Track President Josh Harris said excitement is building as the regular season draws to a dramatic close. <\/p>\n
Harris noted that while the regular season has provided plenty of dramatic storylines, the slate will completely reset once the drivers arrive in Darlington.<\/p>\n
Known throughout sports as the \u201cToo Tough to Tame\u201d track, Darlington has tested drivers for 76 years. Harris compared the track\u2019s status in stock car racing to legendary venues like Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Lambeau Field. <\/p>\n
He explained that the track\u2019s distinct egg-shaped design, featuring narrow turns in three and four alongside a wider radius in turns one and two, creates a unique physical and mental challenge for drivers.<\/p>\n
The race weekend also serves as a major financial driver for the region, generating just over $100 million in economic impact for the Pee Dee region alone and more than $112 million across South Carolina, Harris said.<\/p>\n
The track president also added that he expects fans from all 50 states and 10 foreign countries to travel to the \u201cLady in Black.\u201d<\/p>\n
The weekend events are scheduled to begin Thursday evening with Track Laps for Charity, allowing fans to drive three laps around the speedway for $30 to support local Pee Dee organizations. <\/p>\n
Friday will feature a track-hosted blood drive during the day followed by the traditional Cup Series hauler showcase and parade in the evening.<\/p>\n
On-track action begins Saturday evening with the Fleetio 200 O\u2019Reilly Series race at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Cup Series main event on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Harris emphasized that the weekend is designed to be accessible for families, with free admission for children 12 and under on Saturday and ticket prices for children starting at $15 on Sunday. Special discount offers are also available for active military, first responders, teachers, and healthcare workers.<\/p>\n
Click HERE <\/a>for more information.<\/p>\n Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with WMBF. For more free content like this, download our apps.<\/a> Have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WMBF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DARLINGTON, SC (WMBF) – NASCAR\u2019s postseason is almost here, and the path to the championship is set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,63001,58545,56523,300831,634,174305,62952,300830,8662,56524,82],"class_list":["post-865552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cook-out-southern-500","tag-darlington","tag-darlington-raceway","tag-lady-in-black","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-chase","tag-nascar-playoff","tag-nascar-playoff-chase","tag-nascar-playoffs","tag-southern-500","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}