Drivers finishing in the top-10 in Stages 1 and 2 will earn points based on their finishing position. The Stage winner will take 10 points, while the point total will decrease by one point for each position from second to 10th. These points will likely be very pivotal to the championship fight, as the championship standings will not have any further resets throughout the final 10 races of the season. It’ll be a running tally from here.<\/p>\n
Now, there is a new caveat to when a Stage ends, as NASCAR recently implemented a new rule that if a caution comes out with 10 laps to go, or less, in Stage 1 or Stage 2, that will count as the official end of the Stage. This rule was put in place to reduce the waiting around time under caution.<\/p>\n
Who Comes Into This Race Leading the Chase?<\/p>\n
Denny Hamlin, who came tantalizingly close to finally achieving his first NASCAR Cup Series championship a season ago in the final iteration of NASCAR’s former Playoff format, will lead the way in the championship standings heading into Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500.<\/p>\n
Hamlin, the regular-season champion, will carry a 25-point advantage over Ryan Blaney heading into this event.<\/p>\n
Here is the full 16-driver Chase Grid heading into the opening race of The Chase:<\/p>\n
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Ryan Blaney, -25 points
3. Tyler Reddick, -35
4. Ty Gibbs, -40
5. Chase Briscoe, -45
6. Christopher Bell, -50
7. Kyle Larson, -55
8. Chase Elliott, -60
9. Joey Logano, -65
10. Chris Buescher, -70
11. Daniel Suarez, -75
12. Carson Hocevar, -80
13. William Byron, -85
14. Bubba Wallace, -90
15. Austin Cindric, -95
16. Ryan Preece, -100<\/p>\n
Cook Out Southern 500 Starting Lineup<\/p>\n
1. 45 – Tyler Reddick (Chase)
2. 7 – Daniel Suarez (Chase)
3. 60 – Ryan Preece (Chase)
4. 11 – Denny Hamlin (Chase)
5. 71 – Michael McDowell
6. 2 – Austin Cindric (Chase)
7. 19 – Chase Briscoe (Chase)
8. 47 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
9. 3 – Austin Dillon
10. 48 – Alex Bowman<\/p>\n
For the complete starting lineup for Sunday night’s race, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which Chase Drivers Perform Best At Darlington?<\/p>\n Darlington Raceway, a track known as “Too Tough To Tame”, is among the most difficult circuits in the entire NASCAR Cup Series. The 1.366-mile track is egg-shaped, which provides an interesting and unique challenge on both ends of the race track, and the racing groove is so narrow on each end of the track that it makes pulling off passes extremely difficult, and it makes grazing the outside wall super common.<\/p>\n Many drivers will add to the scrape around the outside wall known affectionately as the “Darlington Stripe”.<\/p>\n That being said, many of the drivers battling for the NASCAR Cup Series title are among the most skilled active drivers at Darlington Raceway.<\/p>\n Denny Hamlin has five victories at Darlington, which is the most among active drivers, and his career average finish of 8.0 at Darlington is also best among the active drivers in the sport. Hamlin, who starts fourth on Sunday night, should be expected to contend for the win.<\/p>\n Tyler Reddick inherited the pole position when qualifying was canceled on Saturday due to weather, and that could be trouble for the field, as Reddick won at Darlington earlier this season<\/a>. In addition to that win, Reddick has six top-five finishes and eight top-10s in his 14 starts at the track, and his average finish of 10.8 ranks second only to Hamlin at the track among active drivers.<\/p>\n
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