Erik Jones kicks off playoffs with Southern 500 spoiler

Erik Jones might not have made the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but that wasn’t going to stop him from playing spoiler from the very first race. Jones took the lead on the final restart with twenty laps remaining and held off a desperate charge by playoff contender Denny Hamlin to win the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway for the second time in his career.

The win is the first for Petty GMS Motorsports under the current identity. The legendary #43 last won with Aric Almirola at the rain-shortened 2014 Coke Zero 400 while its first full-distance victory since the late John Andretti at the 1999 Goody’s Body Pain 500, and the number’s last Darlington victory came with owner Richard Petty in 1967.

“Richard hasn’t been to Victory Lane at Darlington probably since he last won here,” said Jones. “It’s just awesome. Just so proud of these guys, Petty GMS and Focus Factor Crew. We’ve been so close all year, and I didn’t think today was going to be the day. It was going to be a tough one to win, I knew, but no better fitting place. I love this track, I love this race. On that trophy twice, man, I was pumped to be on it once, but to have it on there twice, pretty cool.”

Jones found himself fighting for the lead when Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who led a combined 203 laps with the former also winning Stage #2, suddenly dropped out within ten laps of each other with engine failures while leading. Hamlin, another JGR car, and Tyler Reddick attempted to chase down Jones but could not make up enough ground as Jones pulled away to win.

Fittingly, Jones began his career with JGR and won the 2019 Southern 500 with them.

“It is redemption in a lot of ways,” Jones continued. “Very fitting that it’s here at this race again. I felt like this was the race that saved my job the first time around, and coming back here with this win, I guess it puts you back on the map.”

Busch was not the only playoff driver to suffer an early blow. Chase Elliott spun and crashed on lap 113 while Kevin Harvick‘s car caught fire. Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers were critical of the situation, citing the Next Gen car’s use of parts from single vendors that prevent teams from developing the components themselves and spotting flaws. The new vehicle has garnered scrutiny in recent races over potential safety concerns such as crashes feeling more painful due to its overt sturdiness; after Cody Ware crashed on lap 341 to set up the final restart, he reported via radio he was “hurting pretty bad.”

“Lets put holes in the nose that will pick up every piece of rubber off the track,” tweeted Childers, though he has since deleted the post. “Let’s mandate 75% open grill area going to the rocker boxes. Let’s have a fan blowing air thru that hose to make sure the rubber reaches the headers.”

Harvick said after being released from the infield care centre that he was “sure it’s just crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times. They haven’t fixed anything. It’s kind of like the safety stuff. We just let it keep going and keep going. The car started burning and as it burned the flames started coming through the dash. I ran a couple laps and then as the flame got bigger it started burning stuff up and I think right there you see all the brake fluid that was probably coming out the brakes and part of the brake line, but the fire was coming through the dash.

“What a disaster for no reason. We didn’t touch the wall. We didn’t touch a car and here we are in the pits with a burned up car and we can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of crappy-ass parts.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	15	43	Erik Jones	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	367	Running
2	11	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	367	Running
3	4	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	367	Running
4	1	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	367	Running
5	2	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	367	Running
6	10	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	367	Running
7	25	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	367	Running
8	3	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	367	Running
9	8	45	Bubba Wallace^	23XI Racing	Toyota	367	Running
10	16	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	367	Running
11	22	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	367	Running
12	7	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	367	Running
13	9	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	367	Running
14	30	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	367	Running
15	21	23	Ty Gibbs*	23XI Racing	Toyota	367	Running
16	6	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	367	Running
17	13	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	367	Running
18	36	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	367	Running
19	14	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	366	Running
20	12	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	366	Running
21	28	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	366	Running
22	29	42	Ty Dillon	Petty GMS Motorsports	Chevrolet	366	Running
23	24	16	Daniel Hemric*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	365	Running
24	34	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	365	Running
25	26	77	Landon Cassill*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	365	Running
26	27	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	365	Running
27	19	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	363	Running
28	31	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	363	Running
29	35	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	361	Running
30	5	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	345	Engine
31	17	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	336	Water Pump
32	32	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	331	Accident
33	18	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	274	Exhaust
34	33	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	236	Exhaust
35	20	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	164	Accident
36	23	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	113	DVP

Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Currently in owner playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points