Fifty-five years to the day after it last happened, Erik Jones took Richard Petty’s No. 43 to victory lane at Darlington Raceway after winning the Southern 500.
Jones, in his second year driving for The King, held off Denny Hamlin over a 20-lap sprint to the checkered flag to open the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with an upset victory
A non-playoff driver, it’s Jones’ third career Cup win and it comes three years after the last – in the 2019 Southern 500.
Jones inherited the lead during the race’s final caution when Kyle Busch, who kept the lead during pit stops, dropped out during the pace laps when his engine expired.
Jones then had to keep both Hamlin and third-place finisher Tyler Reddick behind him for the last 20 trips around the “Lady in Black.”
“Just awesome. Just so proud of these guys, ” Jones told NBC Sports. “Man, we’ve been so close here and there all year. I didn’t think today was going to be the day. It was going to be a tough one to win I knew. No better fitting place. I love this track. I love this race.
“I’m going to be on that trophy twice. I was pumped to be on it once. Having it on there twice is pretty cool.”
The last time the No. 43 won at Darlington was Sept. 4, 1967, when Petty won his third and final race at the track.
Jones became the 17th different driver to win a Cup race this season. He also delivered Petty GMS Motorsports a victory in the organization’s first year in the Cup Series.
“That’s the calmest I’ve ever been going for a win ever,” Jones said. “I think back on the last time winning here and I was driving my guts out, my nerves were piling, my stomach was hurting. Today … it was just business as usual.
“Just feel good about this track. Knew Denny would run me clean. Knew it was going to be tough for him to pass … we got a good restart there. … What a dream come true, what else can I say.”
Reflecting more on his history with the track, Jones said “I felt like this race saved my job the first time around. Coming back here with this win, I guess it puts you back on the map.”
Jones victory was the first win for the No. 43 overall since Aric Almirola won a rain-shorted race at Daytona in July 2014. It’s the first win for the No. 43 on a non-superspeedway track since John Andretti’s 1999 victory at Martinsville Speedway.
Hamlin was the highest finishing playoff driver in a race that saw a slew of them experience a wide range of problems. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver failed in his effort to defend his win in the 2021 Southern 500.
Despite a last-second surge in the final turn on the last lap, Hamlin said there’s nothing he could have done to get by Jones “without contact.”
“Last night in Xfinity there was like two and a half seconds of falloff in the last 15-lap run, and I think it was about a second for us in a 15-lap run,” Hamlin said, “So the speeds are so fast, and so much on throttle time, it’s an error game.
“Erik just did a really great job.”
It was Hamlin’s sixth top five of the season and followed finishes of 20th (Watkins Glen) and 25th (Daytona).
For Reddick, it was his second straight top-three finish at Darlington.
“I just couldn’t quite put the whole race together,” Reddick said. “I just felt like … I didn’t do a good job of getting in the (pit) box tonight. I just felt a little inconsistent. Ultimately I wish I could have been better there. Last time we were here I felt like I was pretty good at that.”
The top five was completed by pole-sitter Joey Logano and Christopher Bell.
Logano’s result came after he led the first 64 laps.
“It’s a solid day but a missed opportunity is probably where I would put it,” Logano said. “With so many others having trouble, every time you come to the Southern 500, especially in the playoffs, you’ve just got to survive and you get a solid finish. That’s what we were able to do is finish fourth after so many teams had issues. We had plenty of our own issues, too. We gave up track position a couple times and then we got caught with that caution and lost track position fairly late in the race, and then we just battled hard. It’s really hard to come up through the field here. It’s really hard to pass and was able to kind of battle back and get a top five out of it, which is OK.”
With how pit cycles and cautions played out in the final stage, Jones was among four non-playoff drivers who finished in the top 10. He was joined by Michael McDowell (sixth), Brad Keselowski (seventh) and Bubba Wallace (ninth).
For McDowell, it raises his career-best total for top 10s in a season to 11. Keselowski earned his first top 10 in seven races (New Hampshire).
Click here for the race results.
Click here for the point standings.
55 years since the 43 won at Darlington. Wow pic.twitter.com/fco8Wi4IZe
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) September 5, 2022
The playoff chaos started on Lap 79 when defending Cup champion Kyle Larson had to visit pit road for a mysterious ailment with his No. 5 car’s engine. Larson would return to the race four laps down.
“It felt like it was blowing up,” Larson said after the race. “It sounded funny off of (Turn) 2 for a lap and by the time I got back around, it was really laying down. People are passing me, and I was kind of pulling down and letting people go. We pitted and nothing looked funny. We went back out and it kind of ran crappy for a few laps, and then kind of cleared itself out and it was fine the rest of the race. So, I don’t know yet what it was.”
After brief yellow flag period soon after the start for rain, the race’s first caution for an incident came with two laps left in the first stage. Regular-season champion Chase Elliott spun on his own in Turn 2. After spinning to the bottom of the track, he then slid back up into the path of Chase Briscoe, collecting him.
“When (Elliott) went into (Turn) 1 he just plugged the fence and then he started spinning and he went down, and I felt like if I stayed up on the bank I didn’t feel like he was gonna come up,” said Briscoe, who finished 27th. “Then right when he came up I saw him coming and I locked them up. Once I locked them up I was just sliding with him. I wish I could do it over again. Obviously, it’s way easier in hindsight, but it was a split-second decision and I made the wrong decision.”
The No. 9 team attempted to repair the car under the newly extended 10-minute Damaged Vehicle Policy clock, but that wasn’t enough time. The clock expired, eliminated the No. 1 seed from the playoff opener. Elliott would finish last in 36th and he’d leave Darlington not holding the points lead for the first time since March.
The race resumed on Lap 122 with Busch in the lead for the first time.
There would be a full set of green flag pits stops before the next caution on Lap 179 for a spin by Todd Gilliland in Turn 2.
At the time, Busch continued to lead over Hamlin, Truex, Byron and Bell. Under the caution, Busch was first off pit road, beating Hamlin, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell.
The race went back under green on Lap 186 with Busch keeping the lead.
Problems struck Larson again on Lap 192 when the Hendrick Motorsports’ driver spun on his own in Turn 4 and then backed into the outside wall. Larson was two laps down at the time. He was able to continue on. He’d eventually get back on the lead lap and finished 12th.
Busch was first out of the pits under the caution, but it was Corley LaJoie who led on the restart after staying out of the pits. Busch took the lead on the first lap under green.
Busch would hold the spot until Truex got by him on Lap 208 to take the lead for the first time.
The caution returned on Lap 218 for a spin by Cody Ware exiting Turn 4. After another round of pit stops under caution, Busch led on the restart with seven laps left in the stage. He’d hold off Truex to win the stage.
The top 10 after two stages: Busch, Truex, Blaney, Logano, Byron, Bell, Bowman, Suarez, Jones and Michael McDowell.
Busch retained the lead after the pit stops, going into the restart with 131 laps to go. Logano was second.
The chaos continued with 93 laps to go right in the middle of green flag stops when Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford caught on fire, forcing Hervick to evacuate the cockpit after coming to a stop.
Kevin Harvick's car bursts into flames! #NASCARPlayoffs
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 5, 2022
📺 : @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/WWW53y2y3d
Harvick said the car’s rocker arm caught fire.
“I’m sure it’s just the crappy parts on the race car like we’ve seen so many times,” Harvick told NBC Sports. “We 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 burns, the flame started coming through the dash and I ran a couple of laps and then as the flames got bigger and then it started burning stuff up and I think … all the brake fluid was probably coming out of the brakes and burning the brake line. But the fire was coming through the dash. What a disaster, man. 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 can’t finish the race during the playoffs because of crappy ass parts.”
Asked later what needed to be done to fix the problems, Harvick said “Find somebody to run the show who can run it.”
When the yellow flag was displayed eight cars hadn’t visited pit road yet, including Busch, Truex and Hamlin. When they finally did pit, Busch was first off ahead of Hamlin.
The race resumed with 85 laps to go as Busch led. He’d lose to lead to Truex with 74 laps to go.
The final round of green flag stops began with 50 laps to go. Truex cycled back to the lead once Hamlin pit with 42 to go. Truex led Busch by 4.8 seconds.
Bad luck struck Truex with about 36 laps to go when he reported to his team that he’d suddenly lost power steering and his car was overheating. Busch was able to catch Truex and the lead with 32 laps to go.
Truex was forced to pit the next time by and his No. 19 Toyota was pushed to the garage. Truex finished 31st after leading 48 laps.
“Kicked some belts off or something,” Truex said. “Just mad. Upset, angry. We deserve better and no matter what we do this year it seems wrong. When we run good, stuff goes wrong and when we run bad, nothing happens. Just one of those years that we can’t get anything to go our way. It’s about the fifth time I should have won this race and I’ve only won it once so pretty pissed off.”
The yellow flag returned with 28 laps to go for another incident involving Ware.
Under the caution, Busch beat Jones off pit road. But during the pace laps, Busch’s engine began smoking as it expired, giving the lead to Jones.
Busch finished 30th after leading a race-high 155 laps. It was his most laps led in a race since the 2020 Bristol night race (159 laps).
“Just unfortunate circumstances for us tonight,” Busch said. “The guys did a great job and brought a really fast M&M’s Toyota Camry. Just real proud of the effort. All the stuff the guys have done and gone through – just all the news and everything that’s going on all year. They’ve dug in and never given up and continue. Just had a great car and don’t have anything to show for it. That’s what I really, really hate about it.”
Kyle Busch's motor blows up!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 5, 2022
WHAT IS THIS #NASCARPlayoffs OPENER!? pic.twitter.com/WS4NWrUHOv