By Adam Carabine
For the first 53 years of its existence, the Southern 500 was run on Labor Day weekend. In 2004 the race was pushed to November to be the penultimate race of the season. However, a year later, Darlington was forced down to a single date per year, and it stayed in the spring for 11 years. In 2015, the Southern 500 finally returned to its traditional Labor Day weekend.
In its current iteration, the NASCAR playoffs have traveled to Darlington to kick off the playoff festivities. Because of its place on the schedule, it lends itself to a certain strategy and style of racing.
With the Round of 16 set, you now have playoff drivers trying not to have a catastrophic failure and end their playoff runs. You also have non-playoff drivers fighting for dignity, while also trying not to impact the playoff drivers in any way.
However, the Southern 500 is different this year.
This year, NASCAR opted to have a two-week break for the Summer Olympics in Paris, and this threw a wrench in some of the scheduling. In order to keep the Southern 500 on its traditional Labor Day weekend, Darlington became the final race of the regular season.
It might not seem like a huge change at first, but consider the consequences: Firstly, it’s the last chance for drivers outside of the playoff bubble to win their way in. Can we expect a late hail-mary move from someone trying to get into the playoffs?
On the other side, you’ve got the drivers who are locked into the playoffs. Suddenly, they’re no longer worried about losing ground in the playoffs, and the twinkle in their eyes may shine a little brighter as they fight for a Crown Jewel victory, the Southern 500.
Christopher Bell, who won the Xfinity race on Saturday, said: “The Round of 16 is all about not eliminating yourself.” However, with it no longer being a playoff date, he added: “Especially Darlington, which is a crown jewel event, points are still important, and we are still racing for regular season positions, but a chance to win the Southern 500, I’m definitely going to go all out for it.”
“I’m excited about it being in the regular season, and I think it will up the aggression of the people who can afford it, like myself. I want to win the Southern 500 and this is a great opportunity to lay it all out on the line and go for it.”
For someone like Josh Berry, who is 210 points outside of the playoffs, and needs a win to earn a spot, he’s expecting to see some different approaches as well. “I think strategy-wise, it’s hard to say. There’s probably going to be some more hail mary’s from people as they try to catch a break. I’m sure if we get restarts in the end, it’ll get intense.”
Austin Cindric, who is locked in, said that he prefers when Darlington is the playoff opener. “I think this is a great first race for the playoffs, because it does weed out a lot of mistakes. This race, even with veteran drivers, it’s a lot of mistakes.”
Michael McDowell is also in a must-win situation, and he wasn’t convinced it would be all that different. “To win here, you just have to have speed all night, you have to execute your pit stops perfectly, and you can’t have any penalties. You’re always going to want tires, so I don’t see a scenario where you’re staying out or rolling the dice like that.”
Reigning Champion Ryan Blaney is also locked in, and he added: “When this race leads off the playoffs, it’s about not having a bad night. Now, some guys who are locked in might take some more chances. You’re not going to see guys staying out on old stuff, that just doesn’t happen here, you’re gonna pit. But I think a lot of different pit strategies might come into play. You could run super long, maybe short pit, maybe try to only two-stop the last stage.”
“You’re going to have some guys throw hail mary’s – and that’s the guys who are locked in. And the guys who have to win, you’re going to have some pretty crazy strategies. So I don’t mind either way, but teams are more likely to take chances in this race than they would if it was in the first round.”
Next year, the race will return to its normal spot as the playoff opener – so stay tuned, this could be a wild one. The Cook Out Southern 500 runs at 6:00pm ET.
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