DARLINGTON, S.C. — A company’s hopes weighed on his shoulders. A desperation resided in his heart. And a former champion chased him for the win.
What Chase Briscoe experienced in the final laps Sunday night at Darlington Raceway was only a part of an emotional journey that made the Southern 500 spellbinding and nerve-racking.
While Briscoe held the lead in the final laps, a duel for the regular season championship came down to a generational talent and a driver trying not to throw up.
Elsewhere in the field, a trio of drivers hoped for a different outcome to lift their fading playoff hopes.
Instead, Briscoe withstood Kyle Busch’s late charge to snap a 93-race winless streak. Briscoe punctuated his victory with a burnout that was thunderous and cathartic.
Ross Chastain watched it all.
“I wanted to soak that in and let that hurt and let that fuel the fire,” said Chastain, who failed to make the playoffs two years after nearly winning the championship.
For Chris Buescher, he felt “frustration” after being eliminated from playoff contention.
No one has even been so close to making the playoffs than Buescher. He lost to Kyle Larson by .001 seconds at Kansas in May. A victory would have put Buescher in the playoffs. Although he has the fourth best average finish this season, he will not be racing for a championship.
Bubba Wallace also saw his playoff hopes dashed. After he parked his car on pit road, Wallace climbed up to the driver’s side window and buried his head in his hands.
“I’m pissed off,” he said. “I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed.”
Those emotions — and many others — have been felt by Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Racing team. The organization announced May 28 that it will shut down after this season, forcing more than 300 employees to look for work.
“I can’t tell you,” winning crew chief Richard Boswell said, “how many guys I have in my office every week wondering what do I think, where should I go? I’m worried about my future.”
For one night, they could rejoice.
Tyler Reddick’s concern for the future was more immediate Sunday night. The driver for the team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin entered the race as the points leader, but Larson and Chase Elliott had a chance to take the regular season championship. Elliott was never a factor, leaving Larson and Reddick to race for the trophy and 15 playoff points.
What Reddick called a stomach bug had him nauseous in his car. Having to run inches from the wall at Darlington is difficult enough in the best conditions, but this made it only worse. Making it more difficult was Larson’s dominance. Larson won both stages and was in position to win the regular season crown until late.
“It was tough, man, when we just were bleeding points to (Larson) in the middle of the race,” Reddick said. “I was trying to think of what I needed to do to go faster. It was really, really hard to focus on that stuff. I was just not able to really do what I normally do good here in the car.”
He did enough to finish 10th and beat Larson by one point.
Briscoe did everything he could to get to the lead, going three-wide to move into second off a restart and then passing Chastain, who was on older tires, for the lead with 26 laps to go. Busch, needing a win to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012, moved to second and closed.
It was reminiscent of their 2020 Xfinity duel at Darlington. Briscoe won that race, which came a couple of days after finding out that wife Marissa had a miscarriage.
Sunday night, Briscoe had son Brooks, who turns 3 in October, and Marissa, who is due to deliver twins soon, with him.
“It’s pretty crazy how God works, right?” Briscoe said with his son next to him. “We come here (in 2020) two days after having a miscarriage, are able to win and beat Kyle Busch. Then four years removed, I win here again beating Kyle Busch, but now I have my son with me. Marissa is here, pregnant with twins that could literally come at any point.”
This was the first time Brooks had been at the track when his dad won.
“Brooks has actually been telling me the last three days I got to beat Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch,” Briscoe said. “That’s all he told me. To come out where I have to beat Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch, it’s pretty ironic.”
After doing so, they celebrated together in Victory Lane, standing together for photos.
“That’s something,” Briscoe said, “that we’ll cherish forever.”