DARLINGTON RACE REVIEW

Carolina in my Mind!

Date: 9-4-2022.
Name of the race: Cook Out Southern 500.
Track: Darlington Raceway.
Laps: 367.
Pole winner: Joey Logano. 
Outside pole: Christopher Bell. 
Stage 1 winner: William Byron.
Stage 2 winner: Kyle Busch. 
Stage 3 winner (won the race): Erik Jones.
Top 5: Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, and Christopher Bell. 
FYI: Once again the playoffs have finally arrived for the 2022 season to determine who will be hoisting the championship trophy once the checkered flag waves at Phoenix Raceway. Sixteen drivers fight through four rounds that consist of three different tracks in each round, and at the end of the third race in each round four drivers are eliminated and the remaining move on to the next round. The first stop in the first race of the round of sixteen is Darlington Raceway or at the 1.33-mile egg-shaped track known as "Too Tough to Tame." Playoff contenders Joey Logano and Christopher Bell started positions one and two and from the drop of the green flag all the way until lap seventy-nine, all seemed to be going good until it went south. One of the playoff favorites Kyle Larson radioed to his team that his engine was expiring and immediately brought it to pit road where his team came up with a game plan that sadly landed them three laps down. Then on lap 113 or a few laps short from the end of stage one, another playoff favorite had trouble, he is known as Chase Elliott and came into the first race of the playoffs as the points leader. He spun sideways in turns one and two and broke something in the right rear and collected Chase Briscoe in the process. This mistake cost him not only points in the standings but also being able to stay in the race any longer and had to sadly surrender to the garage for a last-place finish. More chaos erupted on lap 275 when the 2014 season champion Kevin Harvick radioed to his team that his rocker panel was on fire and seconds later the car erupted into flames, where he had to scramble to make it out of the car without being hurt and came home with a thirty-third place finish. On lap 333 Joe Gibbs Racing driver and nonplayoff contender Martin Truex Jr blew up and was forced to go to the garage, and preparing for the final restart his teammate Kyle Busch had a similar problem and was not able to return back as well after leading a race-high 155 laps and looked to be the dominant car of the race. The final stretch of the race was twenty laps and it was between Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin to see who would walk away with the victory, and it was Jones who would come out on top. This was the first time the 43 car was able to return to victory lane since Aric Almirola did it in 2014 at Daytona in the summer, and it was Erik's third victory of his career and the second win for him at The Lady in Black. This was also Petty's and GMS's first win since merging the two teams together before the 2022 season and a fun nugget I would like to share with you guys is that this is the 200th victory for the #43 car that the King Richard Petty won seven championships with. The series now moves onto the cookie cutter track known as Kansas Speedway where the second race of the playoffs begins. 
Next race: Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon for the second race of the playoffs (9-11-2022).