Yet another time in this historic 2024 NASCAR season, the Lady in Black awaits the arrival of her racing heroes. The 1.36-mile Darlington Raceway will host the Cup Series this weekend for what will be the final race of the regular season. The Xfinity Series will have a seat at the table as well. Here’s a short overview of the schedule that has been drawn up for this crucial meet-up.
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Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and the rest of the Cup Series field will take to the black asphalt at exactly 12:35 p.m. (All Eastern Times) on August 31, Saturday. The initial appearance will mark the practice session and will be followed up with qualifying roughly an hour later at 1:20 p.m. Once the starting orders have been determined, drivers will meet the press and answer questions.
The main race, the CookOut Southern 500, will then kick start at 6:00 p.m. on September 1, Sunday. It will be the 75th edition of the crown jewel race since its debut in 1950. 501 miles and 367 laps later, a winner will be decided and the playoff-16 finalized. Another meeting with the press will wind up the weekend for the premier-tier teams and drivers.
Down the ladder, the Xfinity Series field will have dibs on the track with qualifying at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. Qualifying will fall at 11:10 a.m. and the main race will start at 3:30 p.m. on the same day. The one-day affair will mark the 23rd race of the season and move the game another step closer to the Xfinity Series postseason which will begin at Kansas in late September.
What does the Cup Series playoff bubble look like ahead of Darlington?
13 drivers have fixed their seats for the Cup Series playoffs with victories through the regular season. Three more spots are yet to be filled and five winless drivers are battling for them based on points. Martin Truex Jr. is the most well-placed of them all with sitting 58 points above the elimination line. His teammate Ty Gibbs sits a step below with a 39-point advantage.
RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher is the final driver poised to qualify. He has a 21-point edge on Bubba Wallace and 27 points on Ross Chastain. The battle will be between these drivers alone if there are no new winners.
17 other playoff-eligible drivers and are in a must-win situation to make the cut. Prime among them are Kyle Busch, Michael McDowell, and Josh Berry. Each of these three drivers seemed likely to emerge as the winner at some point during the Daytona race. Though they couldn’t, they’ll be looking to finish the job this time.
