Chase Briscoe holds off Kyle Busch in Southern 500 to advance to NASCAR Cup playoffs

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe went three-wide to pass Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead, then outran two-time series champion Kyle Busch to win the Southern 500 on Sunday night and make the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Briscoe pulled away on a final restart with 17 laps in the regular-season finale at Darlington Raceway and held off Busch, who like Briscoe needed a victory to reach the postseason.

“We just won the Southern 500,” an emotional Briscoe said on his radio.

Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Team announced its closure earlier this season. Briscoe gave the proud program something to fight for over the final 10 weeks of the season.

Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. got the final two postseason spots on points, while Bubba Wallace and Chastain, both within 27 points of the cutoff line when the race began, came up short.

Briscoe’s dramatic move spoiled another dominant Darlington run by Kyle Larson, who led 263 laps but was not the same after getting passed by the winner. Larson was trying to overtake Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points title — and the 15 bonus points the leader receives — but came up a point short.

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