Yahoo Sports Past Darlington winners Busch, Jones angle for Southern 500 glory, playoff bids
Legacy Motor Club driver Erik Jones comes to Darlington ranked 26th in the championship standings, yet he is as optimistic about this weekend as he could possibly be to pull off a walk-off home run of sorts and win to earn his championship chance. Two of his three career NASCAR Cup Series victories have come in the Southern 500.
A victory Sunday night would be Jones’ first top five of the season in the No. 43 Toyota. His best showing is eighth place in the season-opening Daytona 500 — his only top 10 of 2024. He was fastest in Group A practice Saturday but will start the race 28th after dipping in qualifying.
PROJECTIONS: Full race results | 2024 playoff field
“It‘s just been a long year for a lot of different reasons,” Jones said. “But I think if you told me I had to pick one track other than a superspeedway, I‘d probably pick Darlington to go win.
“Definitely some confidence in that. I think any time you come to a place you’ve had success a few times with different groups, you have the notes to dive into and the confidence you know how to get around the place and do what you need to do.
“It‘s not going to be easy by any stretch, but I feel like we have a good plan.”
Kyle Busch is another former Darlington winner capable of pulling off a victory that would propel him into the playoffs. The driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has scored top-five finishes in the last two races — including a season-best runner-up showing at Daytona last week — but he still sits in 19th place, 106 points below the current playoff elimination line.
A three-race winner last year with RCR, Busch‘s team has struggled in 2024 with only four top-five runs. But Darlington has traditionally been a solid venue for him. He won here in 2008 and has a pair of runner-up finishes (2017, 2020). He‘s scored top-10 finishes in more than half his starts (14 times in 25 races) and had a run of 11 top-10 runs in 14 races between 2010-21.
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“This race in the spring, we did not run well, but we don’t come in this weekend holding our heads low and thinking that we’re going to not run well again,” said Busch, who finished 27th in April. “We put our heads to paper and try to figure out why and said we’re going to go there with the best piece we can and try to kick their butt and get a win.”
