William Byron starts on the pole for the 70th annual event
The Track Too Tough To Tame hosts its 70th annual 500-mile race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, Sept. 1. The Southern 500 is one of the sport's crown jewel events, a throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway filled with classic paint schemes and nostalgia. The sport's oldest asphalt track over one mile in length (1.366 miles, in fact) plays host to a grueling test under the heat of Labor Day Weekend.
This egg-shaped oval often caters to the most experienced drivers in the field. But in a mild surprise, it's a sophomore, William Byron, sitting on the pole at just 21 years of age. He'll attempt to be just the second driver this century (Kevin Harvick) to follow that up with a race win here.
Toyotas have won four of the past six races at Darlington but they struggled in qualifying; only one of their drivers, Denny Hamlin, was able to sneak inside the top 10. The pole speed decreased slightly, to 172.487 miles an hour under the 2019 handling package as drivers also deal with varying levels of grip.
Only 39 cars and three unchartered teams showed up to qualify this weekend. That left all drivers guaranteed to make the race and one open spot left on the 40-car grid.
1. William Byron
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Kyle Larson
4. Kurt Busch
5. Daniel Suarez
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Joey Logano
8. Chase Elliott
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Ryan Blaney
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Chris Buescher
13. Clint Bowyer
14. Austin Dillon
15. Erik Jones
16. Alex Bowman
17. Paul Menard
18. Daniel Hemric
19. Matt DiBenedetto
20. Ryan Preece
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22. Martin Truex Jr.
23. Michael McDowell
24. Ryan Newman
25. Landon Cassill (i)
26. David Ragan
27. Corey Lajoie
28. Bubba Wallace
29. Ty Dillon
30. Aric Almirola
31. Ross Chastain (i)
32. Matt Tifft
33. Kyle Busch
34. Reed Sorenson
35. JJ Yeley (i)
36. BJ McLeod (i)
37. Joe Nemechek (i)
38. Garrett Smithley (i)
39. Joey Gase (i)
(i) - Ineligible to collect Cup Series points
Failed To Qualify
None
QUALIFYING NOTES
- Byron's fourth pole of the season is tied for the Cup Series lead with Kevin Harvick. He'll attempt to become the first driver to earn his first career Cup win at Darlington since Regan Smith back in 2011.
- Brad Keselowski (2nd) was the highest-qualifying Ford. The defending Southern 500 champion started a three-race Cup Series win streak at this event last year.
- Kyle Larson (3rd) was the fastest Chevrolet. Larson has yet to win the Southern 500 despite 408 laps led during the last two races alone.
- Kurt Busch (4th) has top-10 qualifying efforts in eight of the last nine Cup races.
- Jimmie Johnson (6th) has his best starting spot since Chicagoland Speedway at the end of June.
- Denny Hamlin (9th) was the fastest Toyota. His 6.2 average finish at Darlington leads all drivers.
- Daniel Hemric (18th) was the fastest rookie in the field.
- Kyle Busch (33rd) will move to the rear of the field after an engine change. His motor started to go sour in the middle of his qualifying lap.
- JJ Yeley (35th) moves to Rick Ware Racing's No. 52 Chevrolet this week after running the No. 54 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
- Joe Nemechek (37th) will run a second car for Premium Motorsports, making his first Cup Series start since March 2015 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The former Cup Series regular has four career wins in 667 total starts.
- Garrett Smithley (38th) moves to Rick Ware Racing for his sixth Cup start of 2019. He'll drive a No. 54 Chevrolet, the team's new car that debuted at Bristol two weeks ago.
- Joey Gase (39th) is running his first Cup race for MBM Motorsports since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Memorial Day Weekend.
NASCAR RACE BREAKDOWN
Race: Bojangles' Southern 500
Track: Darlington Raceway (Darlington, S.C.)
Date: Sunday, Sept. 1
Time: 6:15 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Radio: MRN, SIRIUS XM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 367 laps (500 miles)
Stage 1: 100 Laps
Stage 2: 100 Laps
Final Stage: 167 Laps
PRE-DARLINGTON NEWS
