2019 Bojangles' Southern 500

The 2019 Bojangles' Southern 500, the 70th running of the event is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on September 1st and 2nd, 2019, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 367 laps on the 1.366 mi egg-shaped oval, it was the 25th race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

Weather
Mother Nature threw a wrench in the works with a rain shower soaking the track at the originally scheduled start time of 6:15 pm. The race started almost five hours late at just before 10 pm, it’s going to be a finish in the early hours of Labor Day on Monday.

Background
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Entry list

 * (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.
 * (R) denotes rookie driver.

First practice
Kurt Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.714 seconds and a speed of 171.261 mph.

Final practice
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.125 seconds and a speed of 168.845 mph.

Qualifying
William Byron scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.510 and a speed of 172.487 mph.

The Start
Byron drove into Turn 1 with the lead. But Brad Keselowski(2), with a push from Kurt Busch(1), drove around the outside of Turns 3 & 4 to lead lap one. Building a five-car length lead early.



Stage 1
Kurt Busch passed Byron and began to shrink the deficit to Keselowski. On Lap 20, Busch took the lead and began to lap cars at the rear of the field.

NASCAR scheduled a competition caution at lap 35 to allow teams to pit and change tires after the rain washed the track clean. Kurt Busch won the race off pit road. Followed by Byron, Kyle Larson(42), Keselowski, and Jimmie Johnson(48). Johnson needs a strong run and also needs to pick up as many Stage points as possible. He entered tonight’s race 18th in points, 26 behind the final playoff spot.

Jimmie Johnson with a paint job reminiscent of his off-road racing days, Photo Credit: Sean Gardner / Getty Images On Lap 67, Garrett Smithly(54) spun and brought out the second caution of the evening. Again everyone headed to pit road for service. This time Chase Elliott exited pit road in the lead. He fought Kurt Busch side-by-side for three laps to establish the lead. But Busch fought back to capture the top spot with a push from Johnson who followed him into 2nd place.

Kurt Busch held on for the Stage win with Johnson getting nine points for finishing 2nd. Kyle Busch fought his way into 4th after starting at the rear.

Stage 2
Larson, first off pit road grabbed the lead to restart the race in Stage 2. He was followed by Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Johnson, and Elliott. With a great jump at the drop of the green flag, Larson rocketed off into Turn 1 and easily pulled away from Kurt Busch who had led 75 of the first 100 laps.



On Lap 140 Daniel Suarez(19) got into the left rear quarter-panel of Ryan Newman(6) running through Turns 1 & 2. The contact spun Newman bringing out the caution. Both cars are fighting for points on the playoff bubble.

The race off pit road went to Kurt Busch with his brother Kyle following in 2nd. Larson had trouble with the left front tire on his stop and went from 1st to 13th as a result of the issue.

Mid Stage
The leaders settled into position in the race to the Stage ending checkered flag. Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Denny Hamlin(11), and Martin Truex Jr.(19) comprised the top 5 when Corey Lajoie(32) spun with a rear tire down. Clint Bowyer(14), another driver on the playoff bubble, sat in 6th.

Drivers battled for every position around the raceway with points so important to the playoff picture there was little give and take. Joey Logano(22) cut down a tire and lost two laps getting to pit road, then having all four tires changed. Contact with Erik Jones(20) may have caused the damage to Logano’s tire.

Joey Logano’s Ford Mustang features a paint scheme that Kevin Harvick took to Victory Lane in the 2007 Daytona 500. Logano’s Ford Mustang bore the colors of Kevin Harvick’s winning car in the 2007 Daytona 500. Logano created a bit of a row with Harvick when he stated that Harvick’s wife DeLana “wears the firesuit in the family and tells him what to do.” In a cute paradoy Logano and his wife Brittany filmed a video introducing the paint scheme, with Brittany in a firesuit.

As the race settled into a grove, Kyle Busch led Bowyer. Followed by Kurt Busch, Johnson, Hamlin, and Erik Jones from Byron, Michigan. BJ McLeod(51) scrapped the wall and brought out a caution with 3 laps to go in the Stage, freezing the field with Kyle Busch in front. The closing laps featured some hot battles for Stage points. Bowyer and Johnson fighting for 6th place with Bowyer coming out with the extra point over Johnson.

The Final Stage
Kyle Busch held the lead off pit road for the Final Stage restart. As the race went back to green Kyle had teammates Jones and Hamlin in his rearview mirror. Larson and Johnson rounded out the Top 5.

Green flag pit stops began at Lap 250. When everyone cycled through the pits, Kyle Busch remained the leader with Jones still running with him in 2nd.

The caution flew again on Lap 274 when Daniel Hemric(8) blew a tire coming off Turn 4. He was unable to control his car and spun on the front stretch collecting a number of good race cars. Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Byron, and Johnson all picked up minor damage. Michael McDowell(34) got the worst of the incident, hitting Hemric and bouncing off the wall destroying his race car.

The race restarted with 86 laps to go and Erik Jones in the lead and Larson sitting beside him on the front row. The pair swapped the lead twice as Jones finally came out on top. One more pit stop will be required to finish the distance, it will likely determine the outcome of the race.

Erik Jones in a paint scheme that he used as a 14-year-old when he won his 1st stock car race, Photo Credit: Sean Gardner / Getty Images Larson moved to Jones bumper and made a couple of attempts to pass for the lead. Jones held him off and finally built a half-second cushion on 2nd place.

Final Pit Stops
Green flag pit stops began with 48 laps to go. Jones, Larson, and Kyle Busch all stopped with 46 laps to go. Jones returned to the track with the lead over his pursuers, Kyle Busch replaced Larson in 2nd.

Jones maintained a slight advantage over Kyle Busch as the laps wound down. Busch closed the gap with 10 laps to go and pulled to within a car length twice, putting the pressure on the young driver. But it was the veteran that made the mistake, pushing too hard Busch hit the wall twice in the closing laps. Ultimately, yielding 2nd to Larson.

Kyle Busch cut down a tire with his wall contact and had to finish the final lap and a half with his car in contact with the wall to keep it from spinning out. He finished in 3rd.

Jones Wins a Crown Jewel of NASCAR
Jones’ win locked up a playoff spot and may have assured he will return to the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team in 2020. A loan to another team was rumored when it was announced Christopher Bell, another JGR driver, would move to the Cup Series next year.



Jones has now won at two of the NASCAR’s most prestigious tracks, Daytona and Darlington. All four JGR drivers have now qualified for the playoffs with a win in 2019. Any of the four could be considered a favorite to make a run to the Championship final in Homestead.

The race concluded just before 2 am in the morning. During his finish line interview with NBC Sports Jones invited the crowd to stay up with him all night. “No Way I’m going to bed tonight.” The post-race victory lane celebration and media interviews typically run for two or more hours after the race.

Playoff Implications
Fourteen drivers have clinched playoff spots, leaving only two positions open. Should a surprise winner outside the Top 16 capture the Brickyard only one more driver will clinch on points.

Clint Bowyer moved from 2 points out to 8 points above the cut line. Daniel Suarez and Ryan Newman are tied for the last playoff spot. Jimmie Johnson cut his deficit from 26 points out to 18. The battle to make the postseason will come down to these four drivers.

Stage results
Stage One Laps: 100

Stage Two Laps: 100

Final stage results
Stage Three Laps: 167

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 13 among 8 different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 7 for 35
 * Red flags: 0
 * Time of race: 3 hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds
 * Average speed: 133.825 mph

Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, two–time Darlington winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were in the booth to call the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race. Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty also called a portion of the race as part of the Throwback Weekend.

Radio
The Motor Racing Network (MRN) called the race for radio, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Rusty Wallace called the action for MRN when the field raced down the front stretch. Dave Moody called the race from a Billboard outside of turn 1 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2, and Mike Bagley called the race atop of the Darlington Raceway Club outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Winston Kelley, Steve Post, and Kim Coon called the action on pit road for MRN.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Manufacturers' Championship standings
 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
 * . – Driver has clinched a position in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.