Michael McDowell at Darlington Raceway – Motorsport America Photo
Chevrolet’s championship title-defending campaign in the NASCAR Cup
and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series begins this Labor Day weekend as the
sport heads to the historic venue tapped as “The Track Too Tough To
Tame” – Darlington Raceway. Saturday night’s Fleetio 200 will launch
the nine-race O’Reilly Series postseason schedule, while Sunday’s Cook
Out Southern 500 kicks off the Cup Series’ 10-race run towards the
coveted Bill France Cup. After a Daytona finale that reshuffled both
fields, Chevrolet rolls into Darlington with a heavy contingent of title
contenders across both series.
Chevrolet’s Southern 500 Pedigree:
Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 carries its own distinct history for the
Bowtie brand. Since the event’s inception in 1950, Chevrolet has claimed
29 Southern 500 victories, the most of any manufacturer in the crown
jewel race’s history. Hendrick Motorsports alone accounts for 12 of
those wins, also the most by any team. Career Chevrolet driver, Jeff
Gordon, leads all drivers with six Southern 500 victories – a run that
included four-in-a-row from 1995-98.
Chevrolet’s most recent Southern 500 winner is the series’ reigning
champion, Kyle Larson, whose 2023 victory doubled as Chevrolet’s 44th
all-time Cup Series win at Darlington and the milestone 500th all-time
NASCAR national series win for the Hendrick Engine Department. In the
Next Gen era, Chevrolet has won three of nine races at Darlington,
including back-to-back Southern 500 triumphs with Erik Jones (2022) and
Larson (2023), sandwiched around William Byron’s win in the track’s
2023 spring race. Two of those three Next Gen winners – Larson and
Byron – return to Darlington this weekend as part of a five-car
Chevrolet contingent in the Cup Series Chase field.
FIVE TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS SET FOR CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE
With the 16-driver field officially complete, Chevrolet will send five
drivers into battle for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Among
those includes a pair of past champions, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle
Larson and Chase Elliott, with the duo leading the manufacturer into the
postseason seeded in the seventh and eighth positions, respectively.
Spire Motorsports, who is on the brink of their first-ever postseason
appearance, will have two drivers in the title hunt with Daniel Suarez
(11th) and Carson Hocevar (12th). Rounding out the Team Chevy lineup is
the 13th seed, William Byron, who is set to embark on his eighth
consecutive trip to the postseason.
Larson, Elliott Among Past Champions:
Larson and Elliott have earned a spot on an elite list of just four past
NASCAR Cup Series champions that are left to vie for the Bill France
Cup. The pair have been staple names in postseason competition in recent
years, with 2026 marking their 10th title-contending campaigns in
NASCAR’s premier series. Larson, the reigning series champion, heads
back to a racetrack where he’s found victory lane before. His 2023
Southern 500 win remains one of two active Chevrolet triumphs at
Darlington, alongside Byron’s 2023 spring race win. Elliott, the 2020
Cup Series champion, is still chasing his first Cup win at Darlington
but arrives with two wins in the bank this season for Hendrick
Motorsports.
Byron Taps Postseason Experience:
Byron is no stranger to postseason pressure, with the Chevrolet driver
coming off his third-consecutive postseason run that ended in a trip to
the Championship Four. While still seeking his first trip to victory
lane of the season, the No. 24 team knows its way around Darlington
better than most of their competitors and will look to turn that track
history into a bounce-back performance in the postseason opener. In six
of his last eight starts at the track, the North Carolina native has
turned in top-eight results, including his 2023 spring race win. In the
Next Gen era, his average finish of 10.3 is third-best in the field.
Spire Motorsports’ First Postseason Appearance:
For Spire Motorsports, it’s already been a season for the record
books. Not only will this be the organization’s first appearance in
the postseason, but they will send two drivers into the title hunt.
Suarez punched his ticket on the strength of one of the strongest
regular seasons of his Cup career, highlighted by a rain-shortened
Coca-Cola 600 win, while Hocevar, in just his third full-time season, is
making his first career trip to the Chase.
CHEVROLET HITS DOUBLE-DIGITS IN THE O’REILLY CHASE
A record season for Chevrolet in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
is only just beginning as the manufacturer hit a near takeover of the
postseason lineup. Ten of the 12 drivers who qualified for the nine-race
Chase are Chevrolet-powered – headlined by JR Motorsports’ Justin
Allgaier, who enters as the No. 1 seed and a championship favorite after
a career-high six-win regular season. His teammate, Carson Kvapil,
enters second after wins at Indianapolis and Iowa. Richard Childress
Racing’s Jesse Love and Austin Hill hold down the fourth and fifth
seeds, while Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed – now fielding
Chevrolet’s after the organization’s manufacturer switch this season
– rounds out the top-three.
The Hendrick-backed rookie Corey Day and JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith
also transferred into the Chase prior to the regular season finale,
entering their championship campaigns seeded seventh and eighth,
respectively. Viking Motorsports’ Parker Retzlaff (ninth) and Haas
Factory Team’s Sam Mayer (10th), who entered Daytona holding down
provisional transfer spots, both raced their way into the field to give
Chevrolet nine of the top-10 seeded positions.
One Chevrolet driver in particular delivers on the promise of last week:
Rajah Caruth. Trailing the Chase cutline by 15 points entering Daytona,
the young Team Chevy driver went on to score his first career O’Reilly
Series pole and positioned himself in winning contention through much of
the race. Despite a late-race spin that cost him a shot at a big finish,
a strong points effort in the first-two stages was enough to lift the
rookie into the 12th and final Chase seed – capping a solid first
full-time season split across two different Chevrolet organizations.
BOWTIE BULLETS:
· Active Chevrolet drivers with a NASCAR Cup Series win at
Darlington Raceway:
Kyle Larson – one win (2023 Southern 500)
William Byron – one win (May 2023)
· In 130 NASCAR Cup Series races at Darlington Raceway,
Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 44 victories. In nine events in
the series’ Next Gen era, Chevrolet has earned three victories –
recorded in consecutive events by Erik Jones (Sept. 2022), William Byron
(May 2023) and Kyle Larson (Sept. 2023).
· With Grant Enfinger’s win at Lime Rock Park, Chevrolet sits
just two wins away from its milestone 300th all-time NASCAR Craftsman
Truck Series win.
· With seven-straight victories to start the 2026 NASCAR
O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Chevrolet set the record for the
longest season-opening streak by a single manufacturer in the
division’s history.
· In 169 points-paying races in the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen
era, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 73 victories – a winning
percentage of 43.2%.
· Chevrolet is coming off its 29th all-time sweep of the
NASCAR Cup Series championship titles – capturing its 34th driver
championship and 44th, and fifth consecutive, manufacturer championship
in 2025.
· With its 44 NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer championships, 34
NASCAR Cup Series driver championships, and 887 all-time NASCAR Cup
Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title as the winningest
brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.
TUNE-IN:
NASCAR Cup Series
Cook Out Southern 500
Sunday, Sept. 6, at 5:00 p.m. ET
USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Fleetio 200
Saturday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. ET
CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Where does Darlington rank on your list of tracks?
“Darlington is my favorite track. I’m very honest about that. I just
love it so much. It’s a very challenging track and you have to hit your
marks every single time. I want to win there so, so bad. I got the win
in the Truck Series in 2024 and that was very special, but man, I really
want a Cup win.”
How do you like having the longer practice sessions?
“I think it’s great. I know as a driver, I love making laps. I still
am a fan, but when I was a strictly a fan and not a driver in the
series, I loved watching cars on track. So 12-year-old Ross would be
pumped to see cars on the track more for practice. As a driver, I think
it’s great for us and it’s really great for the younger guys who don’t
have much experience in Cup. With testing so limited, these extra few
minutes everyone is getting is huge for race preparation.”
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
What is the most challenging part of Darlington Raceway?
“Probably just taking care of your stuff, taking care of tires, not
stepping over the edge, and then you have to be on the edge to be fast,
so it’s like a knife edge. You got guys that are going to run right
against the fence, you got guys who are on the bottom, but there’s pace
on both of those at different times of the race. You got to be
comfortable switching lanes.”
What is the physical toll of racing at Darlington, and how demanding is
it on you as a driver?
“The precision that it takes, you’ll find yourself at times right up
against the wall. Other times you’re underneath people in turn 4,
which gets really tight. The bumps off of (turn) 4, you really have to
stay on your game because one slip can knock you out of the race and put
you in a bad position. You’re dancing the whole time on the edge of
the intensity levels of what it takes to be good at Darlington.”
Talk about racing at Darlington Raceway and how much emphasis you place
on that race?
“Darlington is a place that you’re constantly fighting the track.
The track changes with temperature, and the Southern 500 is a race where
you’ve just got to work at every lap. You try and work your way to the
top, and at times you can come off of it and work different lanes. It
gets really tight off of turn 4. But it’s a really cool race because
it’s so long, and its grueling and everyone wants to win the Southern
500.”
You’ve won two Crown Jewel races. What would it mean to you to win
this one?
“It would be really cool to win the Southern 500 with the No. 3 Boot
Barn Chevrolet. We’ve won a couple of big races – the Coke 600 and
Daytona 500 – and the Southern 500 is kind of the three that you would
really like to get. I would love to bring home that trophy and it would
be an epic game changer for us this year.”
How different is Darlington Raceway now compared to a couple of years
ago when you finished second in the Southern 500?
“It’s not much different. I think the car is the biggest thing.
We’ve come a long way with the Next Gen car and it takes a little
something different. So hopefully we hit on that with the No. 3 Boot
Barn Chevrolet and go have some fun.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
How are you feeling heading into Darlington?
“I’m really proud of my team and the work we’ve put in to get to
this point. To start The Chase at Darlington, we have some good notes
from the spring and a solid notebook to build from. The night race is
always a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the
track changes as the sun goes down. It’s supposed to be pretty hot, so
I think the track is going to be tough on tires, which will make tire
management a priority. Hopefully, we can take what we learned in the
spring, make the right adjustments throughout the night, and put
ourselves in a good position to start The Chase strong.”
Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
What are your thoughts on Darlington?
“Darlington is one of those tracks that is so much fun to drive, but
the race is also one of the longest inside the car. I just love racing
against the racetrack there—the Lady in Black. It’s so tough, it’s
such a challenge, and you always feel like as a driver you can make an
extra difference at that racetrack. And it’s been one of the tracks
that [I’ve] had some good results at too.”
What is racing at Darlington like?
“Darlington is one of the top two tracks on my list with Bristol. I
love going to Darlington and how you feel like you’ve gone back in
time with the old school track and old school vibe. It’s nice to go
back to a track for the second time. It’s one of our longest races,
and conditioning, especially in this late summer heat, is going to be a
lot. I’m looking forward to it and have a lot of high hopes and
confidence going into this weekend.”
AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
They call Darlington Raceway “The Lady in Black” and “The Track Too
Tough to Tame” for a reason. What do you think about going back there
with your crew chief Trent Owens?
“We’re going back to my crew chief’s (Trent Owens) home track for
the second time this season. I’m very lucky to have Trent as my crew
chief for many reasons and I feel like we’ve become really good
friends over the last year and a half. When Chris Rice and I were
talking at the start of the Cup program, when Justin (Haley) was
full-time, about who we should get, he said I had the chance to get
Trent. I’d worked with Trent at the 47 (formerly JTG Daugherty
Racing), especially when he was with (Chris) Buescher, and I got to work
with him for the last 10 races when I was there. I just thought he was
so good. We had a great run at Darlington last August and finished
fifth, but we had a difficult time earlier this year. We’ll do our
best this weekend to get out of there with a respectable finish.”
Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
What are your thoughts entering your first Southern 500?
“I have run a Cup race at Darlington before, but the package we are
racing this weekend is completely different so I’m not sure there is
much to transfer over. We have more horsepower and a smaller diffuser.
It’s the package we’ve been running at tracks like Richmond, Iowa,
and Nashville, so we have a base knowledge of what to expect. I think
this package is going to play into my hands better though. You can still
get tight in dirty air or get loose but it’s not as aggressive. It
cuts it probably in half of how bad the dirty air is. If our Morgan &
Morgan Chevrolet is good enough, we should be able to drive up through
the field, especially with the tire fall-off. Even though the package is
different, Darlington is still Darlington to me. How you approach the
racetrack is going to be the same as the O’Reilly (Auto Parts Series)
car, so that should be a positive. I’m pretty excited about it.”
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
“We’re coming off a strong fifth-place finish at Daytona, so we want
to carry that momentum into Darlington. It’s always a tough place, but
we’re looking forward to the challenge and having Ram Self Storage
back on the No. 47 Chevrolet. Hopefully we can put together another
solid run.”
Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet
Darlington is known as the track “Too Tough To Tame.” What makes it
so tough?
“You’ve got a very old racetrack, high banking, high commitment,
just running up super close to the wall in both corners of the track. So
to be able to qualify well there, you basically hold your breath for a
lap and a half. During the race, when you’re side-by-side with low
grip and high commitment, things just happen super quick, especially
coming off of turn two. And then the tire degradation – even 10, 15
laps into a run, you feel like you’ve been out there for 100 laps. To
stay committed and have the focus you need to hit your marks lap after
lap at Darlington is hard. And especially with an extra 100 miles
compared to the spring race, it makes for a very tough race.”
Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
How do you maximize the momentum from Daytona heading into The Chase as
a driver who is not eligible for the title?
“Daytona was a much-needed result for us. The last few weeks have been
tough and we aren’t exactly where we want to be this season. Regardless,
having two of our Spire Motorsports Chevrolets locked into The Chase is
huge for us as an organization. Our No. 71 team wants to win, and that
is still our goal while we keep building our notebook and focus on
quality results that we can use as building blocks for next season.
Darlington, especially the Southern 500, is such a fun race. Managing
tires, running the wall, and watching the track transition from day to
night makes for a great weekend all the way around. Hopefully, we can
carry the momentum from last weekend into the final stretch of the
season and finish 2026 strong.”
Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
With The Chase officially under way, does your mindset shift, at all,
heading to Darlington and the final 10 races of the season?
“I don’t think anything changes for us. We just get to enjoy it. It
is Spire Motorsports’ first time as a part of The Chase, and we’ve got
two of us in it. Us and the over 200 employees at Spire get to enjoy,
have fun on the journey, and get to go racing for a championship. We are
approaching it as we would any other race. Luke (Lambert, crew chief)
has a lot of experience in The Chase, and so does Matt McCall (Cup
Series Competition Director). No one expected Ryan Newman to make it all
the way to Homestead and have a chance in 2014, but they were there,
they were competitive, and they did it all with consistency. In that
time, the format didn’t reward consistency, and now it does. That’s
how we are going to look at it, and we will see how the chips fall while
playing the hands we are dealt each week.”
Does the Southern 500 have an atmosphere comparable to the other crown
jewel events?
“For me it does. I enjoy it. First off, I love to rip the fence at
Darlington. Then as the run goes on, you really struggle as the tires
wear out and you are just trying to hang on. A lot of my friends go to
that one just because of the eye candy of the track. You have the old
school feel, but you add in the sunset throughout the opening portion of
the race, then pure under-the-lights racing for the second half. I think
the track suits the nighttime racing more than the daytime, and the
place always gets packed out for this one.”
Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
How big of a thrill ride is racing at Darlington?
“Darlington is definitely high on the fun meter. It took me a little
bit to figure it out last year in the O’Reilly series. It was one of
the few tracks where I qualified outside the top-10. I remember last
year in Stage 1 I was running 20th and I was like man, this is
difficult, like just trying to put your car in the right spot as the
tires wear and making sure that you’re maximizing what you have. We
made one adjustment and the next thing I know we were one of the fastest
cars on the racetrack and I was driving through the field. It’s
certainly one of the toughest tracks that we go to, probably the
toughest, as a driver, just being able to manage your tires. After 30 to
40 laps on a tire run, it’s a handful.”
Does the history at Darlington resonate with you?
“Darlington has obviously got a lot of history and it’s cool for a
guy like me who’s really young to go there and take that all in. You
walk across the asphalt and you can tell it’s been around for a while.
I definitely enjoy the old school feeling that Darlington has.”
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
If somebody had said to you at the start of the year you’d have a shot
at making The Chase, what would your reaction have been?
“I would have been pretty stoked (laughs). But obviously, you want the
whole team to have the opportunity because that means the team is doing
well. The reality is that we have struggled a bit, but I’m happy on the
No. 97 side, personally, to have matched Ross (Chastain). We know how
good he is on the ovals, and I think I’ve made a big jump this year to
be able to match him most weeks. And obviously Connor (Zilisch), as
well, is a huge talent, so to be comparable to those guys has been
really cool for me this year. There’s a lot of hard work going on, but
we definitely need to improve if we want to have that opportunity at
making it (The Chase) next season.”
Despite coming up short of making The Chase, how do you assess the
season?
“The season is not over yet, but I’m proud that I’m closer to my
teammates on ovals. I’ve managed to have a pretty good year. Obviously,
I want us to do better as a team, and as team we aren’t quite there yet.
But we’ve made good improvement on the ovals, which is important.”
What do the next 10 weeks look like for you and the No. 97 team?
“I guess we can try things now, take a bit more risk and just have some
fun, low stress. But also work to do the best we can and learn more
about what we need out of the car at certain tracks and prepare for next
season.”
Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics
Manufacturer Championships:
Total (1949-2025): 44
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)
Most recent: 2025
Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978,
1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993,
1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010,
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
Driver Championships:
Total (1949-2025): 34
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)
Most recent: Kyle Larson (2025)
Driver and Manufacturer Championship Sweeps: 29
Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985,
1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2025
Event Victories:
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)
2026 STATISTICS:
Wins: 6
Poles: 6
Laps Led: 1,859
Top-Fives: 43
Top-10s: 89
Stage Wins: 18
CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 887 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 772
Laps led to date: 258,593
Top-fives to date: 4,479
Top-10s to date: 9,240
Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:
General Motors: 1,221
Chevrolet: 887
Pontiac: 154
Oldsmobile: 115
Buick: 65
Ford: 854
Ford: 754
Mercury: 96
Lincoln: 4
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
Dodge: 217
Plymouth: 191
Chrysler: 59
Toyota: 217