Another spectacular regular season has concluded in the NASCAR Cup Series, the 16-driver Playoff field is set and jump starting the postseason action this year is the ‘Track Too Tough To Tame’ – Darlington Raceway.
The 2023 season marks the 20th year the NASCAR Cup Series has crowned its champion in a Playoff format, and just the fourth-time the postseason has opened at Darlington Raceway (2020-2023). Racing at the historic ‘Lady In Black’ is a contest unto itself, but the competitors vying for this season’s title are ready for the challenge in this year’s Cook Out Southern 500 on September 3 at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Schedule | ||
Track | Race Name | Date |
Darlington Raceway | Cook Out Southern 500 | Sunday, September 3, 2023 |
Kansas Speedway | Hollywood Casino 400 | Sunday, September 10, 2023 |
Bristol Motor Speedway | Bass Pro Shops Night Race | Saturday, September 16, 2023 |
Texas Motor Speedway | AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 | Sunday, September 24, 2023 |
Talladega Superspeedway | YellaWood 500 | Sunday, October 1, 2023 |
Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course | Bank of America ROVAL 400 | Sunday, October 8, 2023 |
Las Vegas Motor Speedway | South Point 400 | Sunday, October 15, 2023 |
Homestead-Miami Speedway | NCS Race at Homestead-Miami | Sunday, October 22, 2023 |
Martinsville Speedway | Xfinity 500 | Sunday, October 29, 2023 |
Phoenix Raceway | NASCAR Cup Series Championship | Sunday, November 5, 2023 |
Darlington Raceway is the fourth different track to host the first race of the NASCAR Cup Series postseason. New Hampshire Motor Speedway hosted the first race of the Playoffs from 2004–2010, then Chicagoland Speedway held the first race of the Playoffs from 2011–2017 and Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted the first event of the Playoffs from 2018-2019.
Prior to the 2020 season, Darlington Raceway had hosted just one other Playoff race, the penultimate event in the inaugural Playoffs in 2004. The race was won by seven-time series champion and former Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson.
The winner of the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs has gone on to win the title that same season four times. In 2004 (inaugural Cup Playoffs), Kurt Busch won the opening race of the Playoffs at New Hampshire and went on to win the title. In 2011 (race was delayed until Monday due to rain), NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart won his first race of the season at Chicago to open the Playoffs. Stewart went on to set the record for the most wins in a Playoff run with five victories and the title – a feat Kyle Larson matched in 2021. In 2012, Brad Keselowski won the Playoff race at Chicagoland Speedway and went on to win the title. And in 2017, Martin Truex Jr. won the Playoff race at Chicagoland Speedway to open the Playoffs and went on to win the championship that same season.
First Race Of The Playoffs - Race Winners | ||
Track | Playoff Race Winners | Date |
New Hampshire | Kurt Busch | Sunday, September 19, 2004 |
New Hampshire | Ryan Newman | Sunday, September 18, 2005 |
New Hampshire | Kevin Harvick | Sunday, September 17, 2006 |
New Hampshire | Clint Bowyer | Sunday, September 16, 2007 |
New Hampshire | Greg Biffle | Sunday, September 14, 2008 |
New Hampshire | Mark Martin | Sunday, September 20, 2009 |
New Hampshire | Clint Bowyer | Sunday, September 19, 2010 |
Chicago | Tony Stewart | Monday, September 19, 2011 |
Chicago | Brad Keselowski | Sunday, September 16, 2012 |
Chicago | Matt Kenseth | Sunday, September 15, 2013 |
Chicago | Brad Keselowski | Sunday, September 14, 2014 |
Chicago | Denny Hamlin | Sunday, September 20, 2015 |
Chicago | Martin Truex Jr | Sunday, September 18, 2016 |
Chicago | Martin Truex Jr | Sunday, September 17, 2017 |
Las Vegas | Brad Keselowski | Sunday, September 16, 2018 |
Las Vegas | Martin Truex Jr | Sunday, September 15, 2019 |
Darlington | Kevin Harvick | Sunday, September 6, 2020 |
Darlington | Denny Hamlin | Sunday, September 5, 2021 |
Darlington | Erik Jones | Sunday, September 4, 2022 |
The worst finish in the opening race of the Playoffs by a driver that went on to win the NASCAR Cup Series title was Jimmie Johnson’s 39th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to open the 2006 postseason. The worst finish in the opening Playoff race at Chicago for a driver that went on to win the title was Jimmie Johnson’s 12th-place finish in 2016. The worst finish in the opening race of the Playoffs at Las Vegas by a driver that went on to win the title was Kyle Busch’s 19th-place finish in 2019. And the worst finish in the opening race of the Playoffs at Darlington Raceway by a driver that went on to win the championship was Chase Elliott’s 20th-place finish in 2020. The last two seasons, Kyle Larson (2021) and Joey Logano (2022) finished second at Darlington Raceway to open the Playoffs and went on to win the title.
Last season, Erik Jones became the first non-Playoff driver to win the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Since the inception of the elimination-style format of the Playoffs in 2014 (last eight seasons), entering the Playoffs as the No. 1 seed has been the most successful seeding, producing four championships among three drivers – Kyle Busch (2015, 2019), Martin Truex Jr. (2017) and Kyle Larson (2021). Hendrick Motorsport’s driver William Byron enters this season’s Playoffs as the No. 1 seed with 36 Playoff points at his side. Last season’s champion, Joey Logano started the 2022 Playoffs as the second seed. The deepest seed that an eventual champion has started in the Playoffs was seventh, by Kevin Harvick in 2014 and Joey Logano in 2018.
