NASCAR at Darlington: Schedule, watch info, favorites for Southern 500

It all comes down to this.

The 2024 NASCAR regular season will conclude this weekend with one of the sport’s crown jewel events at Darlington Raceway.

For the 75th time, man and machine will be tested at “The Track Too Tough to Tame” with the running of the Southern 500. The egg-shaped oval has been the site of many historic NASCAR races, from Jeff Gordon’s record six wins to Kyle Larson’s first triumph last year.

So, who is racing at Darlington? What’s the schedule for TV and streaming? And which drivers could contend for the win? Here’s everything you need to know for 2024 Cook Out Southern 500:

NASCAR Southern 500 entry list, drivers

Thirty-seven drivers will race in Darlington – the 34 full-timers, plus three others.

Shane van Gisbergen, who was recently announced as a full-time Cup driver next season, will make his sixth start of this year for Kaulig Racing. Elsewhere, Kaz Grala is back in the No. 15 car for Rick Ware Racing and Timmy Hill will drive the No. 66 for MBM Motorsports.

Here’s the full entry list for Darlington:

Car number	Driver	Team	Sponsor
1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing	Busch Beer
2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Discount Tire
3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Toys for Tots
4	Josh Berry	Stewart-Haas Racing	Overstock
5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	HendrickCars.com
6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Solomon Plumbing
7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chili's
8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Morgan & Morgan
9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	NAPA Auto Parts
10	Noah Gragson	Stewart-Haas Racing	Bass Pro Shops
11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Sport Clips
12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Menards
14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	HighPoint.com
15	Kaz Grala	Rick Ware Racing	Meat N' Bone
16	Shane van Gisbergen	Kaulig Racing	Acceptance Insurance
17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	BuildSubmarines.com
19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Bass Pro Shops
20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Rheem
21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Motorcraft
22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Shell/Pennzoil
23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	U.S. Air Force
24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Liberty University
31	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Cirkul
34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Colortech
38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Long John Silver's
41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Haas Tooling
42	John Hunter Nemechek	Legacy Motor Club	Mobil 1
43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Dollar Tree
45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Upper Deck
47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Kroger
48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Ally
51	Justin Haley	Rick Ware Racing	NC Fraternal Order of Police
54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Monster Energy
66	Timmy Hill	MBM Motorsports	W
71	Zane Smith	Spire Motorsports	Focused Health
77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports	Bon Secours/Swamp Rabbits
99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing	Freeway Insurance

When is the NASCAR race in Darlington?

The Cook Out Southern 500 is set for Sunday, Sept. 1, at 6 p.m. ET.

Before the race, there will be practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday. The 37 drivers will be split into two groups (found here) with each group getting 20 minutes of free practice.

Then, the field will compete in two-round qualifying. Here’s how it works:

• The two practice groups will remain the same for qualifying.
• Each driver will make one lap in the first round, with the five fastest drivers in each group advancing.
• In the final round, the remaining drivers each get one lap to set the top 10 starting order. The fastest driver overall will start on the pole, the fastest driver in the other group will start second.
• Positions 3 through 10 are set on final round times – Group A filling the even-numbered positions (4th, 6th, 8th, 10th), Group B filling the odd-numbered positions (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th).
• Positions 11 through 37 are set based on first round times – Group A filling the even-numbered positions, Group B filling the odd-numbered positions.

What is the NASCAR TV schedule this weekend?

Leigh Diffey (play-by-play), Jeff Burton (analyst) and Steve Letarte (analyst) will be on the call for NBC Sports all weekend. Here’s the full TV and streaming schedule:

Saturday, Aug. 30 (USA Network and streaming)

• Practice: 12:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• Qualifying: 1:20 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

Sunday, Sept. 1 (USA Network and streaming)

• Countdown to Green: 5:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app
• Southern 500: 6 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports app

NASCAR playoff standings entering Darlington

There are still three playoff spots up for grabs entering the final regular season race, with 13 spots being filled by winners this season:

Rank	Driver	2024 race wins
1.	Kyle Larson	4
2.	William Byron	3
3.	Christopher Bell	3
4.	Denny Hamlin	3
5.	Tyler Reddick	2
6.	Ryan Blaney	2
7.	Chase Elliott	1
8.	Brad Keselowski	1
9.	Alex Bowman	1
10.	Joey Logano	1
11.	Daniel Suarez	1
12.	Austin Cindric	1
13.	Harrison Burton	1

The final three spots will be filled by any driver who can win at Darlington. Since there won’t be 16 different winners in the regular season, the remaining spots will be filled based on points. Here’s how the points stack up for winless drivers:

Rank	Driver	Points above/below cutline
14.	Martin Truex Jr.	+58 points
15.	Ty Gibbs	+39 points
16.	Chris Buescher	+21 points
17.	Bubba Wallace	-21 points
18.	Ross Chastain	-27 points

A driver can make up a maximum of 54 points in a race without winning (second-place finish and two stage wins is 55 points, last-place is one point), so the following drivers are too far back to make the playoffs on points. Here are the drivers facing a must-win situation:

Rank	Driver
19.	Kyle Busch
20.	Chase Briscoe
21.	Todd Gilliland
22.	Carson Hocevar
23.	Michael McDowell
24.	Josh Berry
25.	Noah Gragson
26.	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
27.	Erik Jones
28.	Ryan Preece
29.	Daniel Hemric
30.	Austin Dillon
31.	Justin Haley
32.	John Hunter Nemechek
33.	Corey LaJoie
34.	Zane Smith

NASCAR Darlington winners list, race history

Eight of the 37 drivers in the field are past winners at Darlington.

Hamlin leads the way with four victories in South Carolina, including three Southern 500 trophies. Truex (2016, 2021), Jones (2019, 2022) and Keselowski (2018, 2024) are the other drivers with multiple Darlington wins.

Drivers with one Darlington win include Busch (2008), Logano (2022), Byron (2023) and Larson (2023), who won the Southern 500 last year.

Darlington predictions, picks, favorites

It takes a special combination to win at Darlington – from driver skill to car handling and even a little bit of luck.

With all that being said, the best of the best usually prevail in this crown jewel event. In 14 of the last 17 Southern 500 races, the winner has had at least 25 career victories – typically a benchmark to making the Hall of Fame.

So, who does that leave us with? Hamlin (54 career wins) will surely be a factor, as he typically is when the series rolls into Darlington. His 8.3 average finish over 24 career starts at Darlington leads all active drivers by nearly three spots.

Keselowski, who won at Darlington in May and has 36 career victories, also figures to be a contender. He owns a 10.9 average finish in 21 starts at the track, second only to Hamlin.

Other challengers could include Larson (defending winner, 27 career wins), Reddick (264 laps led over the last two Darlington races) and Truex (34 career wins, making his final Darlington start before retirement).

Some longshots to monitor are Jones, who has two Southern 500 wins but is driving for the struggling Legacy Motor Club, and Gibbs, who finished second to Keselowski in May.