2021_Cook_Out_Southern_500

2021 Cook Out Southern 500

2021 Cook Out Southern 500

NASCAR Cup Series race

The 2021 Cook Out Southern 500, the 58th running of the event , was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on September 5, 2021 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 367 laps on the 1.366-mile (2.198 km) egg-shaped oval, it was the 27th race of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, first race of the Playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 16. Denny Hamlin took his first victory of the season and clinched a spot in the round of 12.

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Background

Darlington Raceway where the race was held.
The 2021 Cook Out Southern 500 program cover.

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.

Surface Issues

Darlington Raceway was last repaved following the May 2007 meeting (from 2005 to 2019, there was only one meeting; the second meeting was reinstated in 2020), and from 2008 to 2019, there was one night race. In 2020, a day race returned to the schedule, and instead of two races (one Xfinity and one Cup) during the entire year, the track hosted six races (three Cup, two Xfinity, and one Truck). The circuit kept repairing the circuit with patches during each summer before the annual Cup race in September. The circuit's narrow Turn 2 rapidly deteriorated with cracks in the tarmac allowing water to seep in the circuit. In July 2021, the circuit repaved a six hundred foot section at the entrance of Turn 2 and ending at the exit of the turn to repair the tarmac and resolve the issue for safety and to reduce the threat of weepers and surface issues in that section of the circuit.[7]

The 2021 race also marked the addition of an athletics event as part of the Southern 500 weekend, the Terrence Carraway Memorial 5K athletics event, held around the circuit. The Darlington Raceway 5k was first held in November for 2018 and 2019 in memory of a local policeman killed in the line of duty. After taking a year off in 2020, the event moved to the Southern 500 weekend for 2021.[8]

Entry list

  • (R) denotes rookie driver.
  • (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.
More information No., Driver ...

Qualifying

Ryan Blaney was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.[4]

Starting Lineup

More information Pos, No. ...

Race

Ryan Blaney started the race from the pole position. Early in the race, playoff driver Alex Bowman scraped the wall while playoff driver Michael McDowell was taken out of the race after hitting the wall. Denny Hamlin won the first stage of the race. In the second stage, Austin Dillon and playoff driver Kyle Busch made contact, with Busch hitting the wall and going to the garage, ending his night. Kyle Larson won the second stage of the race. Several other playoff drivers had trouble during the race including William Byron, who hit the wall after cutting a tire, Chase Elliott, who hit the wall after going three-wide with Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell, and Blaney, who spun late in the race. In the closing laps, Hamlin was leading Larson. On the final lap, Larson tapped Hamlin, but Hamlin blocked the top line to win the race, his first win of the season, to move on to the next round of the playoffs.

Stage Results

Stage One Laps: 115

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Stage Two Laps: 115

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Final Stage Results

Stage Three Laps: 137

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Race statistics

  • Lead changes: 18 among 10 different drivers
  • Cautions/Laps: 11 for 52
  • Red flags: 0
  • Time of race: 4 hours, 8 minutes and 1 second
  • Average speed: 121.279 miles per hour (195.180 km/h)

Media

Television

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, two–time Darlington winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. called Stages 1 and 3 of the race from the broadcast booth. Earnhardt Jr., Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty called Stage 2 of the race from the broadcast booth. Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

More information NBCSN, Booth announcers ...

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

More information MRN Radio, Booth announcers ...

Standings after the race

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References

  1. [1]
    "2021 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  2. [2]
    "Darlington Raceway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. Archived from the original on April 30, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  3. [3]
    "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  4. [4]
    "Starting Lineup". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. September 1, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  5. [5]
    "Cook Out Southern 500 Results". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  6. [6]
    "Points standings" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. September 5, 2021. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  7. [7]
    Long, Dustin. "Darlington Raceway repaves Turn 2 ahead of Cook Out Southern 500". NBCSports.com. Comcast. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  8. [8]
    "Darlington Raceway to Host Terrence Carraway Memorial 5K on Sept. 2". Darlington Raceway. NASCAR. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
Previous race:
2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400		 NASCAR Cup Series
2021 season		 Next race:
2021 Federated Auto Parts 400
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