Entry List

The official 2021 Cook Out Southern 500 NASCAR CUP Series entry list features top NASCAR drivers set to compete at Darlington Raceway, highlighting the full lineup of race participants and teams.

Cook Out Southern 500

Sunday, September 5th, 2021

Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC

  • 14 Ford
  • 5 Toyota
  • 18 Chevrolet

  • Darlington Raceway
  • Cook Out Southern 500
  • Pole Winner: Ryan Blaney
  • Age: 27
  • Team: No. 12 - Menards / Richmond Ford
  • Owner: Team Penske
  • Crew Chief: Todd Gordon
  • Start positions set by NASCAR's Performance Metrics Qualifying (PMQ).
  • Ryan Blaney won the Pole Award for the Cook Out Southern 500 by having the highest total PMQ.
  • PMQ is a total number calculated on four performance metrics from the previous race:
  • 15% of the driver's fastest lap time position.
  • 25% of the driver's final race finish position.
  • 25% of the owner's final race position.
  • 35% of the Owner Points position.

  • Sunday, September 5th, 2021
  • NASCAR Wire Services - Reid Spencer
Denny Hamlin holds off Kyle Larson at Darlington for dramatic NASCAR Cup Playoff win

Holding off regular-season champion Kyle Larson throughout a thrilling final green-flag run in Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Denny Hamlin is winless in 2021 no more.

Hamlin maintained control of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as Larson buried his No. 5 Chevrolet into Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Larson gave Hamlin a tap, but Hamlin blocked the top lane and got to the finish line .212 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

"He drove it in past the limit of the car and tires," Hamlin said of Larson's banzai charge. "I knew he was coming. I was a little conservative on that last lap because I had that four-car-length lead."

The victory was Hamlin's first of the year after a winless 26-race regular season. He won for the fourth time at Darlington and for the 45th time in his career to earn an automatic berth into the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series

Hamlin kept Larson at bay over the final two restarts but couldn't pull away to a comfortable lead.

"We got to the white (flag), and I was like, ‘Well, I haven't been able to gain on him now, I'm going to try something,'" Larson said of the desperation try he labeled a "video-game move." "Honestly, got to his bumper too quick. I was hoping he was going to run that diamond to kind of be safe and I could skirt to his outside, but gave everything I had.

"I didn't want to wreck him. I just wanted to try to get to his outside there, but he did a great job not really making any mistakes during the last run, and I was having to push really hard in second to try and just stay with him."

Larson led 156 of the 367 laps to Hamlin's 146. Hamlin won the first stage and Larson the second.

Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. caught a break when Ryan Blaney spun in Turn 4 on Lap 318 while the two JGR drivers stayed on the track trying to stretch the cycle of pit stops. Truex beat Hamlin off pit road but was flagged for speeding, and Hamlin held the top spot the rest of the way.

Non-Playoff driver Ross Chastain finished third, followed by Truex, who recovered from the penalty and an earlier loose wheel to run fourth. Playoff drivers Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were fifth through eighth, respectively, but for other title hopefuls, the race brought disaster.

Two-time series champion Kyle Busch suffered an early exit and a blow to his hopes of winning a third title. Contact with the No. 3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon sent Busch's No. 18 Toyota rocketing into the outside wall in Turn 2, causing irreparable damage.

Busch fell out in 35th place and now faces an uphill battle to advance to the Round of 12.

"It wasn't the 3's (Dillon's) fault," Busch said. "Just take our lumps, you know. We were running like (crap), and that's what you get when you run like (crap). Shouldn't be there."

Three-fourths of the Hendrick Motorsports armada took a major hit as well. Alex Bowman scraped the wall on Lap 14 and stayed on the track, hoping to make it to the competition caution on lap 25. But a tire rub proved disastrous, sending Bowman's Chevy into the Turn 4 wall, and damage the No. 24 Camaro of teammate William Byron in the process.

Bowman was able to continue and finished 26th, but Byron wasn't as fortunate. After recovering to run in the top 10, Byron cut a left front tire on Lap 200, crashed hard into the Turn 1 wall and exited the race with a 34th-place finish.

"That was a big hit," Byron acknowledged. "It looked like on that (previous) pit stop, it looked like we dropped the jack and the left front was still finishing up. I took off and everything felt OK. I went to pass the No. 00 (Quin Houff) or somebody down the frontstretch and was just about to turn into (Turn) 1 and the left front went down.

"There was nothing we could do. The guys did an awesome job to fix it. We were running like top-12, I think, even with all the (earlier) right rear damage, and it's just terrible. I don't know, man. That sucks."

Reigning series champion Chase Elliott fell out in 31st place after slamming the outside wall on Lap 327 in a three-wide melee in Turn 1 with Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell.

An early wreck put a dagger to Michael McDowell's slim championship chances. On Lap 31, McDowell's No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford broke loose behind Erik Jones' Chevrolet in Turn 2, smacked the outside wall and careened nose-first into the inside SAFER barrier.

McDowell exited the race, his car destroyed and his title hopes hanging by a thread.

"The 43 (Jones) kind of got everybody jammed up," McDowell said after exiting the infield care center. "I think he started on the front there without tires, which is a tough spot to be in, and I just went three-wide underneath him and just got into the patch (of new asphalt in Turn 2) with my left sides just a little bit low.

"I got loose enough into the wall and that was about it. I'll have to see the replay, but just heartbreaking for everybody on this Front Row team. We had high hopes coming into the Playoffs and this is not how we wanted to start it."

Bowman, Busch, Byron and McDowell fell below the current cut line for the Round of 12. Elliott leaves Darlington 10th in the Playoff standings.

  • Drivers Entered: 37
  • Laps Scheduled: 367
  • Margin of Victory: 0.212 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 4 Hours 8 Minutes 1 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 121.279
  • Cautions: 11 for 52 laps
  • Lead Changes: 18
  • Green Flag Passes: 3,290 (10.4 passes per green flag lap)

  • Darlington Raceway
  • 72nd Annual Cook Out Southern 500
  • Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
  • Age: 40
  • Team: No. 11 - Offerpad Toyota
  • Owner: Joe Gibbs
  • Crew Chief: Christopher Gabehart
  • Denny Hamlin won the 72nd Annual Cook Out Southern 500, his 45th victory in 569 Cup Series races.
  • This is his first victory and 18th top-10 finish in 2021.
  • This is his fourth victory and 15th top-10 finish in 19 races at Darlington Raceway.
  • Kyle Larson (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish in eight races at Darlington Raceway. It is his 19th top-10 finish in 2021.
  • Ross Chastain (third) posted his first top-10 finish in five races at Darlington Raceway.
  • Chase Briscoe (19th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Martin Truex Jr exits his car
Darlington, South Carolina - May 9, 2021 : Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, exits his car after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 09, 2021 in Darlington, South Carolina.
Sean GardnerGetty Images
ENTRY
#
DRIVER
HOMETOWN
DOB
AGE
MAKE
SPONSOR
TEAM
CREW CHIEF

1
10
Tampa, FL
Mar 14, 1984
37
Ford
Smithfield
2
2
Auburn Hills, MI
Feb 12, 1984
37
Ford
Discount Tire
3
11
Chesterfield, VA
Nov 18, 1980
40
Toyota
Offerpad
4
22
Middleton, CT
May 24, 1990
31
Ford
Shell Pennzoil
5
4
Bakersfield, CA
Dec 8, 1975
45
Ford
Busch Light Fan Design
6
1
Las Vegas, NV
Aug 4, 1978
43
Chevrolet
Monster Energy
7
18
Las Vegas, NV
May 2, 1985
36
Toyota
M&M's
8
19
Mayetta, NJ
Jun 29, 1980
41
Toyota
Bass Pro Shops
9
34
Phoenix, AZ
Dec 21, 1984
36
Ford
Love's Travel Stops
10
6
South Bend, IN
Dec 8, 1977
43
Ford
Oscar Mayer Bologna
11
3
Lewisville, NC
Apr 27, 1990
31
Chevrolet
Bass Pro Shop / Tracker Off Road
12
47
Olive Branch, MS
Oct 2, 1987
33
Chevrolet
Kroger / Little Hug
13
5
Sacremento, CA
Jul 31, 1992
29
Chevrolet
HendrickCars.com
14
48
Tuscon, AZ
Apr 25, 1993
28
Chevrolet
Ally
15
12
High Point, NC
Dec 31, 1993
27
Ford
Menards / Richmond
16
7
Kannapolis, NC
Sep 25, 1991
29
Chevrolet
Schluter Systems
17
15
Cedar Rapids, IA
Feb 8, 1993
28
Chevrolet
RWR
18
9
Dawsonville, GA
Nov 28, 1995
25
Chevrolet
NAPA / Children's
19
21
Grass Valley, CA
Jul 27, 1991
30
Ford
Motorcraft / Quick Lane
20
17
Prosper, TX
Oct 29, 1992
28
Ford
Roush Performance
21
43
Byron, MI
May 30, 1996
25
Chevrolet
Petty's Garage
22
78
Wauchula, FL
Nov 17, 1983
37
Ford
CorvetteParts.net
23
37
Berlin, CT
Oct 25, 1990
30
Chevrolet
Kroger / Hershey's S'mores
24
99
Monterrey, Mexico
Jan 7, 1992
29
Chevrolet
Good Sam
25
51
Greensboro, NC
Nov 7, 1995
25
Chevrolet
Nurtec ODT
26
42
Alva, FL
Dec 4, 1992
28
Chevrolet
McDonald's
27
23
Mobile, AL
Oct 8, 1993
27
Toyota
Door Dash
28
24
Charlotte, NC
Nov 29, 1997
23
Chevrolet
Axalta
29
41
Ladera Ranch, CA
Jan 23, 1998
23
Ford
HaasTooling.com Demo Days
30
52
Menomonee Falls, WI
Jun 3, 1995
26
Ford
Junction Fuels Throwback
31
8
Corning, CA
Jan 11, 1996
25
Chevrolet
Childress Vineyards
32
00
Weyers Cave, VA
Sep 15, 1997
23
Chevrolet
UNITS
33
77
Winamac, IN
Apr 28, 1999
22
Chevrolet
Bon Secours / Swamp Rabbits
34
20
Norman, OK
Dec 16, 1994
26
Toyota
Sport Clips Haircuts
35
53
Melbourne, Australia
Aug 28, 1986
35
Chevrolet
Unsponsored
36
14
Mitchell, IN
Dec 15, 1994
26
Ford
HighPoint.com / Founders
37
38
Ridgefield, CT
Mar 1, 1999
22
Ford
Chicago Pneumatic Compressors