After a thrilling Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Darlington, South Carolina for the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The race will kick off the highly-anticipated Cup Series playoffs.
With the United States of America celebrating Labor Day on Monday, September 6, this weekend’s Cup Series race is a rare Sunday night race. The event is expected to go green at 6:18 p.m. EST on Sunday with coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST on NBCSN.
The Southern 500 is NASCAR’s second-longest race of the season; only the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is longer. Sunday’s event is scheduled for 367 laps and 501.3 miles with stage breaks at laps 115 and 230.
Coming off back-to-back wins in the final two races of the regular season, Ryan Blaney holds the pole position for Sunday’s Southern 500. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin starts beside Blaney in second with Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman rounding out the top-5. Regular-season champion Kyle Larson will start sixth. The 16 playoff drivers are the top-16 starters in each of the three Round of 16 races.
Sunday’s entire Cup Series starting lineup is below
| Starting Position | Driver | Car Number | Team |
| 1 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Penske |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Gibbs |
| 3 | Kurt Busch | 1 | Ganassi |
| 4 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick |
| 5 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick |
| 6 | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress |
| 8 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas |
| 9 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas |
| 10 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Gibbs |
| 11 | Joey Logano | 22 | Penske |
| 12 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Gibbs |
| 13 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Gibbs |
| 14 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick |
| 15 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row |
| 16 | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Penske |
| 17 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI |
| 18 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty |
| 19 | Ryan Newman | 6 | Roush Fenway |
| 20 | Justin Haley | 77 | Spire |
| 21 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress |
| 22 | Erik Jones | 43 | Richard Petty |
| 23 | Ross Chastain | 42 | Ganassi |
| 24 | Chase Briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas |
| 25 | Corey LaJoie | 7 | Spire |
| 26 | Daniel Suarez | 99 | TrackHouse |
| 27 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live Fast |
| 28 | Josh Bilicki | 52 | Rick Ware |
| 29 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | Roush Fenway |
| 30 | Matt DiBenedetto | 21 | Wood Brothers |
| 31 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas |
| 32 | Anthony Alfredo | 38 | Front Row |
| 33 | Cody Ware | 51 | Rick Ware |
| 34 | Chris Buescher | 17 | Roush Fenway |
| 35 | Joey Gase | 15 | Rick Ware |
| 36 | James Davison | 53 | Rick Ware |
| 37 | Quin Houff | 00 | StarCom |