Kyle Larson's Long Awaited Darlington Victory Proves That The 5 Is Still One Of The Teams To Beat

 We've seen this movie before. 

Kyle Larson in contention for the win late at Darlington in the #5 car. 

In 2021, he finished runner up in both races, both times finishing behind a Joe Gibbs Racing car, despite a video game move in the Southern 500 to try and best Denny Hamlin. 

In 2022, an engine issue took him out of contention early in the spring, while in the fall, he surprisingly finished 12th based solely off of speed. 

In the spring of this year, it looked like it was finally going to go his way. The dominant car of the day, Martin Truex, had spun on the final lap of Stage 2. Larson's first Darlington victory was right there for the taking on a late restart - until Ross Chastain happened, not lifting into Turn 2 and taking out 2 fast race cars. 

Fast forward to last night, September 3rd - and the script had a chance to play out exactly as it did in the spring. A dominant Joe Gibbs Racing Car - this time, Denny Hamlin, taken out by a self inflicted mistake. A late restart with 40 laps to go, with Chris Buescher, who hadn't lost an oval race since Pocono on July 23rd, to his inside.

This time, however, Larson got away cleanly, but the job wasn't finished yet. Tyler Reddick, one of the strongest cars of the night, and one of the best at Darlington currently, was lurking 4 car lengths behind. 

Say what you will about dirty air, but the next 25 laps were fascinating. While not getting closer than 2 car lengths of Larson, the 5 and 45 played a Darlington style game of cat and mouse, changing lanes and sliding their cars all the way around the Track Too Tough To Tame at wild speeds, with dwindling grip in their Goodyear Racing Eagles. 

However, Buescher and William Byron began to close on Reddick, and as he played defense, Kyle Larson coasted to his first Darlington win - a win that not only immortalizes him as a winner of the Southern 500, but that also catapults him into the Round of 12. 

Speaking of the Playoffs, it wasn't all peaches & cream for Playoff drivers at the Lady In Black. 

Pole winner Christopher Bell went from the lead to 6th on the first cycle of green flag stops, and later slapped the wall off of Turn 2, effectively ending his competitive night. 

As for the aforementioned Hamlin, it was a loose wheel that took the best car of the night out of contention, while his JGR teammate Martin Truex got caught a lap down multiple times in a car lacking much of the speed we saw from it last September. 

Bubba Wallace & Joey Logano spun in Stage 1, though both were able to recover well, finishing 7th & 12th respectively. Michael McDowell, however, wasn't so lucky, as a slow race car and a big crash late involving Hamlin & McDowell's FRM teammate, Todd Gilliland, put the 34 behind the 8 ball, 19 points out of the Top 12. 

Kyle Busch charged forward to finish a respectable 11th after having to forfeit his 11th place qualifying effort and start at the rear following damage in practice, while Ricky Stenhouse also recovered fairly nicely, ending up 16th after a pit road speeding penalty on the first stop of the day. Ross Chastain also marched into the top 5 after being a lap down early in the day.

Darlington also decided to mess with those not chasing a championship, with the most notable instance of the night being between Daniel Suarez & Alex Bowman.

With 50 laps to go, Bowman threw an aggressive block on Suarez's Trackhouse teammate, Ross Chastain. One lap later, it was Bowman holding on to the 9th spot, with Suarez right on his bumper coming down the front straightaway. 

After throwing an aggressive block to keep Suarez from diving to the inside, Bowman decided that one block wasn't enough, throwing a late block this time as Suarez went to the top. 

Both cars ended up in the fence, collecting an innocent bystander in Harrison Burton in the process. 

The 2023 Southern 500 encapsulated Darlington, the Southern 500, and old school NASCAR to a tee, while also adding in the Playoff drama only modern day NASCAR can provide. A race that featured attrition, plenty of mistakes, but also 2 of the best battling it out down the stretch, and one man finally conquering a track that had previously found every way to instead conquer him. 

Oh, and we had a red flag when the lights went out. 

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue next Sunday at Kansas at 3 PM ET on USA Network.