Playoff Edition of the Southern 500 Heads to Darlington on USA Network

The NASCAR Cup Series postseason opens Sunday, Sept. 6, with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, one of the sport’s most storied venues and the traditional launching point for its championship run.

Sixteen drivers remain in contention for the Cup Series title, with ten races left to settle the champion. Denny Hamlin enters the Chase atop the points standings, holding a 25-point cushion over Ryan Blaney.

Tyler Reddick will start from the pole after qualifying was scrapped and the starting order was set by the rule book metric. Reddick has been the season’s most frequent visitor to victory lane, with wins at Daytona, Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas, Darlington in the spring, and Kansas.

How to watch

• Green flag: approximately 4:10 p.m. CT on Sunday, Sept. 6
• TV: USA Network, a Comcast (CMCSA) cable network
• Track: Darlington Raceway, a 2.5-mile oval in Darlington, S.C.
• Race length: 367 laps, 501.3 miles
• Stages: 115, 115 and 137 laps
• Radio: MRN, including 102.5-FM The Game in Nashville
• Streaming: HBO MAX app for in-car cameras (subscription required); NASCAR.com and SiriusXM Channel 90 for audio (subscription required)

Broadcast rights continue to be a meaningful part of NASCAR’s media economics, and cable networks like USA Network remain a primary distribution channel for playoff race coverage. Comcast shares closed the prior session at $26.66 and were recently trading at $26.49, down 0.64%, valuing the telecom and media conglomerate at roughly $94.4 billion. The company spans residential connectivity, business services, media, studios, and theme parks, with its media segment housing the networks carrying much of NASCAR’s postseason slate.

The Darlington oval, known as “The Lady in Black,” has already produced drama this season, having hosted the spring Goodyear 400 won by Reddick.

What to watch

• Whether Reddick converts the pole into another playoff points windfall
• How Hamlin’s 25-point lead over Blaney holds up over the remaining ten races
• Further NASCAR broadcast performance data as playoff ratings are released
• NBCUniversal’s continued commitment to NASCAR coverage in future media-rights negotiations

Source: original release