NASCAR Playoffs: Cook Out Southern 500 top moments, live updates

The Round of 16 in this year’s NASCAR Cup Series playoffs kicked off Sunday with the Cook Out Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina.

It’s the first race of a 10-week stretch of competition that ends in Arizona in November with just four drivers competing in the highly anticipated NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway.

Sixteen drivers who were part of the playoff field participated in the Cookout Southern 500, an egg-shaped oval track made up of 367 laps. They were: Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suárez, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Austin Dillon.

Here are the top moments from Darlington Raceway:

Green!

Logano won the pole for Sunday’s race, followed by Bell, Byron, Reddick and Busch.

Things got underway on “The Track Too Tough to Tame” with Logano and Bell battling side-by-side through the first two laps. A caution came out early for rain in the area, but it came and went quickly. 

The green flag was back out at Lap 17.

Follow the leader

Polesitter Logano didn’t relinquish the lead for much of the beginning of the race. At Lap 54, he extended his lead to nearly a second over Byron.

Miscue

Elsewhere, Harvick’s long pit stop left him in trouble, dropping him all the way out of the top 20.

Making moves

Byron was finally able to close in on Logano and take the lead on Lap 66.

Meanwhile, Hamlin moved into fifth place after starting in 11th and Erik Jones took fourth after starting 15th.

Big problems

Larson came to pit road with no power in his car. His team had to open his hood to check for engine issues.

Stage 1 in the books

The caution flag came out at the end of the first stage, as Elliott and Briscoe collided on the track. Elliott got the worst of it, breaking the rear toe link of his car.

Byron was able to pick up the Stage 1 — his fourth stage win of the year and his first since Talladega in April.

Stay tuned for updates.