2021 Cook Out Southern 500

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Race 27 of 36 in the2021 NASCAR Cup Series
The 2021 Cook Out Southern 500 program cover.
Date	September 5, 2021 (2021-09-05)
Location	Darlington Raceway inDarlington, South Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	1.366 miles (2.198 km)
Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.666 km)
Average speed	121.279 miles per hour (195.180 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske
Grid positions set by competition-based formula
Most laps led
Driver	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	156
Winner
No. 11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network	NBCSN
Announcers	Rick Allen,Jeff Burton,Steve Letarte,Dale Earnhardt Jr.,Dale Jarrett andKyle Petty
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth announcers	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle andRusty Wallace
Turn announcers	Dave Moody (1 & 2) andMike Bagley (3 & 4)

The2021 Cook Out Southern 500, the 72nd running of theevent, was aNASCAR Cup Seriesrace held on September 5, 2021 atDarlington Raceway inDarlington, South Carolina. Contested over 367 laps on the 1.366-mile (2.198 km) egg-shaped oval, it was the 27th race of the2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, first race of the Playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 16.Denny Hamlin took his first victory of the season and clinched a spot in the round of 12.

Darlington Raceway is arace track built forNASCAR racing located nearDarlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed"The Lady in Black" and"The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Darlington Raceway was last repaved following the May 2007 meeting (from 2005 to 2019, there was only one meeting; the second meeting was reinstated in 2020), and from 2008 to 2019, there was one night race. In 2020, a day race returned to the schedule, and instead of two races (one Xfinity and one Cup) during the entire year, the track hosted six races (three Cup, two Xfinity, and one Truck). The circuit kept repairing the circuit with patches during each summer before the annual Cup race in September. The circuit's narrow Turn 2 rapidly deteriorated with cracks in the tarmac allowing water to seep in the circuit. In July 2021, the circuit repaved a six hundred foot section at the entrance of Turn 2 and ending at the exit of the turn to repair the tarmac and resolve the issue for safety and to reduce the threat of weepers and surface issues in that section of the circuit.^[7]

The 2021 race also marked the addition of an athletics event as part of the Southern 500 weekend, the Terrence Carraway Memorial 5K athletics event, held around the circuit. The Darlington Raceway 5k was first held in November for 2018 and 2019 in memory of a local policeman killed in the line of duty. After taking a year off in 2020, the event moved to the Southern 500 weekend for 2021.^[8]

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Ryan Blaney was awarded the pole for the race as determined by competition-based formula.^[4]

Stage OneLaps: 115

Stage TwoLaps: 115

Stage ThreeLaps: 137

• Lead changes: 18 among 10 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 11 for 52
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 4 hours, 8 minutes and 1 second
• Average speed: 121.279 miles per hour (195.180 km/h)

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side.Rick Allen, two–time Darlington winnerJeff Burton,Steve Letarte andDale Earnhardt Jr. called Stages 1 and 3 of the race from the broadcast booth. Earnhardt Jr.,Dale Jarrett andKyle Petty called Stage 2 of the race from the broadcast booth.Dave Burns,Parker Kligerman and Marty Snider handled the pit road duties from pit lane.

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast onSirius XMNASCAR Radio.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Kyle Larson 2,106 5 2 Denny Hamlin 2,072 (–34) 3 Martin Truex Jr. 2,062 (–44) 6 4 Kurt Busch 2,052 (–54) 3 5 Ryan Blaney 2,048 (–58) 3 6 Joey Logano 2,047 (–59) 9 7 Kevin Harvick 2,046 (–60) 2 8 Brad Keselowski 2,038 (–68) 3 9 Christopher Bell 2,031 (–75) 5 10 Chase Elliott 2,030 (–76) 3 11 Aric Almirola 2,029 (–77) 3 12 Tyler Reddick 2,026 (–80) 7 13 Alex Bowman 2,026 (–80) 10 14 Kyle Busch 2,024 (–82) 7 15 William Byron 2,017 (–89) 3 16 Michael McDowell 2,006 (–100) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 995 2 Ford 934 (–61) 3 Toyota 920 (–75) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

• 2021 NASCAR Cup Series
• NASCAR races at Darlington Raceway
• September 2021 sports events in the United States
• 2021 in sports in South Carolina

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2025
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