A blessed day in the night skies of Darlington Raceway initiates the final 10-race stretch of the 2023 season! The moon is out and howls out to an infinite 300,000 people to watch the final crown-jewel event. Craig Lee and Ben Geer lead the 46-car field to the green flag.

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

Points leader Timothy McDonnell blows up on lap-3! A horrendous development for the driver who dominated the second-third of the season en route to his immaculate regular season Championship. Both he and Zakk Miller led the league in laps completed entering Darlington. By the finish, neither of them will be there at the end.

Craig Lee dominated the first 60-lap stint, with he and Ryan Heuser leading every single lap and keeping the field single-file behind. A mortifying crash involving chase contenders Tony Pizzaro and Matt Raboin brought out the first yellow flag, with both cars winding up on their roofs. Johnny Reed Foley, Donald Stewart and Rob Scarberry would also fall to the wayside due to the accident.

The ensuing 40-lap stint saw Dave Miller, Dakota Wilkins and Ken Pettit all lead the way. Michael Henson, Jonathan Skrabacz and Darlington dominator Scott Jackson all pulled their cars to the front in a mezmorizing Chevrolet domination. There would be another theme for the race, with only 1-2 chase drivers near the front seemingly all night.

Another crash just after the lap-100 mark was initiated by Dave Miller running into Dalton Lucas's depleted #88 automobile. Matthew Dominique narrowly escaped, just in time for Tony Long and Rick Jackson to piledrive straight into the Marlboro-Man. William Perry, Dakota Wilkins and Adam Crapser were involved in the aftermath, each failing to continue.

Veterans Ken Pettit and Scott Jackson looked extremely strong throughout the next green flag run. Pettit was the only chase driver to consistently stay inside the top-10, a complete reverse from his regular season performance. He is the only Championship contender to not record a win, and has recorded the least laps led of anyone. Behind him, more accidents take out chase contenders John Battista and Zakk Miller, as well as Dan Johnston, Tony Gunk, Randy Dobbins and Jonathan Skrabacz.

We have never seen such attrition in an Extravaganza race since Kentucky of 2019. Zach Michael won that event, as he peers ever so close to the lead despite his slightly damaged front end. Cristian Torres wound up passing Pettit for the top-spot and dominated the stint, leading a whopping 62 laps on the day. An attempted Logan Sheets pass for the lead nearly took both racecars out, giving Bink Lucas the nod on the frontstretch.

The #5 Lifesavers machine would slam into Michael Henson to bring out the final caution flag of the race, a horrific break for both drivers who at one point looked like Cinderella stars. Up front, Craig Lee found his way back to his early domination, with John Tharp and Logan Sheets looking to reciprocate for not being in Championship contention. They would soon start lapping the field, leaving a mere 12 drivers to race for the victory.

Alan Nesfeder, miracle-man Jonathan Cheeseman and David Butterworth found themselves up towards the front during the final green-flag stint. Everyone pitted just before the lap-300 mark, leaving some to believe that one of the drivers can make it the rest of the way. If nobody could, Craig Lee looked to be the man to beat, leading by multiple seconds at different points during the run.

Everyone came in to take fuel around the 10-to-go mark. Lee and the #101 crew decided to take two left-side tires along with the rest of the field behind him. Ken Pettit and former R2W teammate David Butterworth decided to stretch the fuel further and come in for a splash-and-go. Miraculously, this brought Pettit from over two seconds back to two seconds ahead, leaving little time for Lee to pass both the #81 and #8 for the victory.

The losing streak is finally over! It's been 169 races since Ken Pettit's last victory at Atlanta in early 2019. He left that race with the points lead, finishing second to John Tharp in the Daytona 500 that year. He will exit this race with the points lead as well. One Championship in 2021 was the immaculate bright spot during that stretch, as the #8 crew looks for another crown for the "Rasta's". Congrats to Ken, crew chief Slim Horton and the entire Race-2-Win Motorsports crew for an excellent victory!

2023 Southern 500 Video, Part 1

2023 Southern 500 Video, Part 2