Erik Jones wins the 2022 Cup Series "Cook Out Southern" 500 at Darlington

 

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    Richard Petty's famous No. 43 has reached victory lane once again, for the first time since the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series season. Driver Erik Jones avoided the fate and misfortune that plagued many drivers had in the 2022 "Cookout Southern" 500 at Darlington Raceway. Jones held off Playoff drivers Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick for the victory, leading the final 20-laps.

The Darlington Raceway victory for Jones is a milestone of 200 total NASCAR Cup Series wins for the No. 43 car. Here is a peek at past winners in the No. 43:

• Richard Petty - 192 Wins
• Bobby Hamilton - 2 Wins
• Jim Paschal - 2 Wins
• Lee Petty - 1 Win
• John Andretti - 1 Win
• Aric Almirola -1 Win
• Erik Jones - 1 Win

The victory was the first for the Petty GMS Motorsports team, which formed when GMS Racing purchased the majority ownership of Richard Petty Motorsports late last year.

Darlington Raceway has hosted the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff opening race for the past several years, the 1.3-mile egg-shaped track bringing different results every time. One common thing we have seen is misfortune for one or more of the drivers in the Playoff field, competing for a championship. 

Chase Elliott, who won the 2022 Regular-Season championship, was not exempt from the chaos of the ever-changing storyline. The No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro broke loose and spun around into traffic, collecting fellow Playoff driver Chase Briscoe's No. 14 machine. Elliott broke the rear toe-link on his car in the incident and retired from the race on lap-113. Briscoe managed to finish the race, just a few laps down.

Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Ford Mustang went up in flames after his exhaust had a misfunction and caught the car on fire. Under the final caution, brought out by the No. 51 car after it clobbered the wall, leader Kyle Busch looked like he was well on his way to victory lane. That was until his engine began spitting out blue smoke from the exhaust pipes: the symptoms of an expiring engine. Busch having to quit the race handed the lead over to Erik Jones.

Here are the complete race results from Darlington Raceway:

NASCAR.com

 

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