DARLINGTON, S.C. — The NASCAR Chase is set to begin this weekend at Darlington Raceway for the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

The 10-race Chase for the Cup and the nine-race NOAPS Chase will kick off at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval. The Cup cars will race Sunday night while the NOAPS cars will race Saturday night. 

The first race of the Chase could answer a lot of questions for the rest of the postseason.

The 750 horsepower short track package will make its NextGen debut in the Southern 500. The race was run with a similar package in 2021 when the Cup Series had the drastically different Gen 6 car.

Denny Hamlin won that race, holding off Kyle Larson. However, neither driver ran well in the spring when the package debuted at Darlington. 

In contrast, RFK Racing had a great day – running 1-2-3 at one point and leading the most laps with Brad Keselowski also being the boss on the track. Keselowski led 142 of 293 laps but lost to Tyler Reddick, who took the lead with 28 laps to go.

Reddick led 77 laps but he could've challenged Keselowski's laps led total if not for mechanical issues and a bad pit stop that dropped him back in the field. Despite having issues throughout the day, he still finished second in the first stage, fifth in the second stage and earned the most points in the race. 

Eleven other Chase drivers finished inside the top-15: Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez, William Byron and Chris Buescher in third through ninth; Denny Hamlin (11th), Chase Briscoe (12th), Ryan Preece (13th) and Chase Elliott (15th).

Not everyone ran well, however. Christopher Bell struggled all day and finished 19th after starting 22nd. Issues also trapped Kyle Larson in 32nd and Bubba Wallace in 34th at the finish.

However, no one had as bad of a day as Joey Logano who started 29th and finished 33rd, three laps down, on pace alone.

Everyone touted "Even Year Logano" after he tore through a slate of short tracks before the Chase. However, with half of the Chase made up of speedways where the three-time champion has mightily struggled, he is a huge unknown – making Sunday important.

Entry List Note: Corey Heim in the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota and Chad Finchum in Garage 66's No. 66 Ford are the only open teams this weekend. They will each make the field.

Spring race winner Tyler Reddick and five-time Darlington winner and No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin are the co-favorites for the Southern 500. Defending Southern 500 winner Chase Briscoe is close behind them:

Odds are according to Caesars Sportsbook. No championship odds were available as of Monday evening.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. The National Council on Problem Gambling help-line is also often cited at 1-800-522-4700.  

Is this Justin Allgaier's ye- Kidding. He has a championship already.

Can he make it two championships? Certainly the odds look good for Allgaier, who won in the spring and has consistently looked like the best driver on the upcoming track.

Carson Kvapil is Allgaier's closest competitor. He has finished second, first, first and third in the four races leading up to the Chase now with the No. 1 team and crew chief Rodney Childers for the rest of the season. Allgaier also led laps at Iowa Speedway and won at EchoPark Speedway Atlanta. 

Needless to say, this championship fight may be more hotly-contested than some people may expect.

Entry list notables:

No. 1 seed Justin Allgaier leads No. 2 seed Carson Kvapil, while Rajah Caruth rounds out the field after sneaking in at Daytona International Speedway:

Odds are according to DraftKings. No race odds were available as of Monday evening.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. The National Council on Problem Gambling help-line is also often cited at 1-800-522-4700.