After taking a week off, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series resumed the race to the chase with the Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
The first caution of the night happened early when Chase Elliott and Cole Whitt made contact on the backstretch on Lap 6. The race restarted on Lap 13 with Brad Keselowski leading the field to the green flag.
The second caution came on Lap 44 when Ryan Newman spun out. While under caution, many opted to come in for service. Keselowski won the race off pit road to retain the lead and again led the field to the green.
The third caution of the night came on Lap 61 for debris on the frontstretch. Carl Edwards assumed the lead under caution after he was the only driver who did not pit. Kasey Kahne took two tires on pit road, and restarted in second position with Keselowski in third. Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five on the restart.
The race went on to have 18 caution periods, breaking the previous record of 17 from the 2009 race.
As he has multiple times during this summer, Brad Keselowski led the most laps of the race (196) but was unable to seal the deal after Edwards beat him off pit road during the 18th and final caution period.
Also notable: After winning the Xfinity Series race a day prior, Denny Hamlin led 57 laps and earned his 100th career top-five finish; Kurt Busch ran in the top-five for much of the night but had to bounce back from a spin to cross the line sixth; Ryan Newman finished in an impressive 13th after spinning on Lap 46; Joe Gibbs Racing has now won seven of the last 10 races.
Next up is the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway on Saturday, September 12.