AP Top News｜布里斯科连续第二次赢得南方500赛，晋级NASCAR季后赛第二轮

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) Chase Briscoe held off Tyler Reddick at Darlington Raceway on Sunday night to win the Southern 500 for the second straight year and advance to the second round of the NACAR Cup Series playoffs.

Briscoe, in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, took the lead early, won both stages and led 309 of 367 laps. Not only did he advance into the round of 12, he became the first driver with consecutive wins in NASCARs crown jewel race since Greg Biffle in 2005 and 2006.

Its so cool to win two Southern 500s in a row, the 30-year-old Indiana driver said. This is my favorite race of the year.

A year ago, when the race was the last of the regular season, Briscoe used a late, four-wide pass to move in front and win his way into the playoffs. This time, had the baddest machine on the block throughout.

Briscoe moved in front early and cruised through most of the event on NASCARs oldest superspeedway. After Reddick swept past him on the restart for the final segment, Briscoe got back in front a lap later and easily moved into the lead after each of his final three pit stops.

Reddick went low and got to Briscoes door on the final lap, but could not finish the pass. Briscoe held on to win for the second second time this season and fourth time in his career.

That was way harder than it needed to be, Briscoe said.

Two-time Southern 500 winner Erik Jones was third, followed by John Hunter Nemechek and AJ Allmendinger. Playoff racers Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin, Briscoes JGR teammate, were next.

Playoff problems

It was a not a great night for most of the playoff field as several contenders struggled. Only four playoff racers were in the top 10.

Josh Berry, who was already below the 12-man cutoff line entering Darlington, spun out moments after the race began and had to go into the garage. It was the first Cup Series playoff run for Berry, who drives for the Wood Brothers. Berry returned to the track midway through the second stage, 119 laps off the lead.

Alex Bowman was among just two playoff drivers without a win this year and needed a strong showing at Darlington to move up from 16th. Bowman pitted several times to find speed and instead found problems, including a malfunctioning air hose that kept him on pit road about 30 seconds.

Penske driver Ryan Blaney, who won a NASCAR title two years ago and took Daytona last week, was one of the circuits hottest drivers with six straight top 10 finishes. But spun out on Lap 209 while 13th to slide down the playoff standings.

Up next

The playoffs continue next Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis in second of three first-round races the round concludes at Bristol on Sept. 13 before the field is cut from 16 to 12.

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AP auto racing:

美联社南卡罗来纳州达灵顿电 —— 周日夜间，蔡斯·布里斯科（Chase Briscoe）在达灵顿赛道顶住泰勒·雷迪克（Tyler Reddick）的攻势，连续第二年赢得南方500大赛冠军，并成功晋级NASCAR杯系列季后赛第二轮。

布里斯科（Briscoe）加盟乔·吉布斯车队（Joe Gibbs Racing）的首个赛季便表现抢眼：他早早确立领先优势，包揽两个赛段冠军，并在总计367圈中领跑309圈。他不仅成功晋级12强淘汰赛，更成为自格雷格·比夫尔（Greg Biffle）2005-2006年蝉联冠军以来，首位在NASCAR皇冠明珠赛事中背靠背夺冠的车手。

这位30岁的印第安纳州车手表示：连续两次赢得南方500大赛的感觉太棒了。这是我全年最钟爱的赛事。

一年前，当这场比赛还是常规赛的收官之战时，布里斯科（Briscoe）在最后关头以一记四车并行的超车冲到前方，成功晋级季后赛。而这一次，他全程驾驶着赛道上最强劲的赛车。

布里斯科（Briscoe）在比赛初期便取得领先，并在NASCAR历史最悠久的超级赛道上轻松掌控了大部分赛程。当雷迪克（Reddick）在最后阶段重启时超越他后，布里斯科仅用一圈便重夺头名，并在最后三次进站后均轻松保持领先优势。

雷迪克在最后一圈压低线路逼近布里斯科的车门，但未能完成超越。布里斯科成功守位，赢得本赛季第二场胜利，这也是他职业生涯第四次夺冠。

“这本来没必要这么难的，”布里斯科说。

两届南方500赛冠军埃里克·琼斯位列第三，紧随其后的是约翰·亨特·内梅切克和AJ·阿尔门丁格。季后赛车手巴巴·华莱士与丹尼·哈姆林（布里斯科在JGR车队的队友）分列其后。

季后赛难题

对于季后赛的大部分选手而言，这并非一个美好的夜晚——多位竞争者表现挣扎，仅有四名季后赛车手跻身前十名。

乔什·贝里在进入达灵顿站时已处于12人晋级线以下，比赛开始后不久便失控打转，被迫进入维修区。这是为伍德兄弟车队效力的贝里首次参加杯系列赛季后赛。他在第二阶段中途重返赛道，但已落后领先者119圈。

亚历克斯·鲍曼是今年季后赛车手中仅有的两位未夺冠的选手之一，他亟需在达灵顿站有出色表现以摆脱第16名的排名。然而鲍曼多次进站试图提升速度，却遭遇连串问题——包括故障的空气软管导致他在维修区滞留约30秒。

潘世奇车队车手瑞安·布莱尼（Ryan Blaney）两年前曾夺得NASCAR冠军，上周又在代托纳站折桂，并以连续六次跻身前十的成绩成为本赛季最炙手可热的车手之一。然而他在第209圈排名第13位时失控打滑，导致季后赛排名下滑。

接下来

季后赛将于下周日继续在圣路易斯郊外的世界广域技术赛道进行，这是三场首轮比赛中的第二场（该轮比赛将于9月13日在布里斯托尔结束），之后参赛队伍将从16支缩减至12支。

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