3 takeaways from today's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500

Kyle Larson won the latest NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, his third victory of the 2023 season, on Sunday, September 3.

Larson survived a hectic second half of the race, which saw several playoff drivers get into trouble, to take home the victory. This is surprisingly Larson's first NASCAR Cup victory at Darlington Raceway.

With the dust settling on the contest, here are three takeaways from the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

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#3 Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes

In the NASCAR playoffs, there is little margin for error, especially as the rounds go on. In the first race of the playoffs tonight, several drivers made mistakes that cost them.

On the very first pit stop of the race, Christopher Bell, who was leading, had a slow pit stop. He also slapped the wall and messed up the toe on the car.

Ross Chastain also had a small error on his stop, while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had a speeding penalty. Bubba Wallace also spun out by himself at the end of Stage 1.

In Stage 2, Martin Truex Jr. had to pit twice for a loose wheel issue, while Joey Logano bent a toe link during the stage, which severely hampered his car. Denny Hamlin also got in a wreck with Michael McDowell late in the race.

While none of these mistakes were death blows just yet, it could be something the drivers look back at in a couple of weeks if they miss the next round of the playoffs.

During the final stage, Denny Hamlin had a loose wheel and had to make an extra pit stop. Up until that point, Hamlin was the dominant car and had ridden a perfect race.

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#2 Lights Out

In an otherwise tame first portion of the race, this biggest "controversy" of the night was when NASCAR called a caution for there being no lights in Turns 3 and 4.

The drivers raced for quite a while with the lights out, but NASCAR eventually called the caution and asked drivers if they wanted to continue. A red flag was eventually displayed.

While no one wrecked during the period with no lights, it is something that NASCAR should investigate and pull the trigger on sooner in the future before something does happen. Something like that can't happen, especially in the most important part of the season.

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#1 Kyle Larson finally gets it done at NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500

Kyle Larson is often regarded as one of the best drivers in the world, and Darlington Raceway is one of his best tracks. However, he hadn't won at the track in the NASCAR Cup Series until tonight.

Larson survived a chaotic second half of the race, which included him thinking he broke a toe link in his car, to take home the victory. He held off a hard fight from Tyler Reddick, who is also great at Darlington, to do so.

After so many close calls, including his video game-type move against Denny Hamlin a couple of years ago, Larson finally got the win at Darlington. He can now look forward to the next round, which includes tracks that aren't in his wheelhouse.