DARLINGTON, S.C. — Chase Briscoe passed Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain to take the lead, then defeated two-time series champion Kyle Busch to win Sunday night’s Southern 500 and advance to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Briscoe pulled away on a final restart with 17 laps to go in the final round of the regular season at Darlington Raceway, holding off Busch, who like Briscoe needed a win to reach the playoffs.

“We just won the Southern 500,” an emotional Briscoe said on the radio.

Briscoe’s Stewart-Haas Team announced its closure earlier this season. Briscoe gave the proud program something to fight for in the final 10 weeks of the season.

Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. took the final two spots in the postseason on points, while Bubba Wallace and Chastain, both 27 points from the cutoff line at the start of the race, fell short.

Briscoe’s dramatic move spoiled another dominant Darlington race by Larson, who led 263 laps but was no longer the same after being passed by the winner.

Larson attempted to overtake Tyler Reddick for the regular season title and the 15 bonus points the leader gets, but fell just short by one point.