NASCAR 2025 Cook Out Southern 500: Weather forecast for the Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway

The 2025 Cook Out Southern 500 is officially back, and fans are in for a high-octane 27th stock-car racing weekend of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season at the Darlington Raceway on Sunday, August 31. This year's edition at the 1.366-mile-long track will mark the 76th annual Cook Out Southern 500.

Thirty-eight NASCAR Cup Series drivers will be in action for practice and qualifying on August 30, at 9 am ET and 10:10 am ET, before Sunday’s evening race. The main event will be spread over 367 laps in Darlington, South Carolina, divided into three stages, totalling 501.32 miles.

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Weather forecast for the 2025 Cook Out Southern 500

Here’s the weather report for NASCAR’s two national series at Darlington Raceway, as per The Daily Down Force:

Friday, August 29, 2025

NASCAR Truck Series Sober or Slammer 200: High 80°F, Low 77°F, Wind 5 mph, and 30% chance of rain.

Saturday, August 30, 2025

NASCAR Cup Series qualifying: High 82°F, Low 76°F, Wind 6-7 mph, and 50% chance of rain.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland: High 89°F, Low 76°F, Wind 5-10 mph, and 5% chance of rain.

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Cook Out Southern 500: High 80°F, Low 75°F, Wind 9 mph, and 30% chance of rain.

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Full entry list for NASCAR’s 2025 Darlington playoff race

The 2025 Cook Out Southern 500 iteration is set to see 38 Cup cars lined up on the grid. Here's a look at the list of drivers who will be vying to win the first race of the playoffs:

1. #1 - Ross Chastain
2. #2 - Austin Cindric
3. #3 - Austin Dillon
4. #4 - Noah Gragson
5. #5 - Kyle Larson
6. #6 - Brad Keselowski
7. #7 - Justin Haley
8. #8 - Kyle Busch
9. #9 - Chase Elliott
10. #10 - Ty Dillon
11. #11 - Denny Hamlin
12. #12 - Ryan Blaney
13. #16 - A. J. Allmendinger
14. #17 - Chris Buescher
15. #19 - Chase Briscoe
16. #20 - Christopher Bell
17. #21 - Josh Berry
18. #22 - Joey Logano
19. #23 - Bubba Wallace
20. #24 - William Byron
21. #34 - Todd Gilliland
22. #35 - Riley Herbst (R)
23. #38 - Zane Smith
24. #41 - Cole Custer
25. #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
26. #43 - Erik Jones
27. #44 – Derek Kraus (i)
28. #45 - Tyler Reddick
29. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
30. #48 - Alex Bowman
31. #51 - Cody Ware
32. #54 - Ty Gibbs
33. #60 - Ryan Preece
34. #66 - Josh Bilicki
35. #71 - Michael McDowell
36. #77 - Carson Hocevar
37. #88 - Shane van Gisbergen (R)
38. #99 - Daniel Suárez