Brad Keselowski won his first race of the season on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. Keselowski took the lead late in the race from Kyle Larson after floating near the front most of the evening. 

The No. 2 driver took the checkered flag in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday before going onto complete the weekend sweep with his first win at the track. Prior to Sunday's race, Keselowski's team owner Roger Penske had not won at Too Tough To Tame since 1975. 

While Keselowski was already locked into the playoffs on merit, the win more than doubled his playoff point total. Keselowski entered the race with four points and left with nine total as he hopes to make it back to the Championship 4.

Larson swept the stages in dominant fashion after clinching his spot last week on merit. With the green-and-white checkered flags, Larson added two valuable playoff points. 

Bojangles' Southern 500 results

  1. Brad Keselowski
  2. Joey Logano
  3. Kyle Larson
  4. Kevin Harvick
  5. Chase Elliott
  6. Kurt Busch
  7. Kyle Busch
  8. Erik Jones
  9. Jamie McMurray
  10. Denny Hamlin
  11. Martin Truex Jr.
  12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  13. Chris Buescher
  14. Aric Almirola
  15. Ryan Blaney
  16. Austin Dillon
  17. Paul Menard
  18. David Ragan
  19. Ryan Newman
  20. Michael McDowell
  21. Ty Dillon
  22. AJ Allmendinger
  23. Alex Bowman
  24. Kasey Kahne
  25. Matt Kenseth
  26. Bubba Wallace
  27. Corey LaJoie
  28. Ross Chastain
  29. Daniel Suarez
  30. Landon Cassill
  31. JJ Yeley
  32. BJ McLeod
  33. Derrike Cope
  34. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  35. William Byron
  36. Clint Bowyer
  37. Timmy Hill
  38. Matt DiBenedetto
  39. Jimmie Johnson
  40. Joey Gase

Stage 1: Larson shows off speed

The race was delayed just over an hour for lightning in the area, but kicked off shortly after 7 p.m. ET with Denny Hamlin taking the green flag in his throwback No. 11. Hamlin led the first 11 laps before forfeiting the lead to fellow front-row starter Kyle Larson.

Alex Bowman suffered a flat tire 28 laps in and was forced to pit, losing multiple laps in the process. Bowman entered Sunday's race on the playoff bubble, needing a win to clinch a spot in the Round of 16.

Scheduled stops began halfway through Stage 1 with Hamlin coming down alongside Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and a bevy of other drivers. Larson followed from the lead on the following lap. Within the blink of an eye, Larson recycled back to the lead ahead of Truex and Erik Jones.

Jimmie Johnson had worked his way into the top 15 after stops, but caught a loose wheel and came down pit road to fix it. Normally, at a track like Darlington, a loose wheel wouldn't be a major setback if suffered early on, but unfortunately for Johnson, he also suffered a commitment line violation and had to serve a pass-through penalty on the following lap. After the penalty, Johnson emerged three laps down. 

As Johnson attempted to work his way into contention from the back, upfront Larson continued to dominate, driving on to win Stage 1 without a challenge. 

Stage 1 results

  1. Kyle Larson (10 points plus 1 playoff point)
  2. Erik Jones (9 points)
  3. Martin Truex Jr. (8 points)
  4. Joey Logano (7 points)
  5. Brad Keselowski (6 points)
  6. Kevin Harvick (5 points)
  7. Denny Hamlin (4 points)
  8. Kyle Busch (3 points)
  9. Kurt Busch (2 points)
  10. Chase Elliott (1 point)

Stage 2: Barely a challenge for Larson

Jones was penalized during mid-stage pit stops for an uncontrolled tire and had to restart Stage 2 from the rear of the field. While the No. 20 fell back, Larson led the field to green ahead of Joey Logano and Truex.

Joey Gase brought out the first natural caution of the day 28 laps into the stage as he went spinning along the frontstretch. Gase climbed out of his car as his day came to an end. Prior to the accident, he was running eight laps down in the No. 23.

Larson spun the tires on his restart and forfeited the lead to Truex with Harvick on his tail. As those two battled for the lead, Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Clint Bowyer came down pit road after reports of a loose wheel.

Truex and Harvick raced each other hard, adding some wear to their tires before Larson reclaimed the lead with a little over 40 to go in the stage. Shortly after, Logano hit pit road under green, just ahead of scheduled stops. In the meantime, Jones recovered from his mid-stage penalty and worked his way back into the top five.

Two laps after Logano's trip to pit road, the rest of the field made their way down for fuel, tires and adjustments. Unfortunately for Truex -- like Jones earlier -- he suffered an uncontrolled tire penalty and had to serve a pass through under green.

Larson decided to stay out under green in favor of stage points at the end and his gamble paid off. The No. 42 easily finished Stage 2 first more than 15 seconds ahead of second place.

Final Stage: Pit road strategy and cautions come into play

Larson won the race off pit road between stages and restarted from the lead. The No. 42 didn't have the same breakaway speed early this time around, as Chase Elliott moved into second and stayed right on Larson's bumper.

In the long run, Larson began pulling away from the No. 9 while Elliott's teammate Johnson suffered engine issues and had to wheel his No. 48 to the garage. The setback severely damaged the seven-time champion's playoff hopes, as his chances are slimmer heading into the final race of the regular season.

Green flag pit stops going with the Stewart-Haas Racing Fords with 122 to go. Austin Dillon and Alex Bowman followed shortly after. Both Dillon and Bowman suffered uncontrolled tire penalties and had to serve pass through penalties. Dillon had been on the edge of contention throughout the night. Penalties continued to be the theme of the night as Jamie McMurray was dinged with a commitment line violation shortly after.

Logano and the Penske cars had pit earlier than the field, which allowed the No. 22 to take the lead around 100 to go on strategy. Logano's run up front didn't last long though, as Larson eventually caught him and took back the lead. The No. 22 stuck with the same strategy though, pitting on schedule a few laps later.

Green flag stops continued to cycle throughout the Final Stage as multiple strategies took shape. While that was going on Jones began gaining ground on the leader Larson. Just before Larson was going to come down for his final scheduled stop, Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer collided for a huge race, heavily damaging both of their cars.

The caution essentially put pit strategy out the window and set up for an exciting final 40 laps. Larson restarted from the lead with Keselowski and Logano right behind him. Not much later, the caution came out for debris as William Byron's No. 24 suffered an engine issue simultaneously. Hamlin pitted early under yellow and had to restart from the rear of the field.

On the restart, again it was Larson leading Keselowski and Logano with Harvick, Elliott and Jones not far behind. Cautions really ramped up towards the end of the race, with Jeffrey Earnhardt crashing with a little over 20 to go.  

Keselowski held the lead on the restart as Logano moved into second ahead of Larson. The No. 2 car continued to pull away in the final laps, and was able to navigate through lapped traffic en route to his first win on the season.

Miss any of the action? CBS Sports live blogged all the action from Too Tough To Tame. Check it out for highlights, analysis and much more.