Christopher Bell Pulls Through; Starts Chase With First Win of Season

"It's been too damn long," that was the battle cry from Christopher Bell as he climbed from his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota following the Cook Out Southern 500 on a night where he was victorious for the first time in 2026. The driver, who had been disappointed with a runner-up finish seven times prior to Sunday night's race, finally pulled through, and in doing so threw his name into the hat for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series title.

You see, Bell picked a fine time to collect his first win of the season, as the Southern 500 marked the opening race of NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Championship.

Bell led the race on four occasions for a total of 46 laps, but in the closing laps, it almost looked like he would suffer a similar fate that he had seen happen seven times this season. Bell, who had fresher tires, was chasing down Kyle Larson for the race lead, but Larson was mirror blocking expertly, which was putting dirty air on the front of Bell's car and stalling out his runs for the lead.

Try as he might, Bell kept taking a swing, and he kept missing. At one point, it looked like he was going to have a hard time hanging onto the second position, as Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe had climbed into the picture, as he struggled behind Larson.

Then, with 12 laps to go, Bell was able to make his move, and cleared Larson coming off of Turn 4. As Larson then began to struggle on the older tires, Bell cemented himself as the guy, who wouldn't be beaten as he crossed the finish line first by a margin of 1.038 seconds over Ty Gibbs, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.

After the hard-fought win, Bell expressed how happy he was for the rest of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team to finally reach victory lane this season.

"I'm just so, so proud of all of these guys on this No. 20 car. All the mechanics, all the pit crew members, they deserve it more than anyone," Bell explained. "And oh my gosh, man. This has been a long time coming. Darlington has been one that I've always wanted to win since I got into the sport. This is the ultimate driver's track. You fans, you guys are the best. That's why we're here."

The win marks the 14th of Bell's 243-race NASCAR Cup Series career. With the win, Bell climbed from sixth in the Chase Grid to 2nd, and he sits just 12 points behind point leader Denny Hamlin, who suffered from a rough evening in Darlington.

And honestly, the fact that Bell is second in points is incredible considering he suffered a broken wrist in a spectacular crash at Michigan International Speedway in June. Bell gutted out racing with the injury for several weeks before the wrist healed, and his gutty performance in that stretch has paid off with a solid opportunity to battle for his first NASCAR Cup Series title.

"Yes, whenever I was sitting in the infield car center at Michigan, I thought my season was over," Bell admitted. "I thought I was going to be out a couple of weeks, didn't think I was going to be in the Chase. We're still in it, baby! Woo!"

Gibbs, who followed Bell to the front of the field with the fresher tires taken on the final caution of the evening, which was for rain, came home with a solid second-place finish. Like his teammate, Gibbs has gotten his Chase off on the right foot.

And so did several Chase contenders. 10 of the top-11 finishers in the Cook Out Southern 500 were championship contenders.

Tyler Reddick, who started from the pole, and won the opening Stage of the race, recorded a third-place finish, while Ryan Blaney finished fourth, and Larson, who faded some on the older tires, held on to finish fifth.

Chase Briscoe, who held the lead going into the final caution period, failed to collect his third consecutive Southern 500 win, but he definitely was in a position to pull it off for a portion of the evening.

Josh Berry continued his top-10 finishing streak, which is now at six races, with a seventh-place finish. Berry was the lone non-Chase competitor inside the top-10 on Sunday night.

Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, and Ryan Preece rounded out the top-10.

Other Chase competitors included Carson Hocevar (11th), Austin Cindric (13th), Chase Elliott (14th), Denny Hamlin (18th), Chris Buescher (20th), Daniel Suarez (21st), and William Byron (37th).

Byron saw his night come to an end early after a spin, and a subsequent blown engine on Lap 319. Prior to the incidents, Byron had been running inside the top-10.

While Hocevar salvaged an 11th-place result on a night, where he started 34th, the Spire Motorsports driver picked up another enemy, this time in Brad Keselowski, who he sent spinning on Lap 107.

After the race, Keselowski threatened, "[Hocevar's] day is coming, and it's coming hard. Watch out, Carson."

To which, Hocevar responded, "I'll tighten my belts."

Here is the updated Chase Grid following Darlington, the opening race of the 10-race Chase:

1. Denny Hamlin, 2,135 points
2. Christopher Bell, -12 points
3. Ryan Blaney, -16
4. Tyler Reddick, -24
5. Chase Briscoe, -37
6. Ty Gibbs, -39
7. Kyle Larson, -49
8. Chase Elliott, -72
9. Joey Logano, -72
10. Bubba Wallace, -81
11. Chris Buescher, -88
12. Carson Hocevar, -89
13. Daniel Suarez, -94
14. Austin Cindric, -102
15. Ryan Preece, -104
16. William Byron, -114

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, September 13. That race will be televised on USA Network and coverage will kick off at 3 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the second race of the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

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