By Holly Cain – NASCAR Wire Service
Christopher Bell snapped a drought to win the NASCAR Cup Series Crown Jewel in the opening Chase at Darlington Raceway in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500..
DARLINGTON, SC – Christopher Bell snapped a 33-race winless streak with his first win of the year Sunday night in the Cook Out Southern 500, coming off a record-setting seven second-place finishes on the season. And the timing of his trophy raise couldn’t have been better for the perennial championship contender.
Christopher Bell. Victory of the crown jewels
Bell’s 1.038-second victory in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota over JGR teammate Ty Gibbs at the historic and historically difficult 1.366-mile Darlington (SC) Raceway in the opener of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase was a strong championship statement for Bell.
The victory moves him from sixth to second in the championship standings, now just 12 points behind another JGR teammate, regular-season champion Denny Hamlin, with nine races remaining to decide who lifts the big trophy.
“It’s been so long, oh my gosh, man,” said a smiling Bell, who took the checkered flag and bowed proudly to the packed Darlington stands in honor of his former teammate, the late Kyle Busch.
“I’m so, so, so proud of all these guys, all these guys deserve it more than anybody,” he said of his team. “This has been a long time coming. And Darlington has been someone I’ve always wanted to beat since I got into the sport. It’s the ultimate driver’s way.”
Not only did Bell end that winless streak, but the showing was a big boost to his spirits, considering this season he has had to deal with a broken wrist he suffered in a crash in Michigan in June. Bell ran as he recovered from an injury this summer, and now that determination and unwavering belief in himself and the team has put him in position to challenge for the 2026 championship.
All four JGR cars have 2026 wins
Sunday’s victory in one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ main events was not only a special reward in the moment, but also a great motivation going forward. And Bell’s win marks the first time since 2019 that the JGR operation has won by all four of its drivers.
“We can win any week, it just hasn’t happened yet,” Bell said. “When I was sitting in Michigan’s indoor care center, I thought my season was going to be over. But we’re still in it, baby.’ We’re still in it.”
The 31-year-old Oklahoman led 46 laps on the night, but eventually took the lead for good with a lap. Defending series champion Kyle Larson There are 12 laps left in the 367-lap race. Larson led a race-best 99 laps, but was among four cars that did not compete for fresh tires due to rain after an eight-minute red-flag stoppage with 24 laps remaining.
Bell resumed in fifth place. his crew got him out first among those on fresh tires in the pits and he wasted no time in moving forward. He was on Larson’s bumper two laps after the green flag restart and made the winning move on Larson with 12 laps to go; in the final laps, holding off four other championship-eligible drivers, including Gibbs, polesitter 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Tim Blason, who managed to top Lai. in case of tire shortage.
Kyle Larso Good with Pit Call
Larsson, who is now riding a 50+ race winless streak, said after the race that he had absolutely no doubts about the call to stay on track during that final caution instead of getting fresh tires.
“No, I don’t,” Larson said of second-guessing his team’s strategy. “(If we did that), we were going to restart behind 20 (Bell) and 19 (sixth-place finisher Chase Briscoe of JGR). I was actually surprised they collapsed in front of me and didn’t get out with me. There were so many cars on the lead lap, I thought there might be another two or four (cars) that would drop out and that might help me at least get a few laps in with my tire management.
“But Bell got to second (place) so fast, I just started to defend and I couldn’t drive the lines I wanted to take care of my tires. Either way, it would be hard to keep him down and I ended up taking him longer than I thought.
“Really happy for the day. Much better than the last few times we’ve been at Darlington.”
Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry was the only driver not to enter the Chase in the top ten, his seventh-place finish marking his sixth consecutive top-ten finish; Longest streak for a Wood Brothers driver from the NASCAR Hall of Fame since the late David Pearson in 1977. eighth and ninth.
Keselowski’s Ryan Preece, winner of last week’s Daytona regular-season finale at Roush Fenway, finished tenth even after a slow pit sequence during a Phase 1 pit break that required an extra pit stop and dropped him to 28th in the running order before he spun at Stanefi’s second green flag. 2nd round break.
Regular season leader Denny Hamley
Regular-season champion and five-time Darlington winner Denny Hamlin finished 18th, which was actually a huge bounce back after a series of mid-race mishaps killed the title favorite’s Cup chances.
First, he and teammate Bell had slow pit stops during the Stage 2 caution period. And one lap after the restart for the stage break, while running 16th, the No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet of Michael McDowell made contact. Hamlin’s car went into the wall, and after numerous pit stops to assess the damage, he returned to the track with 100 laps to go.
Timely strategy calls and subsequent caution periods helped him get back into the lead, crucial to salvaging the top 20 position that keeps him in the standings.
“Definitely not the finish we were hoping for, good first two laps, just getting to where our car was at its best right before the lap 3 wreck,” Hamlin said. “Obviously great gains all day and really good in the long run and it worked well until the last lap but never got to see it out.
“It’s the pressure of sports. Big mistakes can’t be made. We just had a tough pit stop there and when we got back there, you’re with a little bit more aggressive guys that don’t really matter on points or anything like that, so sometimes you don’t get a break and that’s how it goes.
“We’re still leading (the points) so we just have to go to the next track and perform at a high level and do everything we can to have a much better day next week than what we did this week.”
The Other Chase Contenders:
Other Chase-eligible drivers included Carson Hotsavar, who finished 11th, Austin Cindric and Chase Elliott, who finished 13th and 14th. Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez were 20th and 21st. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was 37th in the 38-car field, his No. 24 Chevrolet suffering engine trouble just 48 laps before the checkered flag.
In addition to Hamlin and Bell in the championship standings, Blaney is now third, 16 points behind Hamlin. Redick, who claimed the Round 1 win, is 24 points behind, while Briscoe is 37 points off his teammate’s pace.
Next
Round 2 of the ten-race Chase, the Enjoy Illinois 300 is Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway in Gateway, Ill. The race begins at 3 PM ET with coverage on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Points leader Denny Hamlin is the defending race winner.
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