Neither rain, nor worn-out tires, nor even the likes of Kyle Larson could keep Christopher Bell out of Victory Lane Sunday night.
After seven runner-up finishes in 2026, Bell finally got the job done, winning his first race of the season and his first since the spring of 2025.
And what a way to end a winless streak.
Bell led the final 10 laps, holding off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs to win one of NASCAR’s Crown Jewel races, the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Oh, and it just happened to be the first race of the Chase.
So, naturally, Bell decided to make his championship intentions known.
“It’s been too damn long,” Bell said after climbing from his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “Oh, my gosh, man. 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.”
Darlington, as it turns out, was exactly where Bell wanted to end the drought.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said. “Darlington has been one that I’ve always wanted to win since I got into the sport. This is the ultimate driver’s track.”
The winning move came after a light rain shower brought the field to a halt with just over 30 laps remaining. After a brief red flag, the cars were rolling again, leaving crew chiefs with a decision that at Darlington is about as pleasant as being asked to choose which finger you’d like to lose.
The field had pitted just a few laps earlier, around lap 315, but Darlington chews through tires like a puppy with a brand-new chew toy. After the rain ended, the leaders, led by Bell, came back down pit road for fresh rubber.
Four drivers, led by Larson, elected to stay out.
That looked rather clever for a while.
The green flag waved with 24 laps remaining, and Larson put up a valiant fight. But with tires that were considerably less prehistoric, Bell eventually sliced his way past and took his rightful place at the front of the field.
Gibbs would finish second in the final circuits, doing his best Christopher Bell impression by finishing runner-up — although Bell’s 1.038-second margin made sure there would be no confusion about who had actually won.
Ryan Blaney was fourth, while Larson had to settle for fifth.
For Bell, however, the victory meant considerably more than simply ending a frustrating run of second-place finishes.
Just three months ago, his season appeared to be hanging by a thread.
On June 7 at Michigan, Bell was sitting in the infield care center with a broken wrist and wondering whether his season — and his shot at the Chase — was over.
“I thought my season was over,” Bell said. “I was out a couple of weeks, I wasn’t going to be able to make the Chase.”
But even then, he wasn’t willing to concede the championship fight.
“I knew that we would be able to win it,” Bell said. “No matter what I knew that we would be able to win it. We can win any week. It just has not happened yet.”
And now, three months later, here he is.
Not merely in the Chase.
He’s a threat.
The first stage opened with something nobody had apparently told Daniel Suarez about: pole sitter Tyler Reddick was supposed to lead.
Instead, Suarez took control, with Denny Hamlin, who had started fourth, taking the lead on lap 3. Hamlin held it until lap 28, when Reddick had recovered enough to reclaim the top spot.
With no practice or qualifying on Friday, NASCAR called for a competition caution around lap 35. It actually came on lap 40.
Reddick was first off pit road and led for a few laps before Hamlin retook the lead on lap 45.
The lead belonged to Hamlin until green-flag stops began around lap 70. He pitted on lap 71.
Bubba Wallace was the last to stop, coming to pit road on lap 77. That put Hamlin back in control by lap 79, but Wallace had the freshest tires among the leaders and immediately began slicing his way forward.
Reddick, meanwhile, had the long-run speed and reclaimed the lead on lap 94, with Wallace soon following him into second.
Then Carson Hocevar decided to make the end of the first stage considerably more interesting.
Running 18th on lap 107, Hocevar made contact with the right rear of Brad Keselowski’s car in Turns 3 and 4. Keselowski went spinning, the caution flew, and the first stage ended prematurely.
Reddick was awarded the stage win, with Wallace second.
Stage 2 featured no cautions and two rounds of green-flag pit stops.
Reddick led when the stage resumed on lap 113 and remained out front until the first round of green-flag stops began on lap 150. Wallace had pitted a lap earlier and cycled into the lead on lap 155.
Wallace kicked off the second round of green-flag stops on lap 187. Reddick came in a lap later, but a slow stop caused by a loose wheel dropped him deep into the field.
Instead, Chase Briscoe emerged with the lead on lap 194.
Christopher Bell, meanwhile, was doing what Christopher Bell does when he decides he’s had enough of finishing second: chopping through traffic.
He reeled in Briscoe and took the lead on lap 216, with 14 laps remaining in the stage. Bell held on to score the stage win ahead of Kyle Larson and Hamlin.
Larson won the race off pit road, while Bell and Hamlin both suffered slow stops.
Briscoe had a considerably bigger problem. He ran out of fuel and was forced to pit with pit road closed, sending him to the rear of the field.
Bell restarted 10th and Hamlin 16th when the final stage went green on lap 238.
Larson wasted little time getting comfortable out front and soon built a two-second advantage over Wallace.
Hamlin, meanwhile, suffered insult on top of injury.
On lap 241, coming out of Turn 4, Michael McDowell shoved Hamlin into the outside wall. Hamlin reported a broken toe link and began falling through the field.
Green-flag stops began on lap 277, led by Suarez. Hamlin also pitted, but under green his crew made a normal four-tire stop and sent him back into the fight.
Larson pitted on lap 279, one lap after Reddick, but managed to rejoin the field ahead of him. Larson was cycling back to the lead on lap 282 when Zane Smith took a solo spin, bringing out the caution.
Most of the leaders stayed out, with Ty Gibbs, Briscoe, William Byron, Wallace and Joey Logano among those electing to pit.
Larson led the field back to green on lap 289 with 78 laps remaining.
He was still out front on lap 315 when Byron, running ninth, produced one of the more bizarre spins of the evening, somehow losing control on the backstretch and bringing out another caution.
Then the weather arrived.
The edge of a band of showers moved across the track under caution, creating the sort of situation where everybody suddenly becomes a meteorologist. NASCAR kept the cars moving in an effort to keep the track dry.
Green returned on lap 336.
It didn’t last.
The rain intensified, the red flag came out, and when the Southern 500 finally sorted itself out, Bell was the man standing in Victory Lane.
Briscoe finished sixth, followed by Josh Berry, Wallace, Logano and Ryan Preece to complete the top 10.
Nine of the top 10 finishers were Chase drivers.
As for the rest of the Chase field, Hocevar finished 11th, Austin Cindric 13th, Chase Elliott 14th and Hamlin managed to salvage 18th. Chris Buescher was 20th and Suarez 21st.
Byron had the roughest night of them all, finishing 37th and becoming the only Chase driver to record a DNF.
Hamlin managed to hold onto the No. 1 position in the Chase standings, but Bell is now just 12 points behind him.
After spending much of 2026 demonstrating that finishing second is apparently his specialty, Bell has finally found the top step.
And he picked a pretty good night to do it.
He had wondered in June whether he’d even make the Chase.
Now, after winning its opening race at Darlington, he’s sitting second in the standings and looking every bit like a championship contender.
“We’re still in it, baby, whoo!”
Indeed they are.
Next up is Gateway, where Hamlin will look to make amends. After all, he is the defending winner there.
Bell, meanwhile, probably won’t mind if the forecast is a little less wet and the tires are a little more cooperative.
Although, judging by Sunday night, he seems perfectly happy winning the hard way.
RACE RESULTS
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
- Denny Hamlin takes a beating and still leaves Darlington on top - September 6, 2026
- William Byron’s Chase starts with one very large mulligan - September 6, 2026
- Christopher Bell finally escapes NASCAR’s second-place purgatory - September 6, 2026