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Christopher Bell Starts The Chase With First 2026 Victory at Darlington
After seven second-place finishes in the 2026 season, Christopher Bell earned his first career victory of the year at the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Bell started from 11th, but showcased that he had one of the fastest cars of the field early on as he climbed up to fourth by the end of the first stage. In the second stage, Bell took advantage of tire strategy by running more laps under green-flag conditions, then passing other drivers on fresher tires after stopping on pit road. This strategy paid off as he eventually passed the whole field to win the second stage over Kyle Larson. In the final stage, Bell had to work his way back to the front after his pit crew lost positions due to a slow stop during the stage break. Midway through the stage, he was chasing after Larson again and then eventually dueled with his teammate, Chase Briscoe, before rain stopped the race on lap 338. After the rain stopped and the race resumed, Bell pitted for tires for the final run, but lost a few positions as drivers stayed out on older tires. However, Bell went through all of them in a short amount of time before spending the rest of the race chasing after and eventually passing Larson on lap 356. From there, Bell held off Ty Gibbs and went on to get his first Cup Series win at Darlington. Bell is now second in The Chase standings after 27 races and is only 12 points behind Denny Hamlin for the championship lead.
Source: NASCAR.com
Source: NASCAR.com
