Darlington, SC – If there was a time to get hot at the right time, you’d pick the moments where, “it just matters more”. Tonight, Christopher Bell and the No. 20 team found themselves in victory lane for the first time in the 2026 season at Darlington Raceway.
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase began at the 1.5-mile Darlington Raceway, the first “chase” race in NASCAR’s top series since 2013. Denny Hamlin entered the race as the No. 1 seed, Ryan Preece the No. 16 seed.
Practice and qualifying were rained out the day before, handing the pole position to Tyler Reddick, who won this race back in March in the spring. The Southern 500 began with a 35-lap run, NASCAR threw a competition caution due to the field losing the ability to practice and qualify the day prior.
Denny Hamlin quickly took the lead from Reddick in the early moments, however, his race dropped to a disappointment as the night progressed. A poor pit-stop by the No. 11 team forced Hamlin to restart mid-pack which led to trouble. Michael McDowell made contact with the No. 11, Hamlin hit the wall and resulted in a damaged race-car. The No. 11 team was not able to recover, finishing in 18th.
William Byron, another driver competing for the championship this year ran into bad luck at Darlington. The No. 24 spun out in stage 3 and brought out a caution. Shortly after, the No. 24’s engine blew up. The bad luck part? Moments later there was a short rain delay, had the rain dropped a few minutes earlier, Byron’s issues could have never happened.
Byron resulted in a 37th-place finish and now sits in dead last in the Chase standings (16th). His other Hendrick Motorsports teammates had a better night overall, Larson 5th, Bowman 12th, and Elliott in 14th.
After the red flag was lifted for rain, the 2026 Southern 500 came down to a 30-lap dash. Kyle Larson was the early leader, however he was holding on to worn out tires. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs quickly caught Larson and the race came down to the two Toyota’s.
Bell outlasted Gibbs and was the first to cross the finish line. In a matter of moments, Bell flipped his 2026 campaign around, the No. 20 team now sits in second in the point-standings.
