NASCAR takeaways: Christopher Bell finally kicks down door in Southern 500

Christopher Bell knows it better than anyone.

“It’s been too damn long!” he yelled after climbing out of his No. 20 Toyota on Sept. 6.

After finishing second a whopping seven times during the Cup Series regular season, he kicked off the Chase with his first victory of 2026. It came in the Cook Out Southern 500, one of NASCAR’s crown jewels, at Darlington Raceway.

“I’m just so, so proud of all of these guys on this 20 car — all the mechanics, all the pit crew members,” Bell said on the USA broadcast. “They deserve it more than anyone, and oh my gosh, this has been a long time coming.”

Bell led 46 laps. With 12 to go, he passed leader Kyle Larson on the inside and held on the rest of the way.

Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top three.

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It had been 51 weeks — just under a year — since Bell had found Victory Lane. He triumphed at Bristol in the third race of the 2025 playoffs.

Throughout this season, the 31-year-old has been consistent. He now owns 14 top-10s and 12 top-fives. He just hadn’t pushed a dub across the finish line.

“We can win any week,” Bell said. “It just hadn’t happened yet.”

He had his doubts, though, after breaking his wrist at Michigan in June. But since tallying a fifth at Sonoma at the end of that month, he has placed outside the top seven in only two of the nine races.

Now, he occupies second in the Chase standings.

“Whenever I was sitting in the infield care center in Michigan, I thought my season was over,” Bell said. “I thought I was going to be out a couple weeks. I wasn’t going to be able to make the Chase. 

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By and large, the 16 Chase drivers enjoyed the Southern 500. Only two of them — Daniel Suarez and William Byron — ranked outside the top 20.

Byron suffered the worst of it, ending his evening 48 laps early due to mechanical issues and falling to 37th. That dropped him from 13th to 16th in the Chase standings. He is 114 points back of first.

Hamlin still paces the circuit, though he maintains just a 12-point edge over Bell following an 18th-place finish.

Ryan Blaney, Reddick and Chase Briscoe form the rest of the top five. Blaney’s Ford is the only non-Toyota in the top six.

Fire up the holiday weekend grill and throw something on there. We’re going to be here a while.

Despite now residing in the Chase, the Cup Series season still has many more miles in its 2026 marathon. Nine races remain.

Next up will be the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway (aka Gateway, aka St. Louis). It will kick off shortly after 3 p.m. on Sept. 13. USA Network will broadcast it.

This will be the fifth time the Cup Series drivers have competed at Gateway. The Enjoy Illinois 300 has produced four different winners, from Joey Logano and Kyle Busch to Austin Cindric and Hamlin.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR takeaways: Christopher Bell finally kicks down door in Southern 500

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