Christopher Bell was brimming with confidence during Chase Media Day as he predicted victories would be needed to win this year’s championship and a Toyota driver would claim the 2026 title.
In the Chase’s opening race at Darlington, Bell put an exclamation point on his optimism, winning the Cook Out Southern 500 by 1.038 seconds over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs. Bell’s first victory this year after an agonizing seven runner-up finishes in the first 26 races allowed him to jump from sixth to second in the standings, just 12 points behind leader Denny Hamlin, who had to settle for an 18th-place finish.
“There is no other track that’s harder to drive that rewards a talented driver more than Darlington and the Southern 500,” said a jubilant Bell, who led four times for 46 laps. “This is the epitome of NASCAR. It’s better than a dream come true.
“The Southern 500 has always been my golden ticket. The Daytona 500 is a huge race, but it’s not a driver’s track. There’s a lot of things that go into that outside of your control. The Southern 500 is the ultimate driver’s race. This race track is so hard, and the 500 miles here is just… it is the ultimate test of mental toughness and just keeping yourself in it.”
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Christopher Bell racing hard against Chase Briscoe (#19).
Shortly after winning the second Stage, Bell thought he had lost his shot at his 14th-career victory due to a miscue on pit road. The front tire changer didn’t get a clean roll of the tire he had just removed from the car to the pit wall and Bell restarted the final Stage in 12th. He said he then went into damage control, focusing on getting back into the top 10 and then the top five.
During the final caution period that began on lap 336 of the 367-lap race, all but four drivers—Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, Ryan Preece, and Joey Logano—pitted for four fresh tires. Bell knew if that was the race’s last restart, it would come down to who was going to be the first car on four tires to make it to the front.
“Ty (Gibbs) did a really good job following me through, and he almost got beside me down the front straightaway whenever I got blocked by Kyle (Larson),” Bell recounted. “It was important for me to stay in front of Ty. Then, once I got the lead, I knew I was in the driver’s seat.
“It felt damn good to be able to lead the race in the closing laps. All of those second-place finishes, whenever I’m in second chasing the leader, I never won. Whenever I got the lead, I’m like, this is my race. I’m going to win this thing finally.”
Leading into the Chase the motorsports community admitted the Toyotas would be tough to defeat for the title. Even Joe Gibbs Racing co-owner Heather Gibbs admitted if they don’t win the 2026 championship it will be a missed opportunity. Currently, JGR drivers are first, second, fifth, and sixth in the standings. The other Toyota driver in the top six in the standings is 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick.
The only non-Toyota driver in the top six in the standings is Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in third, 16 points behind Hamlin.
Bell described the Toyota NASCAR Cup cars as “absolutely incredible.”
“All of us are still in contention for the title,” Bell said about JGR. “I believe it will be one of us four or, you know, one of the 23XI cars. We just have a great product right now, and TRD, Toyota has given us that platform, and our teams have hit it.”
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.