When NASCAR abandoned the win-and-you’re-in element of its Chase plan, the decision didn’t produce a lot of weeping or regret.
Many fans, and many garage area residents, didn’t like the idea of one regular-season victory propelling a driver into the playoffs. A road-course win in a crazy finish? Nah, that’s not championship stuff. Nor was the concept of a win in a playoff round automatically boosting the driver into the next round a popular approach.
So it is that drivers and teams returned to the old-line stock-car thinking of “point racing,” or stacking as many points each week as possible while also—oh, yeah—trying to take the checkered flag first.
But, as Christopher Bell clearly illustrated in the fading hours of Sunday at Darlington Raceway, winning remains very much a good thing for those in search of a Cup Series championship.
Bell, winless in the regular season, opened the Chase in sixth place, 50 points behind top seed Denny Hamlin. Sunday’s victory in the Southern 500 produced far and away the biggest gain in the standings, allowing Bell to make a 38-point move on Hamlin and putting Bell in second place entering Sunday’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis.
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Christopher Bell celebrates his win at Darlington.
The next gainer in numerical value was Tyler Reddick, who finished third and gained 11 points on Hamlin.
The Darlington win also continued the surge for Toyota, which is having a remarkably efficient season. Toyota drivers occupy five of the top six spots in the playoff standings, with only Ford’s Ryan Blaney, in third, invading the order. Toyota has 15 race wins through 27 races, and Toyota flagship Joe Gibbs Racing is easily atop the seasonal laps-led column with 2,222. Team Penske is a distant second at 1,416.
As for the St. Louis area track, which has hosted only four Cup races, three Chase drivers—Hamlin, Austin Cindric, and Joey Logano—have wins there. In the limited sample size, Logano has the best average finish at 3.5, while Bell is second at 8.5.
Kyle Larson, whose best finish at St. Louis is fourth, ran well at Darlington and was within range of ending a 50-race winless streak before a late-race decision to stay on track versus picking up new tires dropped him to fifth.
Larson’s finish was the only top 10 for Chevrolet at Darlington. That ugly number one was the fewest in the top 10 for Chevy in the Southern 500 since 1982.
The bowtie guys need a turnaround at St. Louis, with only Larson (seventh) and Chase Elliott (ninth) in the top 10 in points.
While the Gibbs team is roaring along with four drivers in the top six in the playoff standings, Hendrick Motorsports continues to struggle. Hendrick has only two wins this year and only three top fives in the past eight races. Elliott has only one top five in the past 16 races.
Mike Hembree has covered auto racing for numerous media outlets, including USA Today, NASCAR Scene, NBC Sports, The Greenville News and the SPEED Channel. He has been roaming garage areas and pit roads for decades (although the persistent rumor that he covered the first Indianapolis 500 is not true). Winner of numerous motorsports and other media awards, he also has covered virtually every other major sport. He lives near Gaffney, South Carolina and can be convinced to attend Bruce Springsteen concerts if you have tickets.