DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Seven times a second-place finisher, Christopher Bell is now a winner in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season at exactly the right time. 

Bell opened the Chase for the NASCAR Cup with a win in Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He led three times for 46 of 367 laps, including the final 12, to prevail at a track he always wanted to win a Cup race at. 

"Oh my gosh man, it's been a long time coming. Darlington is one I've always wanted to win since I came into the sport. This is the ultimate driver's track," Bell said. 

Bell passed Kyle Larson for the final lead change. Larson led five times for 99 laps and was the top lap leader but crew chief Cliff Daniels had to make a two-tire call with 25 laps to go to get him the lead again until Bell won out. 

Bell had to come back from one of Joe Gibbs Racing's three issues at the end of the second stage on lap 230. Chase Briscoe ran out of fuel and caught a penalty, Bell's crew had an issue with a tires and Denny Hamlin's crew had an issue with the right-rear tire.

Bell, Hamlin and Briscoe dropped to 12th, 16th and 20th.  

After all of that, the top-10 consisted of Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano.

Larson commanded the field at this point. However, by the time the caution flew on lap 317, Bell was closing on Larson. After a caution and pit stops, Bell was back out in front and Larson needed a two-tire call to even contend for the win in the final 24 laps.

Larson ultimately finished fifth, ahead of Joey Logano (ninth), Ryan Preece (10th) and Austin Cindric (13th) who made the same call. Larson said he didn't regret the call.

They were no match for JGR as the team took the top-two spots on the track. Ty Gibbs finished second to Bell after starting 28th based on NASCAR's metric.

"I think it goes back to where we start. With the squirrelly metric we had but our Monster Energy Toyota is great. Glad Christopher won but we missed it and had issues. I appreciate my team's effort," Gibbs said. 

JGR also has the top-two spots in the Chase. Despite a disastrous final stage for Denny Hamlin and his No. 11 team, they still left Darlington with a 12-point lead over Bell.

MORE:Denny Hamlin Retains NASCAR Chase Lead After Darlington Disaster

Hamlin's driver, Tyler Reddick, sits fourth in the standings, 24 points behind his boss after making up 11 points. He finished third after winning the first stage and losing track position in the second stage.

"We just had a hiccup on the left front during one of those cycles in stage two. That could've been bad if we hadn't caught that," Reddick said. "We lost track position at a critical time and where our car went was because of where we were track position-wise but just the way things went for us... We kinda know where we need to be for this race in years to come... Good day for the Chase but I wanna win this race so badly."

COOK OUT SOUTHERN 500 TOP-10 (LAP 367): Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece.

Josh Berry was the only Chase driver who finished inside the top-10. His seventh-place finish is his sixth consecutive top-10 finish and eighth this season -- matching his total for the entire 2025 season.

Berry is rumored to be John Hunter Nemechek's replacement at Legacy Motor Club.

Chase drivers finishing outside of the top-10 were Carson Hocevar (11th), Austin Cindric (13th), Chase Elliott (14th), Hamlin (18th), Chris Buescher (20th), Daniel Suarez (21st) and William Byron (37th). 

Hocevar recovered from an incident with Brad Keselowski at the end of the second stage to largely hold serve in the Chase.

Elliott and Byron each had a solid top-10 night going before Elliott faded late in the race. Meanwhile, Byron spun on lap 317 and later blew an engine under caution. 

Byron is now last in the Chase standings after Darlington:

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 108): Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Ty Gibbs.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 230): Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric.

Next: World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway, USA, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 240 laps, 300 miles: 3 p.m. ET, Sept. 13. Denny Hamlin won last year.