Christopher Bell earns first NASCAR Cup win of 2026 at Darlington
Christopher Bell snapped a nearly year-long losing streak by winning the Cook Out Southern 500 Sunday at Darlington Raceway.
Bell earned his first victory since Bristol last September, racking up seven second-place finishes this year before scoring his first win of 2026.
Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson rounded out the Top-5 finishers.
Throughout the Race
Stage 2: Christopher Bell takes the Stage win. 2-10: Larson, Hamlin, Briscoe, Wallace, Blaney, Berry, Byron, Reddick, Cindric
Stage 1 complete: Stage will end on lap 107, Keselowski caution in the outside wall. Looks like contact from Hocevar. Reddick will win the Stage. 2-10: Wallace, Hamlin, Bell, Blaney, Briscoe, Preece, Cindric, Byron, Gibbs
Lap 41: Back to green after competition caution. Reddick and Hamlin lead.
Lap 10: It’s Hamlin by over a second on Reddick. Suarez led the opening two laps
4:49 p.m.: Engines are fired!
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.