DARLINGTON, S.C. — Christopher Bell passed Kyle Larson with 18 laps remaining and held off the field to capture the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday night.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had finished as the runner-up on seven occasions this season and had not secured a victory since the Bristol race in September, a drought spanning 33 events. However, Bell opened a gap of nearly a second over his teammate, Ty Gibbs, to claim his first triumph on the “Too Tough To Tame” circuit.
“Oh, my gosh, man,” Bell said. “This has been a long time coming.”
Ty Gibbs finished second, with Tyler Reddick—a five-time winner this season—crossing the line in third. NASCAR playoff drivers occupied nine of the top ten positions. Ryan Blaney placed fourth, followed by Larson, Chase Briscoe, Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, and Ryan Preece. Berry was the only driver outside the playoffs in that top-ten contingent.
During the sixth and final caution period, Larson made a bold gamble by staying on the track while competitors, including Bell, pitted for fresh tires.
For a brief moment, Larson’s strategy appeared to be paying off, as he built a commanding lead on the restart and forced Bell and the rest of the field to pit. Bell eventually complied, moving to the low side of the track to pass Larson and put him in his rearview mirror.
Chase Briscoe was aiming for a historic feat by winning his third consecutive Southern 500—a record only matched by Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, who won four in a row from 1995 to 1998. Briscoe fought off a pit-road penalty for running out of fuel at the end of Stage 2, a penalty that relegated him from the lead to twentieth place.
However, he could not maintain pace with Bell in the closing laps.
Denny Hamlin, the top seed in NASCAR’s playoff system, had been running in the top five entering the final stage before being rear-ended on Lap 237 by Michael McDowell. The impact sent Hamlin’s car into the Turn 4 wall.
“The toe links are gone,” Hamlin immediately told his crew. Fortunately, the incident did not trigger a caution, forcing Hamlin to continue racing and drop to twentieth as he and his crew waited for an opportunity to repair the damaged Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Although the toe links were undamaged, the vehicle required extensive repairs, leaving Hamlin a lap down. He ultimately finished eighteenth.
Entering the race, Hamlin held a 25-point advantage over second-seeded Blaney. Under the new rules, all 16 drivers compete in all ten playoff races without elimination.
Other Chaser issues
Hamlin was not the only playoff competitor to encounter difficulties. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was in contention for a top-ten finish before spinning out due to what he believed was a flat tire. After visiting the pits, smoke billowed from Byron’s Chevrolet, and he retired to the garage, ending his day.
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing entered the race with high expectations for two of its three drivers, Chris Buescher and Preece, who were in the playoffs. However, Buescher struggled to gain momentum at Darlington and spent most of the race at the back of the pack.
Preece, who secured his playoff berth with a victory at Daytona the previous week, vowed to remain aggressive since, as the sixteenth seed, his team had nothing to lose. This tactic served him well, keeping him in the top ten for most of the first half. He couldn’t sustain the pace, though, and ultimately finished tenth.
While 23XI Racing co-owner Michael Jordan watched from the pits, his two playoff drivers, Reddick and Wallace, saw their fortunes shift. They went from running first and second at the end of the first stage to falling out of contention down the stretch.
Up next
The playoffs continue with its second race at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis in Madison, Illinois. Denny Hamlin claimed the playoff race there a year ago.
