Christopher Bell is on a roll in his latest three starts in the NASCAR Cup Series. He extended this streak by notching a strong runner-up result in the Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway between July 12-13.
The 2024 Coca-Cola 600 champion from Norman, Oklahoma, took the green flag during this past weekend’s event at Atlanta in 32nd place. Ironically, Bell also started in 32nd place during the spring Atlanta event in mid-February. Compared to the first Atlanta event, where he finished in 21st place, Bell both placed himself in prime position of contending for his first victory of the 2026 campaign and notched a strong result towards the front.
After settling in 15th place during the event’s first stage’s conclusion, Bell withstood a rain delay period that spanned more than three hours to settle in seventh place when the second stage period concluded. By then, he accumulated four stage points. Throughout the final stage period, he contended at the front and led twice for a total of five laps (Laps 197-200 & 203) while dicing it up within the draft with his fellow competitors and Joe Gibbs Racing/Toyota-affiliated teammates.
Restarting in fifth place during an overtime shootout, Bell was locked on the bottom lane, and he was pinned in a tight three-wide battle with Shane van Gisbergen and Tyler Reddick for fourth place when the final lap began. After motoring his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead of the latter two, Bell transitioned to the outside lane through the first two turns and reeled in on pole-sitter Ryan Blaney through the backstretch as Blaney was locked in a three-wide battle with Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace for the lead. Over the final two turns, Bell reeled in and gave Blaney a shove through the frontstretch, enabling Blaney to win the event.
Meanwhile, Bell crossed the finish line in third place after he was edged by Wallace for the runner-up spot. Bell, though, was awarded the runner-up spot when NASCAR penalized Wallace for driving below the yellow line (out of bounds) along the backstretch while attempting to overtake for position, which demoted Wallace to the final competitor on the lead lap in 29th place.
With the runner-up result, Bell jumped from 10th to ninth in the 2026 Cup Series standings. Despite trailing teammate Denny Hamlin by 240 points for the points lead, Bell holds a 113-point cushion above the top-16 cutline to make this year’s Chase with only six regular-season events remaining. In addition, he is one of four competitors, along with Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Todd Gilliland, who are still in contention for this year’s In-Season Tournament.
Overall, Bell’s runner-up result at Atlanta marks his fifth time finishing second in a Cup event through 20 events this season. It also marks his ninth top-five result this season and his third in a row in recent weeks as he continues to recover from his hard accident at Michigan International Speedway in early June that fractured his left wrist. Compared to Chicagoland, Bell was left satisfied with his recent runner-up result at Atlanta while contending for the victory.
“[Atlanta] was a great finish,” Bell, who won at Atlanta in mid-February 2025, said on TNT. “Really, really exciting race. Proud of all of our Cup Series regulars. I feel like they put on an awesome show. We didn’t wreck, which is amazing. I found myself in the right lane, that’s for sure, to be on the outside. [Second place] is really good. [The result] was about as good as I was going to get. Really happy with that. Our Rheem Camry was driving really good. [I] Just had a fun day. It was a really fun race.”
Bell’s next event on the 2026 Cup Series schedule is North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, for the Window World 450. Bell enters the event with momentum as he won the series’ recent event at Wilkesboro a year ago when the event was the All-Star Race. In addition, Bell holds three short track victories to his Cup resume, with his latest victory to date occurring at Bristol Motor Speedway in mid-September 2025. The Oklahoma native continues to pursue his first Cup victory of the 2026 season while also maintaining his position above the top-16 cutline in the standings when the regular-season stretch concludes, and the Chase commences, which would enable him to contend for his first Cup title.
The 2026 Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway is scheduled for this Sunday, July 19, at 7 p.m. ET on TNT Sports, PRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
