DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — The Chase leader and favorite, the newest Southern 500 champion and two rising young racers who had top-six finishes at Darlington Raceway to open NASCAR’s postseason on Sunday night — the hardest challenge for the four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers might be vying against one another for the Cup Series title.“Our teams have hit it,” said Christopher Bell, whose late pass on leader Kyle Larson led to his first Southern 500 crown. “Yeah, we need to make the most of it now, because we know how it goes.”Right now, it’s all coming up Toyota and JGR in NASCAR. Denny Hamlin was the regular-season champion and favorite to collect his first championship in the series.Ty Gibbs, team owner Joe Gibbs’ grandson, is showing his skills with 18 top-10 finishes — he was runner-up to Bell at Darlington — including victories at Bristol and Iowa.
Chase Briscoe, in his second season with JGR, has 16 top 10s and finished sixth in his quest for a third consecutive Southern 500 trophy.Bell had endured a frustrating season, with seven second-place finishes and a wrist injury suffered in a crash at Michigan that he thought would derail his season. But with fresher tires after Larson stayed out on the track instead of changing to new tread, Bell quickly tracked down the defending NASCAR champion and broke through to victory lane for the first time this season.He also cut into Hamlin’s Chase points lead, moving from 50 behind to just 12 as the series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just outside of St. Louis, next week.
