Christopher Bell wins Cook Out Southern 500 pole award at Darlington

Once again, Christopher Bell is on the pole. This time for the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington to start the Round of 16 in the NASCAR Playoffs. This final qualifying round was dominated by Toyota and Ford. Bell came out on top.

With seven blue ovals and three Toyotas in the last round of qualifying, it was hard to tell who would take the pole. Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell were at the top of their respective groups to start the qualifying session.

However, when it was all said and done, Bell took the pole. He won over Denny Hamlin and the two will start side-by-side tomorrow for the Cook Out Southern 500. Reddick was third overall.

Repost to congratulate Christopher Bell on his NASCAR Cup Series POLE at Darlington! Denny Hamlin to start beside him in 2nd. pic.twitter.com/nCAt18C8cn

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 2, 2023

The Ford Mustangs all filed in after the Toyotas. Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, and Aric Almirola filled in the rest of the top-10.

Christopher Bell won the pole award at New Hampshire and Michigan earlier this season. He also started on the pole at Fontana, but that was determined by points as qualifying was rained out.

Is Christopher Bell turning a corner?

Between his win at Bristol Dirt and Watkins Glen, Bell did not have a single top-5 result. He had six top-10s, but it was not a streak that he wanted to have. Those 16 races were long and hard to get through. Even when he won the pole at New Hampshire, he ended up finishing P29.

With a top-10 at Indy and P3 finish at Watkins Glen, let’s hope another pole award gives Bell some confidence. He was a great story in the playoffs last season. Winning two walk-off races to make the Round of 8 and then the Championship 4, that’s just unheard of.

Toyota seems to be strong. Both Bubba Wallace and Martin Truex Jr. messed up their qualifying laps. Wallace just didn’t have speed. Truex seemed to be far too loose to make it around The Lady in Black cleanly.

Three Toyotas in the front of this race. William Byron won a year ago. However, for the first time in 41 years, a Chevy failed to make the top-10 in qualifying. This might be Christopher Bell’s weekend, he entered the weekend at 11-1 odds to win and will surely have that number change now that he’s on the pole.