NASCAR
Kyle Larson Dominates Bristol Night Race in Hendrick Record Night
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Records are not often broken at Hendrick Motorsports. That’s exactly what happened in the Bristol Night Race, with Kyle Larson leading a team-record 462 laps. From the drop of the green flag, the No. 5 Chevrolet was in a league of their own, maxing out with all points possible at Thunder Valley. It was just about a perfect race from all aspects for Kyle Larson, giving team 5 peak momentum for the Round of 12.
Larson made the first two Stages an invitational, leading all but 37 of the first 250 circuits. During this blistering run out front for the No. 5 Chevrolet, Larson surpassed 1,000 career laps led around Thunder Valley, his most at any track.
Early in Stage 3 one Playoff contender near Larson did run into issues, however. After pitting from second place on a lap 333, Martin Truex Jr was nabbed for speeding. This penalty sent the No. 19 to the tail of the field and he could never recover. By virtue of finishing 24th, Truex was eliminated from his last Playoff run.
Up front meanwhile, Larson continued to lead by a greater and greater margin as laps ticked off. By the time the checkers flew, the 5 had a seven-second gap on the field and a whopping 462 laps in the wind. Larson only adds onto his series-leading year, with a fifth checkered flag.
“I don’t know [if this was my best car ever],” Larson said. “I’ve had a lot of good cars since I’ve come to Hendrick Motorsports. It’s tough to say.”
“But man, that was just great execution all weekend by the team. Practiced good. You’ve got to qualify good; we did that. Yeah, just had a great car. Thanks to the whole 5 team. They’re the best in the business.”
“We dominate a lot of races but we might not close them all out, so it feels really good to close one out here in this Hendrickcars.Com Chevy. We’ve got Rick Hendrick here today, too. He hasn’t been to many races this year. And Darrell Jackson, he’s our hype man, he’s here, as well.”
“Just a phenomenal car, could kind of manage my stuff and then really pass some cars there at the end.”
“[Leading the most laps of any HMS driver] is pretty cool because there’s been some legendary Hall of Famers race for Hendrick Motorsports, and we’ve all grown up watching Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominate. Pretty cool to add my name to another record at Hendrick Motorsports, and again, just very fortunate to be with that group, Chevrolet, Jinya Ramen Bar, Prime, everybody involved, Valvoline. It’s so much fun, and especially racing in front of you fans under the lights at Bristol. This is my favorite track, and I hope you guys enjoyed that race there and enjoyed the methodical lap traffic run.”
A mere dot in Larson’s rearview mirror was teammate Chase Elliott, followed by Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell. Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, and Ross Chastain were the top-10. Hear from a few of these drivers below. /
In addition to Truex, the others eliminated after Bristol were Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski, and Harrison Burton. The Cup Series Playoffs now reset to the Round of 12 standings, with the new points putting Larson back on top.
The Round of 12 kicks off next week from Kansas Speedway, where Kyle Larson is the most recent winner. The heartland green flag flies Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. The Hollywood Casino 400 may send one of the top 12 into the elite eight, putting them within eyesight of the Bill France Cup.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Johnathan Bachman/Getty Images
