NASCAR
Kyle Larson Takes Second-Straight Banner Win at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Arguably the best active driver around Bristol Motor Speedway reigns supreme again at The Last Great Colosseum. After leading 411 laps, Kyle Larson earns a second-straight sword trophy from the Tennessee high banks. Despite what looked like such a dominant run, Larson did have a few others not far off his rear bumper.
It did not take Bristol master Kyle Larson long to find the lead. The No. 5 took the top spot away from teammate Alex Bowman on lap 39, and never looked back across both stages. Larson continued to lead with very little challenge, not being out of command until a green flag pit stop with just over 100 laps to go.
The only front runner other than Larson to lead a large amount was Ryan Blaney. Thanks to a Hail Mary strategy call to run long, the No. 12 was the lone car on the lead lap for a short while. Blaney did eventually have to come in for fresh tires and fuel though, never getting a timely caution flag.
Larson would cycle back to the lead after green flag pit stops with 60 laps left. From that point on, the 5 was in control at Thunder Valley. Even with such a huge laps led total, Denny Hamlin was right in Larson’s hip pocket all race long. These two short track aces took the top two spots. Just like yesterday’s Xfinity win, Larson dedicated this victory to a close friend who recently passed away.
“This one is definitely for Jon (Edwards),” Larson said. “He is just a great guy here, so we’re going to miss him, but successful weekend here. Wish he was going to be here with us to celebrate, but I know he’s celebrating with us in spirit.”
“Yeah, just a flawless race once again here at Bristol for the 5 team. Really, really good car. That was a lot of fun. You know, however many laps of green we ran, there was a lot of fun. I was pretty comfortable with things. Then Denny came on really strong there before the pit cycle, and then, yeah, just kind of kept the pressure on from there.”
“I knew I had to make some good moves in traffic. Felt like I did a pretty good job there in traffic. Split the middle sometimes when I needed to. So, yeah, just a lot of fun. A little bit out of breath. Just so high-paced here, and heart rate is up.”
“So really cool. Thanks to Hendrickcars.com, Chevy, Prime, Valvoline, this whole team. You know, the pit crew, this is their first win with the 5 team. It’s going to be fun celebrating with them. Yeah, good to be back at victory lane.”
“Early on, yeah, we were all kind of just riding in line like we did in the spring last year, and I was just trying to keep an eye on the track.”
“I felt like, you know, it was starting to get a little bit darker on exit, so I was, like, All right, that means some rubber is laying down. Then people kind of got the middle working. Then we get back down. I was like, Screw it, I’m just going to go to the lead here and pick the pace up and maybe the pace will help lay the rubber down even more.”
“It did, and it turned into a normal Bristol track there for us. So really played in our favor. Obviously having track position helps a lot.”
“You know, if Denny is in front of me, it could be a totally different story and be really hard to pass him, but glad to stop his three-peat. We hate to see him win, as I’m sure you guys do too. It’s just good to be back here at victory lane.”
Behind Larson and Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe made it a 2-3-4 result for Joe Gibbs Racing, just ahead of Ryan Blaney. William Byron, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Dillon were the top-10. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
Thanks to a second win through nine weeks, Kyle Larson further asserts himself as an elite title threat. Following the lone break of the 2025 calendar, Larson will try and pull off his career’s biggest glaring omission at Talladega Superspeedway. Driver 5 is 0-42 at drafting superspeedways, and hopes to change that stat in two weeks. The Jack Links 500 goes green Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
