NASCAR
Kyle Larson Leaves Bristol Xfinity Field in the Dust, Leading 276 Laps
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Saturday saw an old fashioned short track butt kicking at Bristol Motor Speedway. Starting on pole, Kyle Larson was a man on a mission for nearly all 300 laps in the Xfinity Series contest. If not for untimely yellows, a perfect race may have just been possible for the man who calls Bristol his favorite track. Larson rebounds from losing Friday’s Truck Series race, and is now poised to possibly go two-for-three in Thunder Valley.
From the early laps, it was very evident the Hendrick No. 17 was in its own zip code. Larson’s lead in Stage 1 was several seconds at one point. Larson only lost this stage win after opting to pit under a caution for a massive wreck by Sheldon Creed and Brennan Poole. Choosing to stay out gave the opening Stage win to Sam Mayer.
The No. 17 put its tail in the wind for Stage 2, taking this green-and-white checkered flag eight seconds ahead of its nearest competition.
Aside from Justin Allgaier briefly taking the top spot on Stage 3’s restart, the remainder of the day belonged to Larson. The Hendrick No. 17 team picks up its third win in the last two seasons, and first of 2025. Larson combined to lead all but 24 laps in a Bristol beatdown.
“It’s awesome, I wish I could have won last night,” Larson said. “But just came up a little bit short. Cool to get a win this weekend for Jon (Edwards) and everyone who’s been a part of his life. We got one more tomorrow. Would be nothing better than to cap it off with a Cup win for Jon and all of Hendrick Motorsports. Looking forward to it, I think we have a great car there for tomorrow, just got to execute like we did today.”
Carson Kvapil got by teammate Justin Allgaier for second in the closing laps thanks to heavy lapped traffic. JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith and last week’s winner Brandon Jones were not far off in fourth and fifth. The rest of the top-10 were: Jesse Love, Ryan Sieg, Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, and Dean Thompson. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
Xfinity cars will be back in action Saturday from Rockingham Speedway. The NC Education Lottery 250 goes green at 4 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
