NASCAR SERIES

Kyle Larson dominates in emotional NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol Motor Speedway

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

April 13, 2025

BRISTOL, Tenn.— He did it for Jon.

For the second straight day at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson dominated a NASCAR race and dedicated the victory to friend and PR representative Jon Edwards, who passed away suddenly during the week leading up to the race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

On Sunday, Larson won the Food City 500 NASCAR Cup Series race in overwhelming fashion, leading 411 of 500 laps and sweeping both stages.

The victory was Larson’s second of the season, his second straight at the 0.533-mile high-banked short track and the 31st of his career, and it came one day after the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet ran away with the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Thunder Valley.

“This one’s definitely for Jon,” said Larson, who finished second in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race, one spot short of sweeping the weekend. “He’s just a great guy. Successful weekend here. Wish he was going to be here with us to celebrate, but I know he’s celebrating with us in spirit.

“Just a flawless race once again here at Bristol for the 5 team. Really, really good car. That was a lot of fun.”

Larson, who brushed the outside wall at the apex of Turns 1 and 2 with five laps left—without consequence—finished 2.250 seconds in front of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, who fell one spot short of a third straight Cup victory. Hamlin’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, was 6.679 seconds back in third in a race that ran without caution for the final 235 laps.

“However many laps of green we ran there was a lot of fun,” Larson said. “I was pretty comfortable with things, and then Denny came on really strong there before the pit cycle and kind of kept the pressure on from there.”

After the final pit stops, Hamlin could close within a second of Larson in traffic but never threatened to take the lead.

“You have to give that team their due—just a dominant performance,” Hamlin said. “It looked like a pretty flawless day for them. It looked pretty easy. It was all I had to try to keep up there. I’m glad we were able to give him a little bit of a run with our Progressive Toyota.

“But this weekend, we are all thinking about Jon Edwards’ family, (racing journalist) Al Pearce, (team owner) Shige Hattori (all of whom passed away within the last eight days). We’ve lost a lot of great people in our sport over the last week, so our thoughts are with them.”

“Wish we could have got one more spot, but I just wanted to keep him honest there at the end. That was all I was trying to do, but he was a little too much to handle.”

Hamlin and Larson have finished 1-2 on seven occasions. Sunday’s race was the first of the seven times Larson has come out on top.

Contrary to strong indications from Saturday’s practice, Bristol’s concrete surface rubbered in, and tire wear was not the factor that most teams and drivers anticipated. Ryan Blaney, for instance, ran 175 laps on one set of tires before pitting on Lap 440.

Chase Briscoe came home fourth, as JGR claimed the three positions behind Larson. Blaney ran long during the final green-flag run, led 48 laps after Larson pitted on Lap 390 for tires and fuel and worked his way back to fifth at the end.

Pole winner Alex Bowman led the first 39 laps before Larson grabbed the top spot for the first time. Larson went to win the first stage over Hamlin and the second over Bowman, who later fell out of the race when his engine expired.

The Stage 2 victory was the 66th of Larson’s career, tying him with Martin Truex Jr for the most since stage racing was introduced in 2017.

William Byron charged forward to a sixth-place finish after starting 26th. Ross Chastain ran seventh, followed by Christopher Bell and AJ Allmendinger, the last driver on the lead lap. Austin Dillon was 10th, the first driver one lap down.

--30--

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Food City 500

Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tennessee

Sunday, April 13, 2025

1. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 500.

2. (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 500.

3. (6) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 500.

4. (14) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 500.

5. (5) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 500.

6. (26) William Byron, Chevrolet, 500.

7. (35) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 500.

8. (7) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 500.

9. (8) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 500.

10. (17) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 499.

11. (9) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 499.

12. (11) Josh Berry, Ford, 499.

13. (10) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 499.

14. (15) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 499.

15. (20) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 499.

16. (16) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 498.

17. (21) Austin Cindric, Ford, 498.

18. (27) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 498.

19. (22) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 498.

20. (29) Ryan Preece, Ford, 498.

21. (32) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 498.

22. (2) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 498.

23. (31) Noah Gragson, Ford, 498.

24. (38) Joey Logano, Ford, 497.

25. (24) Chris Buescher, Ford, 497.

26. (28) Erik Jones, Toyota, 497.

27. (18) Zane Smith, Ford, 497.

28. (25) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 496.

29. (33) Cole Custer, Ford, 495.

30. (13) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 495.

31. (19) Jesse Love(i), Chevrolet, 495.

32. (12) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 494.

33. (23) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 494.

34. (37) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 494.

35. (30) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 493.

36. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, 493.

37. (1) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Engine, 343.

38. (36) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, Suspension, 208.

39. (39) Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, Electrical, 193.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 100.746 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 38 Mins, 43 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.250 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 3 for 40 laps.

Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: A. Bowman 1-39;K. Larson 40-389;C. Hocevar 390-391;R. Blaney 392-439;K. Larson 440-500.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson 2 times for 411 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 48 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 39 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,11,7,48,77,20,12,47,54,16

Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,48,20,77,11,7,54,12,19,45

Lightning-fast stop at Darlington nets Denny Hamlin second-consecutive victory

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

April 6, 2025

DARLINGTON, S.C. – A perfectly-executed overtime restart by Denny Hamlin following a clutch final pit stop by his Joe Gibbs Racing crew provided exactly the advantage the veteran needed to claim the trophy in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Hamlin took the race lead out of the pits during the final late race caution then bested the field on the ensuing restart, pulling his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out front and ultimately to a .597-second victory over the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron.

It’s the second-consecutive victory for Hamlin, who won last week at Martinsville, Va. and marks the first time he’s won back-to-back races since 2012 when he won at Bristol, Tenn. then Atlanta the following week.

All smiles as he climbed out the car, Hamlin gave all the credit to his pit crew. He was third place at the time of the final caution – the yellow coming out for Byron’s Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson’s spin. The leaders seized the chance to pit for fresh tires in anticipation of the overtime restart and Hamlin’s crew got him out of the pits first - ahead of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Byron.

A perfect launch on the ensuing green flag gave Hamlin the victory over Byron, who led a race best 243 of the 297 laps. It is Hamlin’s 56th career win, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

“There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson,’’ the 44-year-old Virginian Hamlin said with a grin. “Had a little assist there, so thank you.

“The pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week [at Martinsville]. They won it this week. It’s all about them.’’

It was obviously a tough ending to a career day for Byron, who rallied to the runner-up finish on the final restart but had absolutely dominated the early race, leading the opening 243 laps and claiming both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories. It was the most laps Byron has ever led in a single race.

“First off, just really proud of my team to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and us execute like that, it was looking like we were going to have a perfect race and we were going to lead every lap,’’ the 2025 DAYTONA 500 winner Byron said.

“So, I was really proud of that. Those guys could just be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle and we just lost control and once we lost control it was too late to get back up there.

“It sucks and I’m sure it will sting tonight, but there are still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure.’’

Hamlin’s JGR teammate Christopher Bell finished third in the No. 20 Toyota after an amazing rally forward from a 20th place starting position. Reddick finished fourth in the 23XI Racing Toyota, co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney finished fifth. It is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s first top-five at the 1.366-mile historic track, but the result still stings as Blaney had just taken the race lead moments before the final caution came out with only three laps of regulation remaining.

“Oh no,’’ Blaney conceded of his thoughts when the yellow flag flew.

“I thought we had the race won. I don’t really know I’ll have to watch a replay and see how the yellow came out and watch it back. But we did a great job and great strategy call of running long.

“Great call and just really fast but never got to really control the race,’’ he added ... I feel like nothing really went our way. Pit road we’ve got to work on a little bit. Caution coming out during the cycle set us way back and I feel like we kept making up spots. Really proud of the 12 folks for giving me a fast car. Just wasn’t meant to be. I really would have liked to have won here. That would have been really neat. Proud of the effort and we’ll keep plugging along.’’

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher finished sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, JGR’s Ty Gibbs and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch. It was a season-best effort for Gibbs.

Byron’s runner-up showing keeps him in the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead now by 49 points over Hamlin and 52 points over Bell. It’s a different look atop the standings, where all four Hendrick Motorsports cars were ranked among the top five.

Hendrick’s Chase Elliott finished eighth Sunday and is now fourth in the standings, 59 points back. Larson dropped to sixth place after finishing 37th of the 38 cars Sunday. Bowman is now ranked 10th with a 35th place showing at Darlington.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the famed Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway high banks next weekend for Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin is the defending winner.

--30--

NASCAR Cup Series Race - Goodyear 400

Darlington Raceway

Darlington, South Carolina

Sunday, April 6, 2025

1. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 297.

2. (1) William Byron, Chevrolet, 297.

3. (17) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 297.

4. (7) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 297.

5. (9) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 297.

6. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 297.

7. (25) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 297.

8. (15) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 297.

9. (11) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 297.

10. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 297.

11. (6) Austin Cindric, Ford, 297.

12. (16) Zane Smith, Ford, 297.

13. (18) Joey Logano, Ford, 297.

14. (12) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 297.

15. (30) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 297.

16. (29) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 297.

17. (34) Erik Jones, Toyota, 297.

18. (22) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 297.

19. (26) Noah Gragson, Ford, 297.

20. (36) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 297.

21. (5) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 297.

22. (31) Cole Custer, Ford, 297.

23. (23) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 297.

24. (21) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 297.

25. (28) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 297.

26. (2) Ryan Preece, Ford, 297.

27. (35) Cody Ware, Ford, 297.

28. (4) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 297.

29. (10) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 297.

30. (27) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 297.

31. (37) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 296.

32. (13) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 296.

33. (20) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 295.

34. (32) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 295.

35. (33) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 280.

36. (24) Josh Berry, Ford, Accident, 194.

37. (19) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Suspension, 122.

38. (38) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, Brakes, 30.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 120.965 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 14 Secs. Margin of Victory: .597 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 8 for 45 laps.

Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: W. Byron 1-243;D. Hamlin 244-247;T. Reddick 248-289;R. Blaney 290-291;D. Hamlin 292-297.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): William Byron 1 time for 243 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 42 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 10 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,23,60,17,45,6,12,2,38,16

Stage #2 Top Ten: 24,22,11,12,21,20,54,10,45,48

Byron sets blazing pace to win the pole for Darlington

James Gilbert/Getty Images

By Holly Cain

NASCAR Wire Service

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron won pole position for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – yet another supreme performance for his NASCAR Cup Series championship-leading No. 24 team.

Byron’s lap of 170.904 mph around the iconic 1.366-mile oval set fast lap early in Busch Light Pole Qualifying Saturday afternoon and set up a front row that will also include Ryan Preece in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford – Preece’s best start since winning his only career pole position at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in Spring, 2023.

It's the 15th pole position of the 27-year old Byron’s eight-year career – second of the season (also Phoenix in March) and second at the notoriously tough Darlington track.

“I felt good about it today, felt like we had a good plan going into practice and that we are always strong here,’’ said this year’s Daytona 500 winner Byron, who won at Darlington in 2023 and said it may well be his “best track.”

“Tried to find a decent balance there, worked on it and got better and finished practice pretty strong so I felt like I had some confidence going into practice. Was just nervous going early. Having an earlier draw was not ideal, but it seemed like the track temp was going up so it wasn’t the worst thing. … Proud of our team, we had a really good week of prep.’’

Although Chevy and Ford split the front row. Toyotas filled out the rest of the top-five on the grid. Last week’s Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin – Darlington’s winningest active driver (four wins) – was third fastest in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. His teammate, Daytona 500 polesitter Chase Briscoe was fourth quickest in the No. 19 JGR Toyota followed by 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who will roll off fifth in the No. 23 Toyota that Hamlin co-owns.

Austin Cindric will start sixth in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, followed by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick (Toyota), Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch (Chevrolet), Penske’s Ryan Blaney (Ford) and Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell (Chevrolet).

Although the Hendrick team is ranked first, second (Kyle Larson), third (Chase Elliott) and fifth (Alex Bowman) in the championship points, his teammates did not fare as well in Saturday’s time trials. Elliott will start 19th. Larson, who won at Darlington in 2023 will start 19th and Bowman will roll off 33rd.

“It may be tricky strategy-wise and you can get stuck back there, so [qualifying] matters maybe just a tick more than other places," Byron said, noting of his teammates, “These cars are really finicky so hitting the balance and just hitting the lap the way you want it to be can be really difficult. So I’m not surprised because there’s a lot of parity in the Next Gen era and especially in qualifying so you can be just that little bit off.

“I feel like our team has really good notes from qualifying though and that will really help.’’

Defending race winner Brad Keselowski, co-owner and driver of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s No. 6 Ford will start 20th.

NOTEBOOK

NASCAR HOLDS COMPETITION MEETING WITH XFINITY SERIES DRIVERS

*NASCAR officials met with the entire field of Xfinity Series drivers early Friday morning before any track activity at Darlington Raceway – a meeting triggered by an especially aggressive showing for the series at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway short track a week ago – a race so chaotic that Chase Elliott – a former Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series champ - called it “embarrassing” for the sport.

Although aggressive moves characterized much of the second half of the race, a big wreck on the final lap started up front with then leaders – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Taylor Gray and JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith – precipitated some angry confrontations post-race. Gray (off track) and Smith (on track) were both penalized for their actions.

Veteran Austin Hill was the big beneficiary of the on-track situation between the two, driving through the melee up front to claim his second win of the year – credited with only leading that last lap. Hill shared that the meeting went well and that he expects his fellow drivers to be more mindful of the way they race going forward, calling NASCAR very “firm” in its morning message.

“I think it’s going to calm down a lot more than you think today," Hill said of Saturday afternoon’s Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington. “We’ll have to wait and see but I think we’re all going to still be aggressive and trying to win the race but it’s going to be a very respectful race.”

The series’ next trip to Martinsville in late October determines which four Playoff drivers advance to the Championship 4 with a shot to win the 2025 title.

“NASCAR made it very clear they don’t want to be in the ball-and-strike business, they don’t want to be making all these calls so they said for us to help them with that,’’ Hill said. “They [NASCAR] also said if they have to step in and start making calls and black-flagging people and parking people and all those things, they’ll do it. I agree with where NASCAR stands with that but I also think we in the Xfinity Series need to do a better job going forward and not putting it in NASCAR’s hands.’’

KESELOWSKI OPTIMISTIC DESPITE CHALLENGING EARLY SEASON

*The last Spring weekend Brad Keselowski spent in Darlington, S.C., he left South Carolina with a big trophy. It was the first victory the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion had earned as co-team owner at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. As importantly it marked a highlight in a challenging new role as owner and driver.

Darlington, in particular, has been a recent highlight reel for Keselowski whose average finish (6.4) in the last five races in best in the field. He has plenty of reason to be optimistic about this Spring run of races – at Darlington, Bristol, Tenn. and Talladega, Ala. – venues where he is a multi-time winner.

He comes to South Carolina without a single lap led and is still looking to claim his first top-10 of the eight-race season. His best showing in the No. 6 RFK Ford is 11th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He’s finished 26th in the two races (at Homestead,Fla. and Martinsville, Va.) leading into Darlington.

“I feel like we’re doing all the right things and get to where we need to be, we just haven’t gotten the results,’’ said Keselowski, who qualified 20th for Sunday’s race, “We haven’t qualified as well as we liked to have.

“In the race we haven’t been able to put together for a number of reasons some of it in our control, a lot of it not in our control, so it’s been frustrating. But kind of have the feeling we’re getting the bad luck out of the way early in the season, that’s kind of the overwhelming sentiment and if we stay the course, it will come back to us.’’

VETERANS HAVE THE DARLINGTON EDGE

Darlington Raceway is known as the track “Too Tough to Tame” – and perhaps too that end, its long and distinguished list of winners includes a noticeable group of veterans. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin leads all active drivers with four victories, another four runner-up finishes and also bests the grid in top-fives (13), top-10s (18) and overall average finish (8.2).

NASCAR Hall of Famers such as Jimmie Johnson (three wins), Bill Elliott (five wins) Jeff Gordon (seven wins) and the late Dale Earnhardt (nine wins) were all so good at the 1.366-mile oblong oval.

“This sport is so week-to-week it’s hard to say [the track favors veterans] but you can’t argue with results,’’ said Hamlin, who has led laps in the last 10 consecutive Darlington races – and has led more than 100 laps five different times in his career.

“It lends itself to the best drivers and the best teams. I think it’s a great combination of, you’ve got to have everything. … the driver has to just be really good at his craft and know when to push and when not to.

“It’s going to be mentally taxing knowing you’ve got to hit your marks just perfectly,’’ he continued. “And just the mental side of it, with 35 other guys that aren’t there to let you win. It’s really hard to navigate that. .. it just takes its toll, it has for me on my body and mind every time I race here. As far as the veteran side of it, I think certainly it seems that those that have lots of experience on this track and more than likely the guys have been successful because they know that feel they need to be fast here and continue to replicate it.”

AN EVERYDAY EARNHARDT THROWBACK

*There is no question that NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar is a huge fan of the late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt. The driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet recently purchased online a Chevrolet pick-up truck with a paint scheme identical to one of Earnhardt’s iconic No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolets. He says it’s his “daily drive” and actually drove the truck from his Charlotte-area home to Darlington for the race this weekend.

“Basically I wanted something old-school car wise,’’ said Hocevar, who posted a photo of the truck parked at Darlington on his social media. “I just thought it would be fun and interesting to have. So I got it.’’

ZILISCH TO MAKE 2ND CUP START

*On Thursday of this week, Trackhouse Racing announced that 18-year old driver Connor Zilisch will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start for the team in the sport’s longest race, the May 25 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The North Carolinian Zilisch is in his first fulltime NASCAR Xfinity Series season driving the No. 88 Chevrolet as a development driver for JR Motorsports and has already won an Xfinity race this year – from the pole position – claiming the trophy at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) road course in March. He’s currently sixth in the Xfinity Series championship standings.

“It’s awesome to have the opportunity to race in one of NASCAR’s coolest events,” said Zilisch, who has shown great talent competing in endurance races – winning in his class in both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring IMSA races last year.

“The Charlotte 600 is one of the most prestigious races in NASCAR. It’s going to be a physical and mental challenge because that race is so tough.”

New approach gives Denny Hamlin dominating NASCAR Cup victory at Martinsville