Hendrick Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson simply dominated tonight’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, led over 400 laps and honoured Hendrick’s 315th victory to the late Jon Edwards, a Hendrick Motorsports executive.
Repaved from asphalt to concrete in 1992, Bristol Motor Speedway is a track of constant change, as rubber is laid down and moved throughout the race. Denny Hamlin won this event one year ago – now he seeks a third consecutive victory in 2025.
It was Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman on pole for the second time in four races. Pre-race he reported: “We have some sun today that we didn’t have yesterday, so I’m curious what the race track’s gonna do, what the tyres are gonna do, looking forward to the opportunity today.”
Bowman will need to compete with fellow Chevrolet driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr alongside him on the front row as they line up for 400 miles of “The Last Great Colosseum.”
It was Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love’s first Cup Series start – he qualified 19th in his no. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevy.
The 500-lap race started with Stenhouse slotting in neatly behind Bowman. The pack remained sensible and conservative while teams and drivers figured out the tyres and track conditions until Kyle Larson broke out into the lead. Meanwhile Justin Haley, who started in 10th, fought his way up to second.
It turned out soon after that the tyres could last much longer than anticipated – and the pace elevated in response to Kyle Larson’s breakaway into the lead. Last fall, Larson won after leading 462 out of 500 laps – and won last night’s Xfinity Series race in dominant fashion – will he continue today?
At lap 125, Larson won stage one, followed by a closing Denny Hamlin as they fought through traffic.
Larson beat Hamlin off pit road under the stage caution. Larson took the top of the race track for the restart, firing away from Hamlin. With better knowledge of how long the tyres last, the field pushed hard from the outset in stage two.
Shane Van Gisbergen was suddenly backwards at turn two on lap 178, bringing out the caution. He lost the rear end fighting with Cody Ware two laps down.
Again, Larson beat Hamlin on the restart using the top lane. Hamlin also failed to clear Bowman and submitted to third place.
Kyle Larson took stage two – his 66th career stage win to tie Martin Truex Jr atop of the all-time list. Bowman, Bell, Hocevar and Hamlin completed the top five on lap 250.
With 20 stage points to his name, Larson also won the race off pit road to lead from Bowman, Hamlin, Bell and Ty Gibbs.
Around lap 285, polesitter Bowman began to drop places, reporting “blowing up” – talking about his motor. Down a cylinder, Bowman fell back several places in just a few laps. By lap 354, he retired to the garage.
Larson took the lead from Bowman on lap 40, and led ever since. Yet again, a simply sublime performance from the no. 5.
In his post-race interview, he said: “This one’s definitely for Jon [Edwards]… we’re gonna miss him.
“A flawless race once again for the no. 5 team, a really really good car – that was a lot of fun!”
Larson denied Hamlin a shot at his three-peat in 2025. The pair have finished 1-2 on seven occasions – this being the first time Larson came out on top. Hamlin said: “You gotta give that team their due, and Kyle his due, just a dominant performance. It looked like a pretty flawless day for him.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will take a break next Easter weekend, but will return in two weeks for a return to super speedway thrills at Talladega.
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