Pure pace was on display for Hendrick Motorsports’ (HMS) Kyle Larson, as he led 277 of 300 laps on his way to winning the NASCAR Xfinity race at Bristol. This is the 16th win of Larson’s Xfinity career and his second at the concrete half-mile.
“Just another really good car,” said Larson. “Thanks to [crew chief] Adam Wall, HMS for what they do and JR Motorsports as well. They’re obviously all really fast this year. So, it makes it a lot of fun. I just love this place, especially in Xfinity. You can move around, and traffic is just a lot of fun. Just felt like when I could get to traffic, I could get to picking people off. But Justin [Allgaier] did a good job kind of hanging with me there that last run. The pressure was on a little bit. We just had a good enough car to get into the lead, stay in the lead, and be good enough in traffic.”
Kyle Larson, Chevrolet
Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
He was followed across the line by a trio of JR Motorsports drivers with Carson Kvapil second, Justin Allgaier third, and Sammy Smith fourth. Allgaier also collected the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. Brandon Jones rounded out the top five for Joe Gibbs Racing in fifth. Jesse Love, Ryan Sieg, Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, and Dean Thompson filled out the remainder of the top ten.
The most notable moment in the race came in the very first stage, as Sheldon Creed and Brennan Poole were involved in a vicious crash that left both cars with significant damage and halted the race for nearly 15 minutes. Thankfully, both drivers were okay.
The final pass for the lead came with 110 laps still to go in the race. Allgaier was out front but Larson put the bumper to him, moving Allgaier up the track and snatching the lead away. There was one more caution to follow and a restart, but Larson remained firmly in control. From that point onward, Larson simply cut a path through slower traffic and was never challenged again.
Larson finished second in Friday’s Truck race so the weekend sweep is off the table, but he will start third in Sunday’s Cup race as he aims to win two out of three events at Bristol this weekend.
In this article
Nick DeGroot
NASCAR XFINITY
Kyle Larson
Hendrick Motorsports
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