BRISTOL, TN – Kyle Larson crossed the finish line on the most dominating victory ever for a Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Kyle Larson won the Bass Pro Shops Night Race to score his 28th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fifth of the season and his second at Bristol. His margin of victory over second-place Chase Elliott was 7.088 seconds.
Larson dominated the first elimination race of NASCAR’s 10-race playoff portion of the season by leading all but 38 of the 500 laps at the track in Bristol, Tennessee — the most laps led ever in a race by a Hendrick driver. It quickly moved him into the second round of the playoffs. At the same time, former NASCAR champions Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, and Harrison Burton were eliminated from the 16-driver field.
“I’ve had a lot of good cars since I’ve come to Hendrick Motorsports, but man, that was just great execution all weekend by the team,” Larson said. “We dominate many races but we might not close them all out, so it feels really good to close one out here.”
There were five caution periods for a total of 36 laps. Only 10 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Larson led 462 of 500 laps, the most since Cale Yarborough led 495 laps in 1977. Larson’s laps led is the most ever by a Hendrick driver and marked the fifth win of the season for the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet.
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stewart Haas Racing Finish:
- Ryan Preece (Started 14th, Finished 7th / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
- Chase Briscoe (Started 5th, Finished 8th / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
- Noah Gragson (Started 16th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 499 of 500 laps)
- Josh Berry (Started 25th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 496 of 500 laps)
Stewart Haas Racing Points:
- Chase Briscoe (11th with 2,085 points, 11 points ahead of top-12 cutoff … advances to Round of 12)
- Josh Berry (24th with 489 points)
- Noah Gragson (25th with 485 points)
- Ryan Preece (26th with 472 points)
Playoff Standings to Begin Round of 12:
1. Kyle Larson (3,047 points) +39
2. Christopher Bell (3,032 points) +24
3. Tyler Reddick (3,028 points) +20
4. William Byron (3,022 points) +14
5. Ryan Blaney (3,019 points) +11
6. Denny Hamlin (3,015 points) +7
7. Chase Elliott (3,014 points) +6
8. Joey Logano (3,012 points) +4
9. Austin Cindric (3,008 points) -4
10. Daniel Suarez (3,006 points) -6
11. Alex Bowman (3,005 points) -7
12. Chase Briscoe (3,005 points) -7
Failed to Advance to Round of 12:
13. Ty Gibbs (2,074 points)
14. Martin Truex Jr. (2,064 points)
15. Brad Keselowski (2,048 points)
16. Harrison Burton (2,031 points)
Chase Briscoe earned his ninth top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in five career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
“I knew our Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang Dark Horse was really, really good,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “And even when we had that bad pit stop, we came out 13th or 14th, and I felt like I could drive back up there. So, yeah, in the end, I probably bled three or four spots trying not to do anything stupid. It felt like both arms got Tetanus shots. Overall, a great night for us. You know, hopefully, people will start taking us seriously. I mean, I truthfully feel like we can battle for the championship. So, hopefully, tonight proved that. We had to dig ourselves out of the hole after Atlanta, but hopefully, we can go on to Kansas and start this next round strong. I feel like we can beat anybody on any given day when we put it together from start to finish. Obviously, tonight, we did have some hiccups, but we were still able to have a good finish, and that’s what this championship run’s going to be all about. No other team in the sport can relate to what we’re going through and just how hungry we all are. I think we all want to go out as winners, and we just know that we’re capable of doing it when we put it together. And I think for us, when we finally did win, we kind of proved that to ourselves, and just the confidence that’s been with that over the last three weeks has been a lot. I’m looking forward to the next six or seven, however many we’ve got left.”
This was Briscoe’s second straight top-10. He finished sixth last Sunday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
Briscoe’s eighth-place result bettered his previous best finish at Bristol – 13th, earned twice (September 2021 and March 2024).
Briscoe finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and eighth in Stage 2 to earn three more bonus points.
Ryan Preece earned his fourth top-10 of the season and his second top-10 in eight career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
“We passed cars on the long run,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 Old Armor Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “We needed about 75 to 100 laps before I could start passing, and that’s when everybody would come back to me. Ultimately, I’m proud of the car we brought and the gains we’ve been making over the last two months.”
This was Preece’s fourth straight result of 18th or better. He finished 12th Sept. 1 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, 18th Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and ninth last Sunday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
“We were just behind with our setup tonight and couldn’t find the balance I needed to make the top and bottom work,” said Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Bed Bath & Beyond Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “Our guys work their tails off and tonight was just a tough night. We know we are plenty capable of being competitive, so we’ll just focus on going to Kansas with a clean slate.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, Sept. 29 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The fourth race in the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Preece’s seventh-place result bettered his previous best finish at Bristol – ninth, earned in September 2020.
Noah Gragson earned his 14th top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in two career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
“I had a solid car, just struggled firing off on short runs,” said Noah Gragson, driver of the No. 10 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “The long run was really good and we could kind of stay in that 12th to 14th range. Overall, just a solid day. This is what our group needed, just a solid weekend for all of us. Just proud of everyone, and we’ll go on next weekend to Kansas.” –
This was Gragson’s second straight top-15. He finished 11th last Sunday at Watkins Glen.
Gragson’s 12th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Bristol – 34th, earned in March.
