Larson Crushes Xfinity Series Foes For Bristol Triumph

Kyle Larson celebrates winning Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Larson channeled his dominance from last fall’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race directly into Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Larson led 276 of 300 laps in the SciAps 300, putting his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on cruise control for much of the afternoon at The Last Great Colosseum as he half-tracked the competition twice over the course of the race.

It was reminiscent of his Bristol performance from seven months earlier, when Larson led 462 of 500 laps en route to a NASCAR Cup Series win at the same venue.

Even after defending series champion Justin Allgaier bullied his way into the lead during the lap-182 restart that opened the final stage, Larson’s confidence and speed never wavered.

The 2021 Cup Series titlist delivered a well-placed bump to the back of Allgaier’s No. 7 entering turn one to get Allgaier off the bottom groove, then scooted past to reclaim the lead for good with 110 to go.

From there, Larson maintained a comfortable gap all the way to the finish, even despite a caution for an incident that collected William Sawalich and Mason Massey on lap 212.

The fifth and final yellow flag of the day set up a 75-lap run to the finish, with Larson ultimately prevailing by 2.054 seconds for his 16th career Xfinity Series triumph, first of the year, and second at Bristol.

In winning Saturday, Larson authored a fitting tribute to late Hendrick Motorsports communications director Jon Edwards, who passed away suddenly leading up to the Bristol race weekend.

“It’s awesome,” said Larson, who was the runner-up Friday night in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. “I wish I could have won last night — just came up a little bit short. It’s cool to get a win this weekend for Jon and everybody’s who’s been a part of his life.”

Kyle Larson performs a burnout after winning at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Wyatt Tinsley/Race Face Digital photo)

“We’ve got one more tomorrow (in the NASCAR Cup Series). There’d be nothing better than to cap it off with a Cup win for Jon and all of Hendrick Motorsports. … I’ve got a great car there for (Sunday). We’ve just got to execute like we did today.”

It marked crew chief Adam Wall’s first win since moving atop the pit box for the No. 17 team this year.

“For sure, it’s a relief more than anything,” Wall noted. “We’ve had some really good runs (three runner-up finishes prior to Saturday) this year … but this one feels right. It feels right to finally get a victory with [Larson] and it’s special for all the work we’ve put in to get to this point.”

The long run to end the race made for several comers and goers late, with rookie Carson Kvapil coming on strong in the latter stages and battling past Allgaier for second place coming to two to go.

Kvapil hung on after that to tie his career-best Xfinity Series finish, first set at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway in April of last year.

Allgaier faded to third after leading nine laps – third most on the day – followed by Sammy Smith and last week’s Darlington (S.C.) Raceway winner, Brandon Jones.

Notably, Allgaier did pick up a consolation prize in the form of a $100,000 bonus check as the winner of the Dash 4 Cash in the third event of the four-race bonus program for this season.

Jesse Love, Ryan Sieg, Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, and Dean Thompson closed out the top 10 in a race where only 12 drivers finished on the lead lap at the finish.

Sam Mayer topped stage one by staying out on older tires for a three-lap dash to the stage break, while Larson roared back and led every green-flag lap in the second stage, a precursor to his eventual win.

The race’s most dramatic moment came on lap 76, when Sheldon Creed’s Ford was bumped from behind by Dean Thompson’s Toyota in turn four, leading to Creed skidding to a halt next to the outside wall on the frontstretch.

With nowhere to go after coming off turn four behind another car, Brennan Poole tried to swerve low at the last second, but ended up broad-siding the front end of Creed’s machine in a vicious crash that ripped the right-rear wheel assembly clean off of Poole’s No. 44.

While the carnage was extensive to both cars, both Poole and Creed walked away from the crash under their own power. They were scored 36th and 37th, respectively.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series visits Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway next for the first race at the historic one-mile oval since 2004.

Broadcast coverage of the North Carolina Education Lottery 250 is slated for 4 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.