BRISTOL, Tenn. - If Bristol Motor Speedway is the Last Great Coliseum, as its moniker states, consider Kyle Larson its most formidable gladiator.
After Larson led 462 of 500 laps in winning a NASCAR Cup Series race at the Tennessee short track in September, he put on a similar clinic on Saturday afternoon, pacing 277 of 300 circuits, lapping up to the 12th position in steamrolling to victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. It was the fewest number of lead-lap finishers in an Xfinity race at Bristol since 2019.
"Just another really good car," Larson said. "I just love this place, especially in Xfinity (Series). You can move around and traffic just a lot of fun.
"We just had a good enough car to get to the lead, stay in the lead and be really good in traffic."
It marked the first victory of the season for Hendrick Motorsports in the Xfinity Series after three runner-up finishes prior. It also marked the first Xfinity Series win for crew chief Adam Wall, who was named the full-time pit boss of the No. 17 team prior to the season.
ARTIFACT OF THE WEEK: Win a signed Terry Labonte photo by taking our trivia quiz!
There wasn't much in the way of drama on Saturday, which was just fine with Larson and company. He qualified on the pole and led throughout most of stage one. A late caution flag and some pit strategy shuffled him to third by stage's end but after pit stops cycled back through, he returned to the lead and pulled away.
After temporarily losing the lead to Justin Allgaier on the stage three restart, he snatched it back and slowly put distance on the field. In the end, he finished just over two seconds ahead of Carson Kvapil.
Larson qualified third for Sunday's Cup Series event with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman earning the pole. Afterwards, Bowman dedicated the performance to Jon Edwards, the Hendrick Motorsports director of race communications who passed away unexpectedly earlier in the week. Edwards, who'd worked closely alongside Larson for the past few seasons, was a topic of discussion again in postrace interviews.
"It's awesome," Larson said. "Cool to get a win this weekend for Jon and everybody who's been a part of his life and all that. We've got one more tomorrow, there'd be nothing better than to cap it off with a Cup win for Jon and all of Hendrick Motorsports. Just look forward to it. I've got a great car for tomorrow and we've just got to execute like we did today."
Sunday's main event is slated for a 3 p.m. start and will air on FS1.
Who won the NASCAR race today?
- Kyle Larson, No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
- Carson Kvapil, No. 1
- Justin Allgaier, No. 7
- Sammy Smith, No. 8
- Brandon Jones, No. 20
- Jesse Love, No. 2
- Ryan Sieg, No. 39
- Corey Heim, No. 24
- Christian Eckes, No. 16
- Dean Thompson, No. 26
- Sam Mayer, No. 41
- Connor Zilisch, No. 88
- Daniel Dye, No. 10
- Josh Williams, No. 11
- Anthony Alfredo, No. 42
- Nick Sanchez, No. 48
- Justin Bonsignore, No. 19
- Parker Retzlaff, No. 4
- Taylor Gray, No. 54
- Jeremy Clements, No. 51
- Jeb Burton, No. 27
- Kyle Sieg, No. 28
- Matt DiBenedetto, No. 99
- Austin Hill, No. 21
- Mason Massey, No. 45
- Harrison Burton, No. 25
- Ryan Ellis, No. 71
- Thomas Annunziata, No. 70
- Garrett Smithley, No. 14
- Blaine Perkins, No. 31
- Kris Wright, No. 5
- Greg Van Alst, No. 35
- CJ McLaughlin, No. 91
- William Sawalich, No. 18
- Alex Labbe, No. 07
- Brennan Poole, No. 44
- Sheldon Creed, No. 00
- Mason Maggio, No. 53
NASCAR qualifying lineup for Sunday
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 14.912
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 14.925
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 14.931
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 14.937
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 15.964
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 15.002
- Christopher Bell, No. 20, 14.986
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 15.019
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 15.022
- Justin Haley, No. 7, 15.03
- Josh Berry, No. 21, 15.058
- Ty Dillon, No. 10, 15.074
- Michael McDowell, No. 71, 15.075
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 15.088
- Kyle Busch, No. 8, 15.097
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 15.098
- Austin Dillon, No. 3, 15.099
- Zane Smith, No. 38, 15.13
- Jesse Love, No. 33, 15.137
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet, 15.138
- Austin Cindric, No. 2, 15.149
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 15.193
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 15.204
- Chris Buescher, No. 17, 15.246
- Riley Herbst, No. 35, 15.247
- William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 15.263
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 15.268
- Erik Jones, No. 43, 15.274
- Ryan Preece, No. 60, 15.29
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 15.297
- Noah Gragson, No. 4, 15.301
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 15.304
- Cole Custer, No. 41, 15.322
- Cody Ware, No. 51, 15.441
- Ross Chastain, No. 1, 15.448
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 15.569
- Corey LaJoie, No. 01, 15.64
- Joey Logano, No. 22, 16.275
- Josh Bilicki, No. 66, 16.348
What time is the NASCAR race on today?
(All times listed in eastern time)
Sunday, April 13
3 p.m. - Cup Series race, FS1