Kyle Larson made a great move on the opening lap of his heat race Saturday (April 8) to help him score the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series dirt race at the Bristol Motor Speedway.
Larson started heat two in the sixth position and by the end of lap 1 was leading, passing the cars in front of him on the top of the track. His 15 passing points held off Austin Dillon to win the pole. Dillon will start on the outside. JJ Yeley went from ninth to third in his heat race will start third for the race for Rick Ware Racing.
Heat one started with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Alex Bowman on the front row. Both led a lap before Dillon took the lead on lap 3. Josh Berry spun to bring out the first caution at lap 5. Dillon held off Tyler Reddick in the final laps, including the two drivers swapping the lead, to win heat one. Reddick finished second, Christopher Bell third, Bowman fourth and Stenhouse rounded out the top five.
Ryan Blaney and Chase Briscoe led the field to the green flag in heat two. They also led the field to the checkered flag. Blaney held off Briscoe in a fierce battle, leading every lap winning the heat two. Briscoe finished second with William Byron, Harrison Burton and Aric Almirola rounding out the top five.
Heat three featured Erik Jones and Corey LaJoie on the front row. Larson moved to the lead on lap 1 after starting sixth and went on to win the race. The star of the race was Yeley, who started last and drove to a third-place finish. Ryan Preece finished second, Jones fourth and Michael McDowell fifth.
2023 Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway Starting Lineup
Bubba Wallace and Jonathan Davenport started on the front row for heat four. Wallace held off Davenport at the start of the race before Daniel Suarez spun in turn 2 to bring out the caution on lap 8. After the restart, Kyle Busch made the pass on Davenport late in the race, but was unable to catch Wallace, who won heat four. Busch finished second, Austin Cindric third, Davenport fourth and Joey Logano fifth.
You can see the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on FOX.
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Talk about throwback. It reminded me of a late 60’s IMCA race. I could almost see Ramo Stott, Ernie Derr and Don White, Lennie Funk, Gordy Blankenship. Dry slick and dusty.