Kyle Larson took command early and stayed up front for 462 laps of Saturday’s (Sept. 21) 500 lap night race at Bristol Motor Speedway to take his fifth win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series and advance to the Round of 12 of the playoffs.
Larson led the most laps in a race at Bristol since Cale Yarborough led 495 laps in the 1977 spring race. The 2021 Cup Series champion also set a record for the most laps led in a race for Hendrick Motorsports, beating Jeff Gordon‘s 431 laps led at Martinsville Speedway in 1997.
“That was just great execution all weekend by the team, ” Larson said. “We had a great car. Thanks to the whole [No.] 5 team. They’re the best in the business. We dominate a lot of races, but we might not close them all out. It feels good to close one out in the Hendrickcars.com Chevy.
“There’s been some legendary hall of famers race for Hendrick Motorsports. We’ve all grown up watching Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominate. {It’s] pretty cool to add my name to another record at Hendrick Motorsports and very fortunate to be a part of that group.”
Chase Elliott, Larson’s Hendrick teammate, started 10th and finished second, finishing 7.088 seconds behind the No. 5 Chevrolet, the largest margin of victory in the Next Gen era. Elliott also locked himself into the Round of 12.
Bubba Wallace was the highest-finishing non-playoff driver, finishing third. His 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin raced his way to the next round after starting behind the cutoff with a fourth-place finish. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell also advanced with his fifth-place finish.
Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain rounded out the top 10.
The pole-sitter, Bowman, led the opening 33 laps of the race ,which included the first caution for John Hunter Nemechek spinning. But Larson took the lead on the restart and dominated the lead throughout the night, sweeping the stages.
Meanwhile for the bubble drivers, Martin Truex Jr. battled in the top five for the majority of stages 1 and 2. Finishing fourth and second as Daniel Suarez struggled in the back of the field all day, running outside the top 30 and falling multiple laps down.
Ty Gibbs raced inside the top 10 in stage 1 and most of stage 2, finishing eighth in the first stage. Before the end of stage 2, Joey Logano spun after a bump from Corey LaJoie, leading to a two-lap shootout. But Gibbs was nabbed for speeding on pit road, knocking him out of the top 10 and missing out on stage points.
The three bubble drivers of Truex, Briscoe and Hamlin battled it out in the final stage. After the three-wide battle, the caution flew after Josh Berry made contact with LaJoie, sending him into the wall.
During the pit stops under caution, Briscoe fell from the top five to 14th and Truex sped on pit road, sending him from a few points to the good to over 20 points below. Truex would not make his way back up the field and he would miss out on the playoffs in his final full-time season in the Cup Series.
“It’s really tough,” Truex said. “It’s .09 mph that screws your whole chance of a good season up. I don’t know how that happened. I didn’t even know I was even that close honestly. I felt like I did the same thing as every other stop. Maybe, I was a foot to the left. It’s so tricky when you’re going to that curved section to the straight to hit your lights. It’s on me. It was my mistake.”
As Larson continued to lead, Briscoe cut through the field to get back in the top five battling with Bell, Hamlin and Blaney for position seven points above the cutline.
Gibbs battled back to the top 10, but his car faded in the run to the checkered flag, joining Truex, Harrison Burton and Brad Keselowski as the drivers eliminated from the playoffs and locking Suarez and Briscoe into the Round of 12.
NASCAR Cup Series Bristol Results
The Round of 12 will begin on Sunday, Sept. 28th at 3 p.m. ET from Kansas Speedway. Broadcasting will be provided by USA Network.
About the author
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
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Sorry Denny was 10 seconds behind for you. I missed too, I wanted him to blow up on the first lap, just like I wish for him at Kansas. When Larson is on, he is on.