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Kyle Larson leads 411 laps, wins Bristol Cup Series race

JHby:Jonathan Howard•04/13/25•

Jondean25

Kyle Larson Bristol win
Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

What about that? Not the Bristol race many had wanted or expected. Kyle Larson led 411 laps on his way to an overwhelming NASCAR win. Denny Hamlin gave chase, but it was not meant to be. These tires could have gone 300 laps if the cars had the fuel for it.

Temperatures were just high enough, and there was plenty of sun in Bristol, Tennessee. That led to the PJ1 Trackbite, which NASCAR reapplied today, to activate. It did not make for great racing.

No tire wear, not a lot of cautions. Things were exactly like they have been at Bristol since this Next Gen was introduced, minus the 2024 version of this race.

Kyle Larson took the lead from Alex Bowman before anyone knew the tires were going to hold up for 125 laps or more. Once everyone realized they could put the throttle down, it was a conveyor belt.

“Just a flawless race once again here at Bristol for the 5 team,” Larson said, his team also won the night race last fall. “Really, really good car. That was a lot of fun, you know? However many laps of green we ran there was a lot of fun and I was pretty comfortable with things. Then, Denny came on really strong there before the pit cycle. Then it just kind of kept the pressure on from there. So, I knew I had to make some good moves in traffic.”

Kyle Larson couldn’t help but take a jab at his frenemy, Denny Hamlin. He was able to stop the 11 from winning three races in a row.

“You know, if Denny’s in front of me, it could be a totally different story and be really hard to pass him. Glad to stop his three-peat; we hate to see him win. As I’m sure you guys do too.”

These two drivers have finished 1-2 together on seven occasions. This is the first time that Kyle Larson has been on the winning end of that equation. Everyone outside of the top-8 today was at least a lap down. Everyone outside of the top-15 were two laps or more down.

Plain and simply, Larson was fantastic. I do think that there needs to be more work done on these short tracks. If we can’t add horsepower, then the tires have to wear out even more than they are now.

Looks like the pit crew swap worked. Last week, Kyle Larson took Justin Haley’s pit crew. This week, they kept him right where he needed to be on each stop.

A week off for the Cup Series for Easter Sunday. However, both the Truck and Xfinity Series will race at Rockingham. An exciting return to that track.