Kyle Larson's 'Flawless' Race Leads to Bristol Victory

There was no denying Kyle Larson on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Larson blistered the competition at "The Last Great Colosseum" in the Food City 500, leading 411 of the race's 500 laps and finishing more than two seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin for his second NASCAR Cup Series win of 2025.

Race Results: NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol

Larson took the lead for the final time on lap 440, as Ryan Blaney pitted to complete the final cycle of green-flag pit stops. Without a caution to flip the script in Blaney's favor before his last pit stop, Larson cruised to victory ahead of the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe.

"Yeah, just a flawless race once again here at Bristol for the 5 team," said Larson after the win. "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. I was pretty comfortable with things. Then, Denny came on really strong there before the pit cycle, and then just kind of kept the pressure on from there.

"I knew I had to make some good moves in traffic. I felt like I did a pretty good job there in traffic, split the middle sometimes when I needed to. So, yeah, just a lot of fun. A little bit out of breath. It's just so high-paced here, and heart rate is up."

The week leading up to Sunday's race at Bristol has been a trying and tragic one for the sport in general, and Larson's Hendrick Motorsports team in particular. Along with the passing of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion team owner Shigeaki Hattori and longtime NASCAR reporter Al Pearce, Hendrick Motorsports director of racing communications Jon Edwards passed away on Thursday.

Edwards worked at Hendrick Motorsports for more than 30 years, including representing Larson when he joined the team in 2021. This made Sunday's win all the more meaningful for the California driver.

"This one is definitely for Jon," said Larson. "He is just a great guy here, so we’re going to miss him, but successful weekend here. Wish he was going to be here with us to celebrate, but I know he’s celebrating with us in spirit."

Hamlin entered Bristol on a two-race winning streak after victories at Martinsville Speedway and Darlington Raceway. However, he settled for second on a day where Larson was the class of the field.

"Just a dominant performance," said Hamlin of Larson's day. "You know, looked like pretty flawless day for him, so it looked pretty easy.

"It was all I had to try to keep up there. You know, glad we were able to give him a little bit of run with our Progressive Toyota, but this weekend we’re all thinking about Jon Edwards, his family, Al Pearce, Shigeaki Hattori. We’ve lost a lot of great people in our sport over this past week. So our thoughts are with them."

Gibbs and Briscoe finished third and fourth, with Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five. William Byron, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, A.J. Allmendinger and Austin Dillon completed the top 10.

The NASCAR Cup Series enjoys a week off for Easter before returning to action on Sunday, April 27 at Talladega Superspeedway. The Jack Link's 500 at Talladega takes the green flag at 3 p.m. ET with coverage on FOX, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-Photo credit: Jacy Norgaard, HHP for Chevy