Inspection clear: Kyle Larson finally earns NASCAR Cup Series Bristol win
In a wild final 100 laps in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Kyle Larson went from being a hero to zero back to being a hero when the heroes zeroed in on dueling each other late.
Larson led 175 of 500 laps in Saturday’s race to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series win at Bristol. Larson led 200+ laps in the 2017 and 2018 spring Bristol races but failed to win.
Larson passed Kevin Harvick for the lead with four laps to go after Chase Elliott blocked Harvick from lapping him.
“Yeah, that was an awesome race. It was so cool to be able to race there for the win,” Larson said. “Obviously, Harvick and Chase got together. Chase was upset and kind of held him up. It got Harvick having to move around and use his tires up off the bottom.
Harvick made contact with Chase Elliott while racing him for the lead on Lap 464. Elliott had to pit for a blown left-front tire and tried to return the favor to Harvick. However, Elliott ultimately retaliated by blocking Harvick’s lane as a lap car, which led to Larson passing Harvick for the lead.
“I started to get some dive-ins working off of two, got a big run, decided to pull the trigger, slide him, squeeze him a little bit and then he had me jacked up down the frontstretch. It was wild,” Larson said.
Larson’s win is his sixth of the 2021 season. He holds a 30-point lead over Martin Truex Jr., entering the Round of 12-opening South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET; TV: NBCSN; Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Larson won the March Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com