Kyle Larson earns historic win at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson led 462 of 500 laps and scored a historic win Saturday night in the Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race.
Larson started second and actually fell to third for the first 10 laps. Then, he reclaimed second and took the lead from polesitter Alex Bowman on lap 33 before winning stage one.
Then, in the second stage, Larson maintained the lead. Even when Tyler Reddick stayed out to take the lead under a late-stage caution, Larson passed him and won the second stage too.
Every pit stop was flawless, straight through to the final stop in the final stage on lap 333. That put him in a position to build a seven-second lead in the 163-lap green-flag run to his fifth checkered flag of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
In all, Larson led an astounding 462 of 500 laps. He achieved the following in doing so:
- Fastest win in Bristol Motor Speedway history (101.277 MPH average speed)
- Most laps led in a single race by a Hendrick Motorsports driver
- Most laps led at Bristol since Cale Yarborough led 495 of 500 laps in April 1977
- First driver to lead more than 300 laps and 400 laps in a NextGen-era race (dating back to 2022)
- First driver to lead 400 more laps in a Cup race since Martin Truex Jr. in the Oct. 2019 race at Martinsville Speedway
Larson scored a 149.7 driver rating, just 0.3 points shy of a perfect driver rating. He only had to make just five green-flag passes and was passed only twice.
Coming into the Round of 12, Larson has the No. 1 seed with seven more playoff points to his name.
NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings after Bristol
- Kyle Larson 3047 points (+39 points to the cutline)
- Christopher Bell 3032 (+24)
- Tyler Reddick 3028 (+20)
- William Byron 3022 (+14)
- Ryan Blaney 3019 (+11)
- Denny Hamlin 3015 (+7)
- Chase Elliott 3014 (+6)
- Joey Logano 3012 (+4)
- Austin Cindric 3008 (-4 points to the cutline)
- Daniel Suarez 3006 (-6)
- Chase Briscoe 3005 (-7)
- Alex Bowman 3005 (-7)
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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