It’s Bristol, baby! Yup, after the ‘track too tough to tame, ‘ NASCAR has landed at its fastest short track. And for Kyle Larson, it’s a special weekend. And not only because he’s the most successful driver at Bristol in the Next Gen with a 3.3 average finish. It’s special because he was, yet again, attempting the sweep. However, after narrowly missing out in the Truck Series race with a P2, those hopes ended. Anyway, if not a triple, at least a double! And he’s already got the Xfinity Series’ checkered flag in the bag after dominating the grid, for whom he had some choice words after the race. However, there was a bigger reason for Larson’s success today, one that was personal for the entire NASCAR community.
As the #5 team was gearing up for the Xfinity Series race, they got some tragic news. “It is with profound sadness that we confirm the passing of Jon Edwards, our longtime friend, teammate, and director of racing communications,” the Hendrick Motorsports’ press release read. And Jon Edwards was loved by all in the HMS camp. Edwards was a media member of the HMS team and worked closely with Jeff Gordon in the past, and he was Kyle Larson’s current PR manager. So the Bristol weekend now became a tribute for Jon, and Larson dedicated his Xfinity win to him, with hopes he can repeat it on Sunday.
Kyle Larson wins it for Jon Edwards
Larson’s recent Bristol run was almost déjà vu to last season’s fall race in the Cup Series. There, Larson led 462 out of the 500 laps and took the checkered flag. And in the Xfinity race, he started from the pole, led 277 laps out of the 300, and won his 16th Xfinity Series race. And a second at Bristol! The run was a cakewalk for Larson. When asked about the dominance of his win, Larson said, “I don’t know; we just had a great car. And had a lot of fun in traffic. We were able to move around and pick people off pretty quickly. So yeah, can’t do that without a good car.” He nonchalantly dismissed any difficulties in dominating the Xfinity grid, and when asked if he could learn anything, he didn’t shy from taking a dig at the Xfinity drivers.
Larson was dismissive of the grid.“I don’t know what’s there to learn. It’s fun, it’s a race,” he continued. This win was more like teaching the Xfinity guys a lesson. Larson added, “It’s fun to kinda get out there with Xfinity guys and show them you know the pace that Cup guys run. Cause they have no clue. Cause NASCAR doesn’t let Cup guys run very often. It’s good when a Cup guy gets in there cause it shows how much work they need to do to be ready for the Cup Series. We had a dominant run at Homestead and another one here. I think that’s it for me this year. We’ll try next.”
Well, after Kyle Busch regularly dominated the Xfinity and Truck Series in the 2010s with his part-time appearances, as he leads both series in all-time wins, NASCAR decided to curb this dominance in 2020. They put a hard cap of five races for each Cup Series driver to run in the lower series, which Larson feels is the reason why Xfinity drivers struggle to understand the sheer difference between an Xfinity driver and a Cup driver. And to be honest, we see a little bit of retribution in his voice, too.
After leading 132 laps at the Homestead Xfinity race during his first triple attempt earlier this season and having as much as a 17-second lead on the field, Larson did not manage to pick up the win after getting shoved by Sam Mayer on a late restart. Larson was disappointed then, and he didn’t let his dominance go to waste today and secured the win after lapping three out of the four ‘Dash 4 Cash’ drivers in the first stage! However, while the sweep still eludes him, the sentiment of the victory today takes precedence over everything.
.@ItsBristolBaby domination is nothing new for @KyleLarsonRacin
He gets another sword today in Thunder Valley for @TeamHendrick.
“It’s fun to kind of get out there with the Xfinity guys and how them the pace that Cup guys run.” pic.twitter.com/NARB45OZRd
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) April 13, 2025
Not getting the sweep was certainly disappointing for Larson, but he’s still getting to honor his longtime friend. Larson’s #17 Xfinity car had Jon Edwards’s photo on it. It was as if Edwards rode with him to victory lane. And that was special enough for Larson to probably forget the disappointment. And now Larson also wants to win the Cup race for him! “It’s awesome. I wish I could have won last night. But just came a little bit short. So cool to get a win this weekend for Jon and everybody who’s been a part of his life and all that. We got one more tomorrow. It’d be nothing better than to cap it off with a Cup win for Jon and all of Hendrick Motorsports. Just look forward to having a great car there tomorrow. Just got to execute like we did today,” Larson added.
After getting the news of Edwards’ passing, Larson took it to X and wrote, “I will always be grateful for the memories we made and the laughs we shared along the way. He made a lasting impact on my life, and I will miss him deeply.” And what would be a better tribute than winning Bristol back to back? Last year, Edwards was there on track, cheering Larson on as he devastated the field. And in spirit, Edwards is even there this year. But the race won’t be that easy to win for Larson.
Can Larson win the Bristol Cup race, too?
Yes. Kyle Larson is coming to the track as the defending winner. But that was the fall race, and we are heading into the spring race. And if you recall, the two races were vastly different from each other last season. In the fall, it was a pure Kyle Larson show; no one even came close to his pace. But in spring, it became a tire management race. The tire fall off was so high, NASCAR had to issue teams an extra set of tires for them to be able to finish the race. Joe Gibbs Racing mastered the tire strategy among the lot. Denny Hamlin won the race with Martin Truex Jr. in P2. Well, HMS wasn’t that far behind, with Alex Bowman in P4 and Larson finished in P5.
However, the point is, despite it being Bristol, Larson did not dominate the race like we are used to seeing. He only led 19-odd laps back then. And even this year, drivers are expecting the same fall off. But according to pole winner Alex Bowman, the grid this time knows what to expect, making it easier. “Yeah, so, I think we all are much more prepared than we were last spring. Like we all saw it in practice last spring, and we are like it won’t be that way. We see that in practice at a lot of places. Martinsville, Dover, a lot of places you cord tires really quickly, and then it goes away in the race. Honestly, we found out quickly in the race that it wasn’t gonna be that way.”
And knowing what to expect, coupled with Larson’s prowess on Bristol, could work out well for the #5 team. He’s won the race once in the Next-Gen and twice overall. Larson has also managed to get a P3 start in the qualifying, so he’s got a good shot to win. However, #5 could still face some challenges. Denny Hamlin is coming as the defending winner of the spring race. And he’s starting on P4. Kyle Busch could pull off something unexpected, as he is the winningest active driver at Bristol. Busch is starting 15th, but if tire wear is the same as last season, track position won’t matter much.
What do you think, folks? Who’s winning the ‘Food City 500’ this year? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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