Kyle Larson dominates and claims an emotional Cup victory at Bristol Motor Speedway

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson led 411 of 500 laps and scored an emotional win on Sunday with a dominating NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Larson, racing just days after the death of Jon Edwards, his former public relations representative, picked up his second Cup win of the season. It was his 31st Cup victory and third at Bristol.

Denny Hamlin finished second in his 400th consecutive Cup start, falling one spot short in his bid for a third consecutive win. Ty Gibbs was third, followed by Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney.

Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet was one of several cars sporting a decal in the memory of Edwards, the Hendrick Motorsports director of communications whose death was confirmed in a Thursday statement from the team. The cause of death was not announced.

The 53-year-old Edwards was a PR specialist during Jeff Gordon’s four Cup championships. After becoming Gordon’s right-hand man, Edwards also worked closely with Larson since the star joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 and won his first championship.

On Saturday at Bristol, Larson dedicated an Xfinity Series victory to Edwards, who took vacations with the driver and became his closest friend on the No. 5 team.

Larson also finished second in Friday’s Truck Series race, nearly completing a tripleheader sweep to honor Edwards, whom he said was always a happy person.

“He wouldn’t want us to be sad,” Larson said of Edwards. “I’m happy to see the smiling faces and everybody talking positively of Jon this week.”

Helping others

Defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano was named a National Motorsports Press Association Pocono Spirit Award winner for his efforts in helping Hurricane Helene victims with rebuilding after the storm last fall. Logano was presented the award at Bristol because of the track’s proximity to the devastation in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

“One of my quotes that I like to think about a lot is, ‘Don’t let a crisis go to waste,’” said Logano, whose foundation committed $250,000 to Helene relief after he toured the storm’s path last October. “A crisis like that presented a huge opportunity for all of us to band together and impact some people that just got their lives wiped out. It’s some pretty heavy stuff up there. The great news is there’s a lot of comeback.”

The Bristol weekend continued a busy week for Logano, who recovered from a bout with norovirus in time for a Wednesday visit to the White House. After scraping the wall in qualifying Saturday, he started Sunday’s race from the rear because of unapproved adjustments to his No. 22 Ford.

Up next

After a break for Easter weekend, the Cup Series will race Sunday, April 27 at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Tyler Reddick won last year.

Talladega will follow the final off week of the season for NASCAR’s premier series, which will race on 28 consecutive weekends through the Nov. 2 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.