Kyle Larson Smokes the Field at Bristol Again: 2025 Food City 500 recap

Rising from his third-place starting position, Kyle Larson replicated his performance from last fall by passing teammate Alex Bowman before lap 50 and leading much of the event from there in a dominant Food City 500 victory at Bristol, his second win of the 2025 season.

Just like in the fall, Bowman started the race on pole with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. joining him on the front row. Bowman led the first 39 laps before Larson whipped around him on the outside.

Because of how stages are structured at Bristol, green-flag pit stops are non-existent in the first two stages. Couple the lack of pit stops with a tire that doesn’t wear, and what viewers got was a race where one man led 350 consecutive circuits around the world’s fastest half-mile.

Bristol Motor Speedway became a world-renowned racing facility in the modern day for its multi-groove racing and its high tire wear after last year’s event.

A particularly hairy practice session on Saturday seemed to set the stage for a sequel to last year’s spring race where tires fell off almost as soon as they got screwed onto the car, but a 15°F temperature difference and increased sunlight put a damper on the tire talk after the first 50 laps.

Larson swept both stages, which brought out mandatory cautions to bring the field down pit road for service. The only caution for cause came during the middle of stage 2 when lapped cars Cody Ware and Shane van Gisbergen ran out of real estate on the entry to turn 1, putting the latter out of the race.

The caution nearly split the second stage in half, bringing several drivers in the lower-half of the top-10 and further back into the pits for fresh tires.

Unfortunately for fans looking for competition, the fresh rubber failed to make an impact on the competition with the fresh tires only bringing Ryan Blaney — the first car on fresh tires — back up to eighth, the same spot he pitted from at the time of caution.

The final 235-lap run to the finish went completely caution free with a few scrapes of the wall by Erik Jones being the only brief hiccups in what was a drama-free day for the No. 5 team.

Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney led during green-flag pit stops with Blaney making laps similar to Larson’s while Blaney was on tires that had lasted over 150+ laps. Larson pitted about 40 laps prior to Blaney, further displaying how meaningless the tires were.

Larson surged ahead to his second win of the season and his second in a row at the Last Great Colosseum. Denny Hamlin served as Larson’s shadow for much of the day, getting within a second of Larson on a number of occasions without being able to bring the gap down any further than that.

Hocevar spent much of his race in the top-5, scooping up 13 stage points, but the sophomore lost significant track position after a mistake on his final pit stop left him a lap down where he finished 11th, tying his career-best at the track.

Blaney’s late gamble to stay out and bank on a caution didn’t work out, but he was able to return to fifth by the time the checkered flag flew with Hamlin, Ty Gibbs, and Chase Briscoe taking second through fourth.

William Byron and Ross Chastain charged from poor starting spots to get hard-earned top-10s in sixth and seventh while Christopher Bell, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Other notable finishers included a trio of champions — Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and Brad Keselowski — finishing nose-to-tail in 14th, 15th, and 16th, respectively.

Defending champion Joey Logano capped off a miserable Bristol weekend three laps off the pace in 24th while Cup debutant Jesse Love ended the day 31st, five laps off the pace.

For full race results, click here.

Larson’s triumph brought a glimmer of happiness for Hendrick Motorsports as the NASCAR powerhouse team suffered a sudden and painful loss during the week.

Longtime public relations man Jon Edwards passed away during the week, a man that had worked closely with Jeff Gordon and Larson in his storied tenure with the team that spanned four decades.

The NASCAR Cup Series takes a week off for Easter, but they’ll return for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega on April 27 on FOX at 3pm Eastern Time.

For other NASCAR action, the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks and Xfinity Series head to the historic high banks of Rockingham Speedway this week with the Trucks taking the track at 5pm Eastern Time on Friday, April 18 on Fox Sports 1 while Xfinity action begins on the CW starting at 4pm Eastern Time on Saturday, April 19.

(Top Photo Credit: Wade Payne/AP Photo)