Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson made history at the Bass Pro Shops Night held at the world's shortest track in Tennessee on September 21. He led 92.4% of laps and turned fans' heads with his dominating performance at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing first.
Larson clinched three records, setting new benchmarks for the NextGen drivers. He became the driver who led the most laps (462) in a single NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol since Cale Yarborough's 495 laps in 1977. He also became the first Hendrick Motorsports driver to lead more than 450 laps in a single race.
Kyle Larson qualified in second place, just 0.041 seconds behind the leader, Alex Bowman. On the 33rd lap, the 32-year-old gained the lead over Bowman and ruled the race-winning stages one and two, earning valuable payoff points. Larson is now at the top of the playoff standings, with a buffer of 39 points over the qualifying line.
The #5 Chevy driver also set a new record for the largest margin of victory (MOV) in the NextGen era of NASCAR. Larson completed his victory lap 7.008 seconds before his teammate Chase Elliott. Previously, Christopher Bell held the MOV under his name with a margin of 5.465 seconds.
Jeff Gordan asked Kyle Larson, "Are you going to break all of my records?"
After Kyle Larson broke many records at the Bristol Motor Speedway on September 21 the team had a press conference, and Jeff Andrews shared what happened at the victory lane. Andrew highlighted that Jeff Gordan, a NASCAR legend and Vice Chairman of HMS, came to victory lane and jokingly asked Larson if he was "going to break" all of his records.
Gordan set the record for leading most laps in a single NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville by leading 431 laps in 1977. Larson and his teammate Alex Bowman broke one more record by leading 496 laps in a single race. Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. set the previous record in 2012 at Martinsville by leading 443 laps.
"I've had a lot of good cars since I've come to Hendrick Motorsports, so it's tough to say (if that's the best one). But man, that was just great execution all weekend by the team. Practiced good. You've got to qualify good; we did that. Yeah, just had a great car. Thanks to the whole 5 team. They're the best in the business. We dominate a lot of races, but we might not close them all out, so it feels really good to close one out here," stated Kyle Larson on his Bristol victory [00:07].
The Bass Pro Shops Night on Saturday 21 is Larson's fifth win in the 2024 season. This is his 12th win since the introduction of the NextGen cars in 2022 and now he is the driver with the most wins in the NextGen era of NASCAR.