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On Sunday, April 13, Kyle Larson won the Food City 500 Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway in an exhilarating finish. It was Larson’s second victory of the 2025 season and his second straight at the half-mile oval.
However, it was the first time Kyle Larson bested fellow racer and 56-time Cup race winner Denny Hamlin in a 1-2 finish. As per NASCAR, the duo finished 1-2 on seven occasions.
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But it wasn’t easy by any means. During a post-race interview at Bristol, Larson talked about how solid a run the Joe Gibbs Racing driver had put up against him following the final round of pit stops.
“I was pretty comfortable with things,” said the Elk Grove native. “And then Denny (Hamlin) came on really strong there before the pit cycle and kind of kept the pressure on from there.”
Kyle Larson finished 2.250 seconds ahead of Hamlin, after leading a race-high 411 of 500 laps and winning both stages. Notably, his Stage 2 sweep marked the 66th of his Cup career. Larson was so dominant all day that even Hamlin lauded him.
“You have to give that team their due… just a dominant performance,” Hamlin explained (via NASCAR). “It looked like a pretty flawless day for them. It looked pretty easy. It was all I had to try to keep up there.”
Kyle Larson is now a 31-time race winner in the NASCAR Cup Series. He dedicated his latest victory to Jon Edwards, a longtime and most-loved employee at Hendrick Motorsports who breathed his last on Thursday (April 10). Edwards was the director of communications at Hendrick’s, also representing Larson’s PR team.
“We hate to see him win”- Kyle Larson sends a cheeky response to Denny Hamlin falling short of a three-peat
Had Denny Hamlin won Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, it would have been his third straight victory following earlier sweeps at Martinsville and Darlington in consecutive weeks. But Kyle Larson was too strong for the Tampa, Florida native.
While speaking with Fox’s Jamie Little after the race, the 2021 Cup Series champion said (via Kyle Dalton/X),
“Glad to stop his three peat. We hate to see him win as I'm sure you guys do too. But it's just good to be back here in Victory Lane.”
The last time Larson was in victory lane at Bristol was on September 21, 2024, where he led 462 laps, holding off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott to the finish line. Hamlin finished fourth in that race.
In the championship standings, Hamlin is currently 12 points ahead of Kyle Larson, who sits fourth with 304 points to his name. Larson’s other teammate at HMS and this year’s Daytona 500 winner, William Byron, tops the list with 346 points under his belt.
Next up for the drivers is the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Scheduled for April 27, the 188-lap event will be televised on FOX from 3 pm ET onwards. MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide live radio coverage of the race.
