Kyle Larson Rains Down On Denny Hamlin’s Parade

April 14, 2025

Apr 14, 2025 | Edition #163

👋 Dear Motorheads,

Kyle Larson has just rained on the famed ‘tire falloff’ parade of last year’s spring Bristol race. Second win of the weekend, second win of his Cup Series campaign, the man's on fire! But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Food City 500 weekend offered plenty of drama.

Let's just say, history has repeated itself. Last year's spring Bristol race had everybody talking about tires that didn't fall off. Same story this year too! And it's not just tires! There was one NASCAR official who was missing from all the action at Bristol, and with good reason.

So let's dive into it and see what went down at one of the most memorable weekends in recent NASCAR history.

 🏁 Sunday’s Race Report

Larson Creates History at Bristol

🏆 Kyle Larson led 411 laps in the Food City 500, becoming the sixth driver in history to lead the most laps at Bristol Motor Speedway across two consecutive starts.

🤏 Denny Hamlin, seconds behind, broke his two-race win streak by finishing second. With four consecutive top-five finishes, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran sits second in the overall standings.

🫤 Ty Gibbs secured his first top-five finish in the last 14 races.

📊 Other Notable stats from the weekend

  • Kyle Larson secured his 66th stage win at Bristol, tying with Martin Truex Jr. for the most in Cup history.

  • The 2025 Food City 500 was the first time a Cup Series has had consecutive races with a driver leading 75% or more of the laps since 2008.

  • William Byron leads the Cup Series standings, despite finishing sixth in Bristol and getting just 31 points.

Let’s talk about the race. The HMS driver was unstoppable on Sunday, finishing a full 2.250 seconds ahead of Denny Hamlin. But haven’t we seen this play out before? Larson’s 462 laps leading at the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night was an evening no NASCAR fan could forget. At the time, fans thought the fear of losing out on playoff spots kept drivers in check. But boy did Larson prove them wrong last night.

This supremacy in both races meant that Larson became the first driver to lead 400+ laps in back-to-back Bristol races since the legendary Bobby Allison in 1972. Going into Lap 41, Larson pulled the trigger, pushing the car to the outside against his teammate Alex Bowman. You can see Denny Hamlin couldn’t do anything.

Of course, Denny Hamlin wasn’t going to hand it over easily. Chasing a third consecutive win, the veteran stayed glued to Larson’s rearview, narrowing the gap to under a second during the final green flag run. The pressure was relentless. But ‘Yung Money’ was locked in.

Navigating lapped traffic with razor-sharp precision, Larson showed no cracks. His tires and pit crew delivered when it mattered most, and his final stop proved pivotal. However, at one point, a late-race caution threatened to upend it all. But fate had other plans.

As the restart came close, Kyle Larson didn’t leave any room for error. For Denny Hamlin and Justin Haley, it was as if the move against Bowman was being repeated. Larson shot down the track, carving out a half-second lead that extended to over 2 seconds. But Larson wasn’t just racing to win.

Racing in memory of Jon Edwards, he dominated. Not just a celebration—a salute, a release, and he did the craziest burnout ever. Watch for yourself.

Speaking on the team radio as he crossed the chequered, Larson said, “We did this one for Jon.” With this triumph, Larson moves up to fourth place in the drivers' standings, just behind William Byron, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell.

The result at Bristol Motor Speedway proved that the No. 5 team remains a force to be reckoned with, and may go on to create history by lifting the Bill France Cup once again.

📈 Trending News

NASCAR’s Executive VP Ditches Bristol for Big Plans

While Kyle Larson was busy dominating the Food City 500, NASCAR’s Executive Vice President Ben Kennedy was at the Acura Grand Prix at Long Beach.

You read that right. Instead of being at Bristol Motor Speedway for the triple-header, Kennedy chose to spend his time watching an IndyCar race. Not something you would typically expect from one of NASCAR’s top executives, right? We couldn’t believe it either. Here, have a look!

Ben Kennedy was promoted last year as part of NASCAR’s restructuring process. As Executive VP and Chief Venue & Racing Innovations Officer, his job is to keep NASCAR fresh and exciting, making sure the sport remains ahead of the curve.

So his trip to Long Beach wasn’t a part of a vacation. He was looking at what IndyCar is doing as part of a reconnaissance mission. The Long Beach Grand Prix has always been considered a fan-friendly event. 190,000 people regularly come to the three-day affair. NASCAR was even sniffing around about a potential purchase before Roger Penske swooped in and locked a deal.

Hoping to get inspired, Kennedy was looking around for ideas that could be borrowed for NASCAR events. After all, what’s a better way to stay ahead of your competitors than by adopting their ideas and executing them even better?

And sure, while some fans will be raising eyebrows at the NASCAR Executive VP being at an IndyCar event during the Bristol race, the reality is that Kennedy is focused on the bigger picture.

He’s played a major role in ‘The Clash’ moving to the Bowman Gray Stadium this year, a decision that has paid off. Only time will tell, but hey, innovation is key, right?

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🌪️ Cause for Controversy

Shane van Gisbergen’s Struggles Continue

While NASCAR’s looking to expand, there’s a giant elephant in the room, and it’s Shane van Gisbergen.

It’s been two years since his miraculous win in Chicago. The Lucky Dog can still remember his drive down the streets of Chicago, the Kiwi driver rounding out the final corner amidst NASCAR’s 75th-anniversary celebrations. Take a look at the iconic win.

Gisbergen became an overnight superstar and a real force to be reckoned with, particularly on road courses. However, come 2025 and things seem to be a bit different. Competing in his first full-time season in the Cup Series, the opening races have been nothing less than frustrating for the 35-year-old. Naturally, questions are being raised about SVG’s place in NASCAR. Three DNFs and most finishes below 30th place aren’t too promising

In nine appearances so far, SVG has an average finish of 27.889, one of the worst in the series. Results on the only road course race haven’t been too promising either. A sixth-place finish at COTA isn’t good enough to make the playoffs.

Last week’s race in Darlington showed some glimmer of hope. A 20th-place finish indicated that better days might be ahead as the season progresses. But whatever momentum SVG had was lost at Bristol.

The Food City 500 didn’t exactly show any positives, with the driver qualifying in 36th. Come race day, making a move against Cody Ware in Turn 2 of Lap 178, the car got loose and spun into the No. 51. See for yourself!

The spin with Ware, repairs in the garage, and eventual retirement paints a very bleak picture. Even fans have started to turn against the driver they once endorsed, with one Reddit user commenting, “SVG 2025 season is just awfully painful.”

The thought was echoed by others as well. The Chicago Street Race feels like a lifetime away, and fans can have short memories in the NASCAR world. Another motorsports enthusiast wrote, “How much longer is the SVG experiment?”

However, Shane van Gisbergen won’t be giving up anytime soon. While results haven’t met the expectations, he’ll use the break before Talladega to reset. He has been there before, finishing 15th at the superspeedway in his last appearance.

Now, all he needs to do is get his basics right and take it one step at a time. Talladega has always been a wildcard. Perhaps that’s what SVG needs.

 🎥 Sunday's Top Highlight

Nemechek Has A Runaway Tire On The Pit Road!

Nemechek ducked into his pit stall to get serviced, but a lug nut came off, and the tire went rolling down, narrowly missing the No. 99 team’s Milan Rudanovic (Fueler) and Seth Gajdorus (Rear Changer), hitting the rear of Daniel Suarez’s car instead. See how it all unfolded here!

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🗣️ Talk of the NASCAR Town

Food City 500 Faces Massive ‘Tire Falloff’ Backlash

Looking at the way things turned out during Saturday’s SciAps 300, we thought we were in for a treat for the Food City 500. Drivers, teams, and fans never know what to expect at ‘The World's Fastest Half-Mile’, and the Food City 500 was full of surprises, and not good ones. Come race day, the tires were suddenly indestructible.

Just like the Xfinity Series race, everyone thought that tire management would be key at the Food City 500. After all, Saturday’s practice session had tires wearing down to cords in under 50 laps. Looking at the tearing on some of the tires, you would have predicted a repeat of 2024. See how the rubber has fallen off?

But as Chase Briscoe’s crew chief put it, “If we had all bet our houses on it like we said we would, we would all be homeless based on our practice yesterday.” When teams went well beyond the 125 laps without tires falling off, fans knew something was up. Hoping for a caution, crew chief Jonathan Hassler even tried to trap the grid a lap down with a long pit strategy. It didn’t work out. Still, Ryan Blaney, the driver who stayed out for 170 laps, ended up in fifth position.

What was the secret? Well, if we look back at the 2024 Food City 500, things were drastically different. Compared to the 54 lead changes and nine cautions, Sunday’s race was a letdown. The tires that went for 50 laps before falling off suddenly made it over 100 laps. It’s not the first time this has happened either. When Goodyear brought the same tires as the spring race to the fall race in 2024, the results were drastically different.

Consecutive race winner Denny Hamlin pointed at temperature changes for causing the difference. One thing is clear. NASCAR has a serious Bristol problem on its hands, and fans aren’t happy about the way racing is shaping up to be at ‘The Last Great Colosseum’.

  1. Kyle Larson Breaks Silence After Paying For Darlington Blunder - Full Story

  2. Insider Has A Solution to NASCAR’s Short-Track Problem After Bristol Race - Full Story

  3. Kyle Larson Sparks Old Rivalry With Denny Hamlin At Bristol - Full Story

  4. Denny Hamlin Has Nothing But Love For NASCAR’s MLB Collaboration - Full Story

  5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Puts On A Show For Fans Amidst Return To Racing - Full Story 

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