Bass Pro Shops Night Race: Kyle Larson dominates Bristol in statement win

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sending a message to the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson dominated the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway to win for the fifth time in the 2024 season.

There was no match for Larson at all, as he led a career-high 462 of 500 laps (92.4% of the race) en route to sweeping both stages and scoring his 28th career Cup Series victory.

Larson also led more laps than any Hendrick Motorsports driver has ever led in a NASCAR race while advancing to the Round of 12.

“Man, that was just great execution all weekend by the team,” Larson said. “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 in this HendrickCars.com Chevy. We’ve got Rick Hendrick here today, too. He hasn’t been to many races this year. And Darryl Jackson, he’s our hype man, he’s here, as well. Just a phenomenal car, could kind of manage my stuff and then really pass some cars there at the end.”

Larson’s teammate Chase Elliott finished second after running inside the top 10 for most of the race.

“I felt like our car was really, really good, and I was proud of the effort and proud of the execution all night,” Elliott said. “Kyle (Larson) did a better job than I did to get through traffic and that was the difference. He got a few cars gap on me, and there was one point in time where we were able to make (up) some time. I pushed really hard when he was hung up with the 19. Once he got by the 19, it was going to be tough.

“There were always three or four cars in between us and by the time I got there, we were later in the run and it just gets tough. He did a great job, and credit to his team and to Kyle, as well. Proud of our effort; felt like we were right there in the mix and had a great shot at it. We keep doing that, and we’ll be OK.”

The highest-finishing non-playoff driver was 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace in third place. Wallace was also the only non-playoff driver to score points in both stages.

“The Mobil 1 Toyota Camry was okay — just trying to find the right balance,” Wallace said. “These guys are giving me all of the information, and I’m getting pissed off listening to it – but it is all vital. So, I appreciate them — I appreciate the effort to come up here. I told Bootie (Barker, crew chief) that we are a seventh-to-12th place car, coming in here — and we ended up third. It is still not good enough. We have to go to work to figure out how we can be two spots better, but all-in-all – best in class in multiple categories. Just appreciate the effort. It stings, running this well when you are not in the playoffs, but it just makes you hungrier for next year.”

This was Wallace’s sixth top five and 11th top 10 of 2024, which are both career highs.

Due to this being an elimination race, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton were eliminated from the Cup Series Playoffs.

Results from the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race are listed below:

Other Race Facts

If NASCAR’s “win-and-in” rule didn’t exist, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Daniel Suárez and Austin Cindric would have all failed to make the playoffs, due to them all being outside the top 16 in the standings. However, all four of those drivers advanced to the Round of 12.

There were just eight lead changes during the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, which was 46 fewer lead changes than the Bristol spring race. According to statistician Trey Ryan, this is tied for the biggest race-to-race decline in lead changes at a track ever recorded in Cup Series history.

According to reporter Seth Eggert, this race was the fastest 500-lap race ever at Bristol. The race took 2 hours, 37 minutes and 53 seconds.

Martin Truex Jr., in his final full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, will not compete for a second championship. Truex Jr. was up front for both Stage 1 and Stage 2, then got a pit-road speeding penalty that trapped him in the back of the field. He never recovered and finished 24th, one lap down.

“We had a good Bass Pro Shops Camry,” Truex Jr. said. “We did good in the first two stages — we got a lot of points. I guess we would have had to run second or third to make it through — who knows if we would have been able to. I wish we could have seen if we could have done that. I’m just gutted for my team. We worked so hard this week.

“We all put in a lot — all season long, and in the last three weeks, just snake bit. Can’t do anything right. .09 mph hurts really bad to take the chance away to know if we even could have done it. I don’t know if we could have run second – maybe. We were close to it – all day – but in the end, it doesn’t matter. I feel terrible for my guys.”

Every car outside the top 10 finished at least one lap down after Larson’s dominating performance.

This was the last race for Corey LaJoie at Spire Motorsports and Justin Haley at Rick Ware Racing as a driver swap will take place, beginning at Kansas next weekend. LaJoie will be in the No. 51 Ford for the rest of the season, while Haley will be in the No. 7 Chevrolet and continue into the 2025 season.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, Sept. 29. Coverage will begin on USA Network at 3 p.m. ET. for the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET.