Kyle Larson wins “Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race” at Bristol Motor Speedway

 

Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

     Kyle Larson has officially won the NASCAR Cup Series “Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race” at Bristol Motor Speedway, scoring his 6th victory of the 2021 season.

Tonight’s race at “The Last Great Coliseum” saw mainly four dominant drivers, the No. 9 of Chase Elliott, the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin, the No. 4 of Kevin Harvick, and the No, 5 of Kyle Larson. Each one of these drivers had their time in limelight and leading this race. To begin the 500 lap race, Martin Truex Jr. (the pole sitter) held the lead for several laps, but slower than the No. 9 car behind him Chase Elliott would squeeze by and take the lead from Truex. For the next 75 laps, Elliott would lead the field around the famed short track, but not for long as on lap 84 Kyle Larson would pass his teammate to see his name in P1.

As stage one was coming to a close, Larson albeit leading was not safe. With Denny Hamlin hot to trot, Kyle Larson simply could not hold off the driver of the No. 11, and Hamlin took the lead. With five laps to go in the stage, the two drivers battled for stage win, Hamlin was the strongest and came out ahead.

Stage two saw continued dominance by Denny Hamlin as the NASCAR veteran driver lead even more laps, but as pit stops came into the picture, Kyle Larson came out ahead of Denny Hamlin, allowing Larson to take sit in 2nd, and eventually take the lead from Brad Keselowski. Larson continued to lead the race until the stage end, where Hamlin attempted to make a pass on the No. 5 car, but was unsuccessful. Kyle Larson won stage two.

At this point in the race Kevin Harvick showed his hand, passing Christopher Bell for the lead. Harvick led the race for about 10 laps before Ryan Blaney took over the lead. Ryan Blaney’s time here at the front of the field was short lived as 40 laps later he ran wide into the corner and Kevin Harvick regained the lead. 

After another 30 laps Kyle Larson came back to pass the No. 4 car, but would soon hand off the lead to his teammate Chase Elliott. Elliott who has often been good at Bristol was searching during this race for his first Cup Series win at the track. The chances of this feat became more and more slim as Elliott saw the new green and yellow colors of the No. 4 car chasing his bumper.

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With 35 laps to go as Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick began to battle for the lead position. Elliott, who was in the lead got trapped behind a lap car, which was the No. 52 of Josh Bilicki. As Elliott slowed down, he also watched the No. 4 Mustang of Kevin Harvick pull up alongside him, and new he had to make a change and quick!

Chase Elliott saw an opportunity to go three wide in the corner and pass the slow Camaro of Josh Bilicki. As Elliott made that move, and quickly crept up the door panel of the No. 4 car, Kevin Harvick simultaneously washed up the race track making contact with the No. 9 of Chase Elliott. The contact that Elliott’s Camaro sustained from this incident caused the left front tire of the No. 9 car to blow, and Elliott would have to pit for some fresh tires.

The No. 9 team went from leading the field to three laps down in the course of two turns at “The Last Great Coliseum”. After returning to the track Chase Elliott was very unhappy with Kevin Harvick, and while driving by he slammed the his No. 9 car into the No. 4 of Harvick. 

With only a few laps remaining in the race, Kevin Harvick continued to lead, still looking for his first win of the season, unfortunately for Harvick… Kyle Larson loomed behind him. Surprisingly Larson’s No. 5 Camaro was slightly slower than Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Mustang, and Larson was having trouble catching the No. 4 car. At this time Kevin Harvick caught back up with Chase Elliott, and still upset Elliott slowed in front of Harvick allowing Kyle Larson to catch the No. 4 of Harvick. 

Now, Larson set up his pass and barely jumped to the lead position, as he almost botched the “slide-job”. The rear end of the No. 5 car sat on top of the nose of the No. 4 car, and Larson almost drove into the wall. Regaining control of his car Larson drove away with the lead, and passed the finish line first, winning the race.

After the previously mentioned occurrences with Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick neither driver was happy, and banged against each other on pit road, before having a heated conversation. The drivers yelled, pushed and shoved showing their displeasure on pit road, but for the most part there was no physical altercations. You can expect to see a rivalry persist between these two drivers as neither is happy with what happened to them tonight. 

Denny Hamlin won stage one of this race and Kyle Larson won stage two.

The following are the complete race results:

NASCAR.com

The winning move 🔥@KyleLarsonRacin | @TeamHendrick pic.twitter.com/Y1b05WobHq

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 19, 2021

CONTACT. Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott!

Elliott pits with a flat tire! #NASCARPlayoffs | NBCSN pic.twitter.com/yykUVTMdyY

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 19, 2021

The boys are talking. The boys are shoving.

IT'S BRISTOL BABY. pic.twitter.com/EIghd7Sc8s

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 19, 2021