Kyle Larson dominates and claims an
emotional Cup victory at Bristol Motor Speedway
[April 14, 2025]
By NATE RYAN
With added motivation to honor a late friend, Kyle Larson seemed to
have an extra gear Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Hendrick Motorsports star led 411 of 500 laps in a victory that
was dominant as it was emotional.
Larson, racing just days after the death of Jon Edwards, his former
public relations representative, picked up his second Cup win of the
season. It was his 31st Cup victory and third at Bristol.
“This one is definitely for Jon,” Larson said. “He is just a great
guy, so we’re going to miss him. Wish he was going to be here with
us to celebrate, but I know he’s celebrating with us in spirit. Just
a flawless race at Bristol for the team. Really, really good car.
That was a lot of fun.”
Denny Hamlin finished second in his 400th consecutive Cup start,
falling one spot short in his bid for a third consecutive win. The
Joe Gibbs Racing driver was gracious in defeat, noting Larson’s
victory came after a somber week that also included the deaths of
longtime motorsports journalist Al Pearce and championship truck
owner Shigeaki Hattori.
“You’ve got to give that team their due and Kyle his due,” Hamlin
said. “Just a dominant performance. Looked like a pretty flawless
day for him. It was all I had to try to keep up. Glad we were able
to give him a little bit of a run, but this weekend we’re all
thinking about Jon Edwards and his family, Al Pearce, Shigeaki
Hattori. We’ve lost a lot of great people in our sport over this
past week. So our thoughts are with them.”
Ty Gibbs was third, followed by Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney, who
led 48 laps but faded to fifth after pitting late and betting on
catching a caution. The final 235 laps were run under the green flag
in a race with only three yellow flags, the fewest at Bristol since
August 1982.
Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet was one of several cars sporting a decal in
the memory of Edwards, the Hendrick Motorsports director of
communications whose death was confirmed in a Thursday statement
from the team. The cause of death was not announced.
The 53-year-old Edwards was a PR specialist during Jeff Gordon’s
four Cup championships. After becoming Gordon’s right-hand man,
Edwards also worked closely with Larson since the star joined
Hendrick Motorsports in 2021 and won his first championship.
On Saturday at Bristol, Larson dedicated an Xfinity Series victory
to Edwards, who took vacations with the driver and became his
closest friend on the No. 5 team.
Gordon, who retired from driving in 2015 and since has become the
vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, was emotional when talking
about Edwards before and after the race.
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Kyle Larson celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race,
Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Bristol, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
“It’s been a rough week,” Gordon said. “I lost somebody who was like
a brother to me and so many other people that he impacted. I just
want to say thank you to everybody that has been sending messages,
making phone calls. Kyle was obviously very close to him, and Jon
did a lot for him. You could tell he was driving with a passion out
there.”
Larson also finished second in Friday’s truck series race, nearly
completing a tripleheader sweep to honor Edwards, whom he said was
always a happy person.
“He wouldn’t want us to be sad,” Larson said of Edwards. “I’m happy
to see the smiling faces and everybody talking positively of Jon
this week."
Helping others
Defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano was named a National
Motorsports Press Association Pocono Spirit Award winner for his
efforts in helping Hurricane Helene victims with rebuilding after
the storm last fall. Logano was presented the award at Bristol
because of the track’s proximity to the devastation in western North
Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
“One of my quotes that I like to think about a lot is, ‘Don’t let a
crisis go to waste,’” said Logano, whose foundation committed
$250,000 to Helene relief after he toured the storm’s path last
October. “A crisis like that presented a huge opportunity for all of
us to band together and impact some people that just got their lives
wiped out. It’s some pretty heavy stuff up there. The great news is
there’s a lot of comeback.”
The Bristol weekend continued a busy week for Logano, who recovered
from a bout with norovirus in time for a Wednesday visit to the
White House. After scraping the wall in qualifying Saturday, he
started Sunday’s race from the rear because of unapproved
adjustments to his No. 22 Ford.
Up next
After a break for Easter weekend, the Cup Series will race Sunday,
April 27 at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and
Tyler Reddick won last year.
Talladega will follow the final off week of the season for NASCAR’s
premier series, which will race on 28 consecutive weekends through
the Nov. 2 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
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