With Bristol dominance, Kyle Larson achieves feat not seen in over half a century

Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol was another dominant showing from Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson.

The 32-year-old led 411 of the 500 laps and was in a league of his own at The World's Fastest Half-Mile. His performance on Sunday was a repeat of what he did in last season's playoff race in September when he led a whopping 462 laps.

Per NASCAR Insights, Larson is the first driver to lead 400 or more laps in back-to-back races at Bristol since Hall of Famer Bobby Allison accomplished the feat in 1972.

Larson qualified third for the race on Saturday and fell back to fourth in the early going in Sunday's race. By Lap 27, he got around Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin for third and began his charge to the front. 

Due to the tire wear in practice and most in the garage expecting the race to play out like the 2024 spring race when tire wear became a major factor, the field ran around the track mostly single file and posted lap times close to a second slower than normal.

When it was apparent that tire wear was not going to be an issue, Larson drove from fourth and passed HMS teammate and pole sitter Alex Bowman for the lead 40 laps into the race. From there, there was no real threat to the 2021 champion, aside from a green-flag pit cycle during the final stage where a caution at the wrong time could have taken the win away.

The race remained green, and Larson drove away to a 2.25-second win over Hamlin, spoiling any chance Hamlin had at winning three races in a row.

With only three cautions during the race and only one for incident when Rick Ware Racing's Cody Ware and Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen got together toward the back of the field, it was one of the calmest and drama-free races you will see at Bristol.

Despite the difficulty drivers had passing and the lack of rubber the tires were putting down throughout the 500-lap race, Larson still reminded everyone of his talent, especially in Thunder Valley.

Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch, who leads all active full-time drivers with eight wins at the track, has only topped 400 laps led once and has led five laps combined in the last six races there. Some of that has to do with the organization, given RCR has struggled on short tracks since the inception of the Next Gen Car in 2022. Still, it says a lot that a driver who ruled Bristol for so long only led 400 laps once during that time.

For Larson, the HMS organization has speed each week, which makes a driver with his ability behind the wheel even more dangerous. He has kept himself out of trouble and taken advantage of the track position once he has it, controlling the last two Bristol races with hardly a challenge.

Yes, the current short track package is not where it needs to be and the car itself is not able to consistently maneuver through traffic even if there is a speed difference. 

That is all concerning and should be addressed, but Larson's mastery of Bristol should not go unnoticed either, given the way he has won each of the last two races at the half-mile bullring.