NASCAR: Larson wins pole for Bristol Dirt Race

It didn’t take long for Kyle Larson to assert his superiority on the dirt track at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Starting sixth in the third of four 15-lap qualifying Bush’s Beans Qualifying heat races, Larson had stormed into the lead before the end of the first lap and held off charging Ryan Preece for a wire-to-wire victory.

Kyle Larson sideways on the dirt

The combination of finishing position and passing points gave Larson 15 total points, good for the pole position for Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race at Thunder Valley (7 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Larson will start beside Austin Dillon, who drove from fifth to first in the opening heat race, scoring 14 points. Dirt specialist J.J. Yeley earned the third spot on the grid, driving from ninth to third behind Larson and Preece to earn 14 points in the third heat.

From the start of the third heat race, the top lane opened up for Larson, who passed fourth-place starter Matt Crafton and took full advantage when second-place Corey LaJoie dropped to the bottom lane.

That left only Erik Jones to overtake, and Larson did so expeditiously.

“The outside lane launched really well, and my car turned well enough to stay rotated and get by him,” Larson explained.

Christopher Bell, who ran third from eighth in the first heat, will start on the outside of the second row. Defending race winner Kyle Busch will take the green flag from the fifth position, with Tyler Reddick to his outside.

Austin Cindric, Preece, Heat 2 winner Ryan Blaney and William Byron earned positions seven through 10, respectively. Heat 4 winner Bubba Wallace is 11th on the grid, having won the qualifier from the pole.

Dirt late model superstar Jonathan Davenport will make his Cup Series debut from the 21st position after starting second and finishing fourth in the final heat.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Winner Quotes

CAN YOU JUST EXPLAIN HOW YOU GOT FROM SIXTH TO FIRST SO QUICKLY?

“Well (Matt) Crafton has never been in a Cup car, so I think he’s probably a little bit just slow on shifting and taking it all easy. So I had a good launch on him and got to the outside of him. And then Corey (LaJoie) went to the bottom of (turn) three; I had a run down the backstretch and was able to get to his outside. So it just kind of worked out that the outside lane launched really well and my car turned well enough to stay rotated to get by them.”

ON THE RESTARTS WHEN YOU HAD TO CHOOSE, COULD YOU SEE THE CHOOSE BOX?

“I never did. We didn’t have a restart in my heat.”

DID YOU SEE THEM TESTING IT?

“I could see it from our trailer, but it’s at a different angle than what will be on the track. But it didn’t seem like there were any issues, I guess. Yeah, it’s just funny that we need a drone to choose. I think it’s a little over-complicated, for sure (laughs).”

Heat 1 Results

Fin Str No. Driver Team Laps Status Led
1 5 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 15 Running 13
2 6 45 Tyler Reddick SiriusXM Radio Toyota 15 Running 0
3 8 20 Christopher Bell DeWalt Power Stack Toyota 15 Running 0
4 2 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 15 Running 1
5 1 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Irish Spring Chevrolet 15 Running 1
6 4 31 Justin Haley Tide Chevrolet 15 Running 0
7 10 1 Ross Chastain AdventHealth Chevrolet 15 Running 0
8 7 9 Josh Berry(i) Hooters Chevrolet 15 Running 0
9 9 6 Brad Keselowski King’s Hawaiian Ford 15 Running 0
10 3 78 BJ McLeod Gunk Chevrolet 15 Running 0

Heat 2 Results

Fin Str No. Driver Team Laps Status Led
1 1 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Maytag Ford 15 Running 15
2 2 14 Chase Briscoe Magical Vacation Planner Ford 15 Running 0
3 5 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 15 Running 0
4 4 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 15 Running 0
5 6 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 15 Running 0
6 9 38 Todd Gilliland Speedy Cash Ford 15 Running 0
7 3 16 AJ Allmendinger Gain Chevrolet 15 Running 0
8 8 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 15 Running 0
9 7 42 Noah Gragson # Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet 15 Running 0

Heat 3 Results

Fin Str No. Driver Team Laps Status Led
1 6 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 15 Running 15
2 5 41 Ryan Preece United Rentals Ford 15 Running 0
3 9 15 JJ Yeley(i) Public Sq. Ford 15 Running 0
4 1 43 Erik Jones Club Wyndham Chevrolet 15 Running 0
5 8 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 15 Running 0
6 4 51 Matt Crafton(i) Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford 15 Running 0
7 7 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 15 Running 0
8 3 77 Ty Dillon Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet 15 Running 0
9 2 7 Corey LaJoie NationsGuard Chevrolet 15 Running 0

Heat 4 Results

Fin Str No. Driver Team Laps Status Led
1 1 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald’s/Dr Pepper Toyota 15 Running 15
2 6 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 15 Running 0
3 7 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 15 Running 0
4 2 13 * Jonathan Davenport Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet 15 Running 0
5 8 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 15 Running 0
6 4 54 Ty Gibbs # Interstate Batteries Toyota 15 Running 0
7 5 19 Martin Truex Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 15 Running 0
8 9 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light Ford 15 Running 0
9 3 99 Daniel Suarez Jockey Chevrolet 15 Running 0

 

Starting Lineup

Pos. Driver Qualifying points
1. Kyle Larson 15
2. Austin Dillon 14
3. J.J. Yeley 14
4. Christopher Bell 13
5. Kyle Busch 13
6. Tyler Reddick 13
7. Austin Cindric 12
8. Ryan Preece 12
9. Ryan Blaney 10
10. William Byron 10
11. Bubba Wallace 10
12. Joey Logano 9
13. Michael McDowell 9
14. Chase Briscoe 9
15. Todd Gilliland 8
16. Ross Chastain 7
17. Alex Bowman 7
18. Erik Jones 7
19. Aric Almirola 7
20 Harrison Burton 7
21. Jonathan Davenport 7
22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 6
23. Ty Gibbs 5
24. Matt Crafton 5
25. Justin Haley 5
26. Kevin Harvick 4
27. Martin Truex Jr. 4
28. Chris Buescher 4
29. AJ Allmendinger 4
30. Denny Hamlin 3
31. Josh Berry 3
32. Ty Dillon 3
33. Brad Keselowski 2
34. Daniel Suárez 2
35. Corey LaJoie 2
36. Noah Gragson 2
37. B.J. McLeod 1