NASCAR Barometer: Kyle Larson Cleans Up at Bristol

Kyle Larson had a weekend to remember at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver finished second in Friday night's NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race before dominating and winning Saturday's Xfinity Series event. Saturday's domination was a preview of what was to come Sunday, too. In the main event, Larson started third and was the first to make a move for the lead as tire wear questions were answered by a cautious start to the race. Larson took the lead in the first stage for the first time on lap 40 and only relinquished it two times in the next 460 laps to the finish. Along the way, Larson won both stages, tying Martin Truex Jr. at 66 career stage wins each. The big prize was his second race win of the season, though. It was a day where track position was vital and not many drivers were able to make passes in Bristol's heavy traffic. Therefore, Larson's top starting spot and early move for the lead paid dividends. However, the overall lack of passing has become a trend for Bristol with the current car. Watch this space to see if NASCAR does anything to spice up the action for the fall race, but chances would be low considering the venue's spot in the playoffs.

This week, the Cup Series contenders get a one-week break before returning to action at Talladega. This is an opportunity for those who have struggled to assess their situation and make any changes necessary to improve their fortunes, or reflect on success and ensure they make the enhancements necessary to retain their spot at the top of the order. Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. visited Victory Lane at the Alabama superspeedway last season and both remain winless in 2025. Three of the five different winners so far this season have won multiple races, and the rest of the field they've shut out of wins will be working hard in the extra days to turn their fortunes around when the action starts up again. This is the last opportunity they'll have to do so as this week is the only off week until the season concludes at Phoenix in November.

UPGRADE

Kyle Larson - Larson picked up right where he left off last fall with another commanding Bristol performance Sunday afternoon. The Hendrick Motorsports driver led 277 of 300 laps in Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race to win before going on to lead another 411 of 500 laps, and sweeping stage wins, on Sunday to win his second Cup race of the season. It was a near perfect weekend for Larson and team, who had a miserable race just the week prior at Darlington. All sights for the No. 5 organization should now be firmly fixed on playoff preparations. With two race wins under their belts, they have the luxury of focusing on putting together their best possible package for the fall. That includes figuring out what has been their problem at superspeedways like Talladega. At Daytona in February, Larson finished 20th. His fourth-place at Talladega last fall tied his best-ever finish and was just his second top-five at the track.

Denny Hamlin - Bristol's short track was an opportunity for Hamlin as he extended his streak of top-five finishes to four in a row with a runner-up finish to Kyle Larson. While Hamlin failed to lead a lap on Sunday, he was one of the top contenders all afternoon. He started the day fourth and finished in the top five in both stages before trailing Larson home to second. With the result, Hamlin heads into the off week second in the standings behind William Byron. Unlike Larson, Hamlin and his No. 11 team don't have as much work to do for superspeedways, where Hamlin has been comparatively more successful. However, Talladega's spring races have recently been a stumbling block for him. Despite five straight top-10s in the fall races at the circuit, Hamlin hasn't finished in the top 10 there in the spring since 2020. His recent momentum this season could help him turn that spring-race trend around, though.

Ryan Blaney - Blaney did not have the car to contend head to head with Larson, but the No. 12 still turned in an impressive performance at Bristol. The Team Penske driver qualified fifth and landed stage points in both segments. In the final stage, Blaney cycled to the lead through pit stops and had the entire field a lap down before ducking into pit lane for fresh tires. When Blaney returned to the track, he was just inside the top 15. A timely caution could have made the difference had it come. As it was, Blaney was still able to claw his way forward again, through the final 60 laps, to finish fifth for his third top-five finish of the season. The finish was also his second straight top-five heading into the break. Blaney is still winless in 2025, but has a head full of momentum ahead of a track he should be one of the favorites. Blaney is a three-time Talladega winner, but he only finished 20th and 39th there last season.

Ty Gibbs - Fantasy players anticipated a good Bristol performance from Gibbs, and that is exactly what he delivered. Despite a rough start to the season, things started to turn around for the third-year driver at Martinsville when he landed a 13th-place finish, his first top-15 of the season. It got even better when he finished ninth at Darington. Bristol was a track Gibbs has had success at, so that trend was expected to continue. His sixth-place qualifying effort was his best of the season, and he backed that up with a third-place finish in Sunday's race. Points in both stages, along with the top finish, helped him recover a bit to 20th in the standings. It seems like the pieces are finally coming together for the No. 54 squad, and a one week break to reinforce what they've achieved should be valuable ahead of Talladega. Gibbs scored his best series finish there last fall (13th) and should aim for another top-15 in order to continue climbing the standings.

DOWNGRADE

Alex Bowman - Last weekend started brightly for Bowman with pole position for Sunday's race. He even went on to lead early as drivers treaded carefully on a green track. However, the No. 48 slipped backward as the gas was turned up. Despite losing the lead, Bowman remained in contention with stage points in both segments. While he didn't have the car teammate Larson had, Bowman was still in with a shout until smoke began to pour from the exhaust and his engine eventually gave up completely. Despite the decent start to the day, Bowman ended up retiring with about 150 laps remaining. His 37th-place finish was second straight finish outside of the top 30 and third in a row outside of the top 20. The good news is that the No. 48 team now have a week off to assess and correct what has gone wrong and return to form at Talladega where Bowman finished fifth in last year's race.

Shane van Gisbergen - The move to NASCAR Cup competition has been a tough one for SVG so far. After nine races, Van Gisbergen's best finish is his sixth-place finish at Circuit of the Americas, and Sunday's spin and crash at Bristol was another tough pill to swallow for the road course ace. Trackhouse Racing has had its share of problems, and having this week to regroup is needed. Van Gisbergen finished worse than 30th in five of the last six races and will need to take stock of what has been going wrong this week to turn things around. It may be best for fantasy players to avoid selecting him until another road course stop, too. SVG finished 33rd at Daytona and 23rd at Atlanta. He was 28th in his first Xfinity Talladega start, but he came back to finish 15th there in the fall. He and the team will be working hard to improve, but evidence may not begin to show consistently until the second half of the season.

Bubba Wallace - Wallace would have been one of the drivers looking for a top finish at Bristol to grab some momentum ahead of a trip to Talladega. Circumstances didn't unfold that way, though. Despite a good race at the track last spring with his best finish at the short track, Wallace was unable to match that on Sunday with a frustrating 19th-place finish and no stage points. He qualified outside of the top 20 and tried some slightly different pit strategy late in the race in an effort to make something out of a bad situation. The veteran driver pointed the finger at traffic and a general inability to move through the pack for his troubles, which is something all drivers faced. While more was expected from Sunday, the situation is not terrible for Wallace and his No. 23 team. With two top-fives and three top-10s from the start of the season, Wallace sits ninth in points and will gear up for Talladega next, where he won in 2020.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - After a terrific practice and qualifying effort, Stenhouse's Bristol charge lost momentum in race conditions. The Hyak Motorsports driver topped practice as teams strove to assess and understand tire wear and went on to qualify on the front row alongside Alex Bowman. As the opening cautious miles ticked by, Stenhouse held position inside the top 10 to score some stage points before slipping further back as aggression ramped up in the second segment. By the end of the race's 500 laps, Stenhouse had fallen all the way back to the 22nd finishing position. The tire wear that likely helped Stenhouse stand out in practice and qualifying never materialized in the race and thus wiped out the advantage he was hoping to use to score a top finish Sunday. All is not lost, though. Talladega is up after a week's break, and Stenhouse is one to watch at this track with two career victories to his credit.

Joey Logano - Contact with the wall during Saturday's qualifying dug a hole too deep for Logano to climb out of in Sunday's race. The Team Penske driver lost control and made contact with the outside wall Saturday, which forced him to a lowly 38th-place starting spot. That mistake proved detrimental on Sunday when virtually no one was able to pass. Logano, like many others, spent the entire afternoon mired in traffic and left the race still in search of his first top-five of the season. It was Logano's ninth-straight race at the track without a top-10 finish. Up next is Talladega, which has been good to Logano in the past. However, he has recently struggled there, too. While Logano has three career Talladega victories, he hasn't finished in the top 10 there since 2021. Luck has not been on the defending series champion's side so far this season and, despite sitting 10th in points, this squad is hoping to a restart following this week's brief break.

BIGGEST SURPRISE

William Byron - On an afternoon where it seemed no driver was able to pass, Byron was one of the few that actually did. The Daytona 500 champion started deep in the field but slowly worked his way forward, taking the entire race to move into the top positions. Byron said afterward that he slowly just picked cars off one at a time, eventually working his way into the top 10 as the 500 laps drew to a close. It was a slog of a day, but Byron was one of the few that was able to change things for the better, moving forward 20 positions, which eclipsed everyone in the field except seventh-place finisher Ross Chastain. That gritty effort keeps him atop the series standings heading into the off week, too. With just one victory, Byron enjoys a comfortable 30-point margin over Denny Hamlin with Talladega up next on the schedule. Byron, having won at Daytona, may feel confident heading into that race having finished seventh and third there last season, too.