Pit Stops : Bristol Motor Speedway

• Thursday, April 10th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Justin Allgaier brings enviable record to NASCAR Xfinity race at Bristol

Anyone who prizes numbers and statistics has to be impressed with Justin Allgaier’s collective NASCAR Xfinity Series performances at Bristol Motor Speedway, a record he’ll try to enhance in Saturday’s SciAps 300 (5 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With two victories at the high-banked 0.533-mile short track, Allgaier is the only driver in Saturday’s field who has won more than once at Thunder Valley. Kyle Larson, trying for a weekend triple, is the only other former Bristol winner on the entry list.

Allgaier has led 60 laps or more in the last eight Bristol races. He has led the most laps in five of the last six and has won eight of the last 16 stages at the track.

The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet already has two victories to his credit this season and tops the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings by a whopping 71 points over Sam Mayer of the Haas Factory Team.

It’s no wonder that Allgaier approaches Saturday’s race with supreme confidence.

“Bristol has always been one of my favorite tracks on the schedule,” said Allgaier, the only driver to finish on the lead lap in every race so far this season. “There’s just something about this place that has suited my driving style.

“It’s definitely a special feeling whenever we get to race here, and I can’t wait to get to the track this weekend and see what we can do with our Jarrett Chevrolet. We’ve had extremely strong cars here in the past, and I know that will be the case again come Saturday.”

The SciAps 300 is the third Xfinity Dash 4 Cash race of the season. Four eligible drivers—Allgaier, Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed and Brennan Poole—will compete for the $100,000 bonus that goes to the driver who finishes highest among the four.

Historically, Allgaier leads the series with a record six Dash 4 Cash victories.

Jesse Love, currently fifth in the series standings, will have a lot to think about this weekend. On Sunday, he’ll be making his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

• Bristol Motor Speedway
• SciAps 300
• Pole Winner: Kyle Larson
• Age: 32
• Team : No 17 - HendrickCarscom Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Adam Wall
• Kyle Larson won the Pole Award for the SciAps 300 with a lap of 15194 seconds, 126287 mph
• This is his eighth pole in 118 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2025
• This is his third pole in ten races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Connor Zilisch (second) posted his seventh top-10 start of 2025 and his first in one race at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Carson Kvapil (third) posted his first top-10 start at Bristol Motor Speedway It is his seventh in nine races this season
• Connor Zilisch (second) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Sunday, April 13th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Kyle Larson dominates NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway

Pole winner Kyle Larson brought a bazooka to Saturday’s shootout at Bristol Motor Speedway.

His 37 opponents brought pea shooters to the Last Great Coliseum—or so it seemed, given the degree of domination Larson exhibited in winning the SciAps 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

The driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet led 277 of 300 laps in securing his first victory in two series starts this season, his second at Bristol and the 16th of his career. At the finish, there were only 12 cars on the lead lap.

Larson finished 2.054 seconds ahead of Carson Kvapil, who passed series leader Justin Allgaier for second place in traffic on Lap 298. Allgaier held third and collected his record seventh $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among four eligible drivers.

To Larson, the victory was a fitting tribute to his friend and PR representative, Jon Edwards, who passed away suddenly during the week leading up to the Bristol race weekend.

“It’s awesome,” said Larson, who finished second in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race. “I wish I could have won last night—just came up a little bit short. It’s cool to get a win this weekend for Jon and everybody’s who’s been a part of his life.”

“We’ve got one more tomorrow (in Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Cup race). There’d be nothing better than to cap it off with a Cup win for Jon and all of Hendrick Motorsports… I’ve got a great car there for (Sunday). We’ve just got to execute like we did today.”

Kvapil matched his career-best finish, having run second at Dover last year. His No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was at its best in the closing laps.

“We just kept working on it and made it better and better every pit stop,” Kvapil said. “I felt like toward the end we had a pretty fast car, but there was just so much traffic, it was hard to really get into a good rhythm.”

Sammy Smith ran fourth, as JR Motorsports drivers took the three positions behind Larson and locked into Dash for Cash eligibility for next Saturday’s race at Rockingham, along with fifth-place finisher Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Larson was cruising to a wire-to-wire victory in the first stage, having lapped Jeb Burton in the 14th position, when Sheldon Creed’s Ford spun sideways off Turn 4 after a bump from Dean Thompson’s Toyota.

Charging through the corner behind the spin, Brennan Poole couldn’t avoid Creed’s car, and his Chevrolet collided with Creed’s Mustang in a vicious crash that destroyed both machines and eliminated two of the four eligible Dash 4 Cash drivers from the race.Both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center. “For Brennan’s sake, it happens so quick,” Creed said. “And I was sitting right there in the middle of the track.”

NASCAR red-flagged the race for 14 minutes 8 seconds, and Larson lost the 3.4-second lead he held over second-place Justin Allgaier and the advantage of more than 10 seconds over Connor Zilisch in third.

After the red flag was lifted, Larson and Allgaier paced the lead-lap cars to pit road—with the exceptions of Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg, who stayed on the track and finished 1-2 in Stage 1 after a three-lap dash that ended on Lap 85.

Larson finished third in Stage 1, and after Mayer and Sieg pitted during the break, Larson regained the top spot for a restart on Lap 97. The clinic continued, with Larson winning Stage 2—his 17th stage win in the series—by nearly nine seconds over Allgaier.

After pit stops and wave-arounds, 16 drivers took the green flag for the final stage on the lead lap, and Allgaier snatched the top spot from Larson moments after the Lap 182 restart.

It didn’t last. Ten circuits later, Larson gave Allgaier’s Chevy a bump in Turn 1, moved him up the track and shot past into the lead. Allgaier kept Larson within shouting range until the lapped car of Mason Massey blocked Allgaier’s line off Turn 4 and turned sideways near the start/finish line after contact between the Camaros.

Collected in the incident and eliminated from the race was the Toyota of William Sawalich, who had been running in the top 10.

For Allgaier, the Dash 4 Cash bonus was something of a consolation prize.

“I’m just bummed about the day a little bit, to come out of here in third,” he said. “You know, I had the mistake there with the lapped car, and I wish it had gone green, because it probably would have helped us…

“But to lock three of the four (JR Motorsports drivers) into the next Dash 4 Cash is huge. I got out front there, and I just felt like we needed a little bit more to keep up with Kyle. He was obviously really good, and his pace in traffic was phenomenal.”

• Drivers Entered: 40 (2 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 300
• Margin of Victory: 02.054 Seconds
• Time of Race: 1 Hours 52 Minutes 6 Seconds
• Average Speed: 85.584
• Cautions: 5 for 44 laps
• Lead Changes: 8
• Green Flag Passes: 1,019 (4.0 passes per green flag lap)

• Bristol Motor Speedway
• SciAps 300
• Race Winner: Kyle Larson
• Age: 32
• Team : No 17 - HendrickCarscom Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Adam Wall
• Kyle Larson won the SciAps 300, his 16th victory in 118 Xfinity Series races
• This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his second victory and ninth top-10 finish in ten races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Carson Kvapil (second) posted his first top-10 finish in one race at Bristol Motor Speedway It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2025
• Justin Allgaier (third) posted his 16th top-10 finish in 25 races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Carson Kvapil (second) was the highest finishing rookie
• Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 83 points over Sam Mayer