Tag: Bristol Dirt

Bell glad to finally be the center of attention after latest Cup win

There shouldn’t be the need for a reminder this week, but just in case, here it is: Christopher Bell won Sunday on the Bristol dirt. Bell understands the wisecrack. The last two wins the Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored were overshadowed by late-race …

There shouldn’t be the need for a reminder this week, but just in case, here it is: Christopher Bell won Sunday on the Bristol dirt.

Bell understands the wisecrack. The last two wins the Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored were overshadowed by late-race antics, making the victorious Bell an afterthought. There was the Cole Custer race manipulation at the Charlotte Roval in October. Then there was Ross Chastain’s wall ride at Martinsville Speedway a few weeks later.

But Sunday night was all about Bell.

“It’s cool,” Bell said of this one not being overshadowed. “It’s funny you bring that up because it does seem like that happens quite often, but I still won the race no matter what happened. Hopefully, I can win many more in my career, so that’s not an issue.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

The first win of the season for Bell and the No. 20 team should not have come as a surprise. No, not because the series competed on dirt, which always makes Bell a favorite.

As the NASCAR Cup Series hits the one-quarter mark of the season, Bell and company have quietly put together one of the best starts of any team. Bell now leads the points standings with six top-10 finishes through eight races and an average finish of 10.6.

“We’re doing everything really well,” Bell said. “Adam (Stevens, crew chief) is giving me great race cars and the cars drive really well, but we haven’t been able to control the race.”

Bell feels his No. 20 Toyota has been strong all season, but qualifying issues have prevented him from showing it consistently. Rusty Jarrett/Motorsport Images

Bell not only leads the series in the championship standings, but his six top-10 finishes are the most in the series. So are the five top-five finishes Bell has.

But the controlling of the race part comes from stage wins and laps led. Although he’s shown speed, Bell does not have a stage win this season, and he’s led 154 laps in eight races.

In looking at some of the competition, Kyle Larson, who is fourth in points, has led over 400 laps. William Byron, who leads the series with two race wins and five stage wins, has led 385 laps.

“Looking back at last year, I qualified really well and this year, we haven’t had an abundance of qualifying,” continued Bell. “Richmond was rained out, so we didn’t have a fair shake of it there. Las Vegas, we were quickest in the first round, and in the second round, the wind shifted and it seemed to hamper our qualifying performance. We didn’t qualify well there and weren’t able to get control of the race. And we haven’t been able to do that anywhere.”

Bell’s numbers, however, are impressive. Taking out the two races where he caught up in incidents (Fontana and Circuit of The Americas), Bell hasn’t finished worse than sixth.

“My cars are driving well, but we’re just missing a piece of the puzzle where we can lead the race and control the race and win stages,” Bell said. “Hopefully, we can close the gap on that to where I can lead laps. I think that’s important in this series.”

TV ratings: Bristol dirt

NASCAR had the TV pretty much to itself over Easter weekend, but it didn’t make much difference to the year’s overall trends. The Cup Series dirt race from Bristol averaged a 1.88 Nielsen rating and 3.450 million viewers Sunday evening on FOX, per …

NASCAR had the TV pretty much to itself over Easter weekend, but it didn’t make much difference to the year’s overall trends.

The Cup Series dirt race from Bristol averaged a 1.88 Nielsen rating and 3.450 million viewers Sunday evening on FOX, per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com. That was down from a 2.19/4.007m for this race last year, although up fractionally from the most recent Cup race on FOX (COTA, 1.81/3.129m).

The Craftsman Truck race on Bristol’s dirt Saturday night averaged 0.61/1.057m on FS1, down fractionally from 0.65/1.167m last year but a healthy increase from the 0.37/644,000 that watched the previous Saturday’s race from Texas, which lacked a NASCAR lead-in.

Dirt racing ‘Superman’ Davenport on his NASCAR Cup debut

Jonathan Davenport didn’t accomplish his main goal of running all the laps in his NASCAR Cup Series debut Sunday night on the Bristol dirt, but he did find the fun he was hoping to have. Davenport, nicknamed ‘Superman’ for his incredible success in …

Jonathan Davenport didn’t accomplish his main goal of running all the laps in his NASCAR Cup Series debut Sunday night on the Bristol dirt, but he did find the fun he was hoping to have.

Davenport, nicknamed ‘Superman’ for his incredible success in dirt late models, ran a third Kaulig Racing car at Bristol. It was not only the first time Davenport ran a stock car – the heaviest car he’s ever driven – but it was also one of the longest races he’s competed in.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“I’ve enjoyed it,” Davenport said of his NASCAR experience. “Just experienced the opportunity and enjoyed the experience.”

Unfortunately, his night ended with a 36th-place finish in the 37-car field when he was collected in the spat between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece on lap 176. Davenport clipped Larson when he couldn’t get slowed down to avoid Larson, who had spun in Turn 1. The contact broke the suspension in the right front of his Chevrolet.

“It started out OK, and then I spun out and lost a bunch of track position; I just never did get going to where I felt like I could pass cars,” Davenport said. “I would pass two or three, and then I would just kind of get in a lull and kind of ride.

“I was just trying to learn and make the laps and wait until the racetrack got really slick, which the racetrack is awesome (right now). You can move all over it. But I could never get the right feel for my car.

“The guys did a great job and kept making changes on it that I wanted, and we were definitely getting better, but I saw Kyle spinning up there, and you always hear it’s the last car in the field that gets ‘em.

“I hate I got into him there. I don’t know what made him spin, but it ended our night early, and that was my main focus to run all 250, but it didn’t happen.”

Davenport spun by himself on lap 81 and didn’t hit anything, but the field also avoided running into him, which amazed Davenport – over the team radio, he complimented the talent of the field for doing so.

“I can’t believe they missed me because I spun right in the middle of the pack, and it was dusty and dirty, and the sun was still out a little bit at that time, I think,” Davenport said. “Everybody was heads up thanks to their spotters and thanks to them for looking way out of their windshields and not right in front of the hood pins.”

Sunday was the third year NASCAR has run a dirt race at Bristol. Davenport acknowledged while it’s not a true dirt race, it is different, cool, and a novelty. However, it was an adjustment from what he’s used to without a big cushion to use to a driver’s advantage, instead saying it felt more like a really slick asphalt track.

But Davenport “had a lot of fun and would definitely like to do it again.”

And that doesn’t mean at Bristol. While Davenport said he is not looking or expecting anything more past his run with Kaulig Racing, he would come back to NASCAR again for whatever race he could sign up for.

“Absolutely,” Davenport said.

Preece and Larson “just racing hard” in Bristol

Kyle Larson wasn’t sure why Ryan Preece was mad at him on Sunday night on the Bristol dirt. Preece ran Larson into the fence but said after the race that he did nothing intentionally, claiming the series of events was hard racing. Larson’s night …

Kyle Larson wasn’t sure why Ryan Preece was mad at him on Sunday night on the Bristol dirt. Preece ran Larson into the fence but said after the race that he did nothing intentionally, claiming the series of events was hard racing.

Larson’s night ended on lap 176 of the Food City Dirt Race. Running side-by-side off Turn 4, Larson, on the outside, and Preece, on the inside, collided, sending Larson bouncing off the wall. Down the frontstretch, the two collided again, and it sent Larson spinning to the right and hitting the outside wall on the driver’s side.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

It appeared retaliatory, at least Preece not cutting Larson a break after contact earlier in the race. Preece expressed displeasure over the radio when the two ran into each other, which he and the No. 41 team didn’t think was an accident.

“We were just racing hard trying to get all we could,” Preece said after the race.

“I haven’t seen the contact from earlier in the race,” Larson said. “It was a tight clear off of (Turn) 4, and obviously, I’m looking in my mirror and didn’t see that he was to my outside yet, and I don’t know if he got into the wall. But he had a pretty short temper, obviously. He tried to crash me, I think, after that and was swerving at me under yellow.”

“I assumed it’d been an hour and a half since that happened,” Larson said of the contact that then ended his race. “It wasn’t my fault why he ended up spun out and in the back, so I thought he would chill out, but obviously didn’t and ran me into the fence and ended our day. It is what is.”

Larson and Preece both agreed they’d never had a previous issue with each other. Larson said there was nothing to talk about with Preece, and Preece didn’t see the need to initiate a conversation with the 2021 Cup Series champion.

“I honestly haven’t raced with him that much,” Larson said. “He’s been out of the Cup Series a little bit for the last couple of years. He wasn’t in the best stuff when he was Cup racing before, so I haven’t spent too much time around him.

“But I don’t remember if he’s been mad at me before. I’ve never been mad at him, but everybody saw his comments after COTA (about respect). So, I’m sure he’s standing his ground, I guess, right now.”

After the contact with Larson on lap 176, Preece said over his team radio he got loose. After the race, Preece again said that was what happened.

“I tried running the top – I’m a guy who runs the bottom, and I know he was making speed, and I tried to move up there, and we were too loose,” Preece said. “Ultimately, I still agree that a lot of people are going to stand their ground, but by no means was that intentional. I was just trying to get all I could.”

Neither said this would be an issue between them going forward.

“I’m mad at a lot of stuff (but) I’m mostly mad at myself,” Larson said. “I shouldn’t have been out there; I spun out. I shouldn’t be in here (the infield care center) right now, but it’s just racing.”

However, he was still a bit surprised at what happened.

“Because it’d been so long, and like I said, it wasn’t my fault why he was back there,” said Larson. “I think something happened to him off of (Turn) 2 earlier, and he ran into the back of somebody and spun out. Like I said, it’d been probably an hour and a half, I would have to guess, since then, so I figured we could just be grown-ups and get the (expletive) over it. But I guess not.”

Dirt ace Bell takes the spoils on Bristol clay

Before Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell lamented that a “dirt guy” hadn’t won the NASCAR Cup Series’ only race on the red clay in Thunder Valley. Bell fixed the problem-in a race that also saw hard …

Before Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell lamented that a “dirt guy” hadn’t won the NASCAR Cup Series’ only race on the red clay in Thunder Valley.

Bell fixed the problem—in a race that also saw hard feelings between pole winner Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece boil over.

Holding off charging Tyler Reddick in the final stage of the 250-lap race, Bell held a slim lead over Reddick when NASCAR called the 14th caution with 200 yards left in the final circuit.

A dirt-track aficionado who won three straight Chili Bowl Midget Nationals from 2017-2019, Bell collected his first victory of the season and the fifth of his career.

“Man, let me tell you, these are some of the longest laps of my entire life,” Bell said of the lates stages of the race. “This place is so much fun, whether it’s dirt or concrete. Whenever the cushion got up there on the top, it was very tough, because you couldn’t drive it super hard. Otherwise, you’d get sucked in.

“If you got your right front into it, you’d push a little bit. If you got your right rear into it, you’d slide. It was a lot of fun.”

Bell used his experience on dirt to negotiate the two ends of the half-mile track, which featured markedly different racing characteristics.

“(Turns) 3 and 4, that was the scary corner for me, because if you got into it too far, you lost all your momentum,” the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota explained. (Turns) 1 and 2, I think I kept hitting the wall a couple times.

“Seems like there was a little bit more moisture up there—it would hold me better. I’m like, ‘OK, I can really attack (Turns) 1 and 2.’ But (Turns) 3 and 4, I had to be careful… Definitely the track tonight favored experience.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Staying out on old tires after the end of Stage 2, Bell led the last 100 laps. Reddick, on the other hand, forewent a pit stop after Stage 1 and won Stage 2, but paid the price with a pit stop at the second break and rested 12th on lap 151.

It wasn’t until lap 223 that Reddick passed eventual fifth-place finisher Chase Briscoe for the second position, as Briscoe scraped the outside wall in Turn 4. Reddick began his pursuit of Bell, but the final caution foiled any opportunity he might have had.

“Yeah, towards the end there definitely feel like I had a little bit more,” Reddick said. “I thought I had the edge, but I wasn’t quite there in the last couple laps. Definitely found it.

“Just hate it for everybody on this (No. 45 23XI Racing) Toyota. Just needed to be a little bit closer than I was. I think with two (laps) to go, it would have been really bold to try to make that move work. Obviously, on the white flag coming into (Turns) 3 and 4, I was going to see. We’ll never know if it (would have) worked.”

Larson won 75-lap Stage 1 wire-to-wire, but he angered Preece with a move that forced the Stewart-Haas Racing driver into the outside wall. On lap 175, 20 circuits after Larson spun and fell to the rear of the field, Preece returned the favor in Turn 4. Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet then shot to the inside into the door of Preece’s No. 41 Ford before spinning into the outside wall.

“Yeah, I’m guessing he was paying me back for whatever I did earlier,” said Larson, who exited the race with suspension damage to his car. “He ran me straight into the fence, and my car was broke and we crashed.

“It sucks, but I should just be mad at myself for spinning out earlier and putting myself back there. Just sucks.”

Austin Dillon ran third, followed by Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Briscoe and Justin Haley, as drivers with dirt-track backgrounds claimed the top six finishing positions. Martin Truex Jr., Todd Gilliland, Kevin Harvick and Ty Gibbs completed the top 10.

“I just have to thank (Speedway Motorsports Inc.) for all of the hard work they’ve done with this dirt racing,” Dillon said. “I don’t care what anybody says, that was an amazing show throughout the field. I felt like it was some great racing.”

RESULTS

With race-ending caution, Reddick falls short on dirt once again

Tyler Reddick paused a post-race interview to go stop Christopher Bell before the latter made his way to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway, wanting to congratulate Bell on his victory and also lament what could have been had Sunday’s race run …

Tyler Reddick paused a post-race interview to go stop Christopher Bell before the latter made his way to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway, wanting to congratulate Bell on his victory and also lament what could have been had Sunday’s race run to completion.

“Wish we would have had that extra half lap,” Reddick said of their conversation. “Me and him both didn’t know how it was really going to end.”

Reddick finished second to Bell in the Food City Dirt Race, his chance at taking a shot at the win stymied when the caution flew on the final lap. The two Toyota drivers were each dominant throughout the night, with Bell leading the final 100 laps.

But Reddick, running up against the fence, had closed the gap at the white flag.

“It was like having some PTSD there but reversed,” he chuckled.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

A year ago in the dirt race, Reddick was the one being chased on the final lap. Chase Briscoe ended up taking them both out in Turn 3 – handing the win to Kyle Busch – when he attempted a slide job that went wrong.

“I feel like Christopher probably would have done a better job defending it than I did last year,” Reddick said. “But we raced really, really hard there at the end. When (Ryan) Blaney spun, I was pretty convinced the caution was going to come out; I kind of checked up, he did too, and he got back going better than I did and got a gap. I just needed to close the gap and didn’t.”

Blaney was spun off the race’s final restart with eight laps to go. Somehow the field avoided Blaney, who was running inside the top five, and the caution never flew.

With a smile, Bell said Reddick told him that, “It was going to be interesting if the yellow flag didn’t come out.”

Did Reddick have a move ready had the final lap gone the distance?

“I don’t know if it’d been a good one,” he said. “I honestly think (Bell) would have defended it. I don’t know if he knew the caution was out, so that’s why he went to the bottom, or if that was going to be his defensive line, which — if you’re in his situation — that was the move to make.

“We’ll never really know, but I was going to go for it, for sure.”

Reddick earned 13 points in the stages, including winning the second stage. He led 69 of the race’s 250 laps.

‘It’s been a pretty cool year’ – Stenhouse continues riding the Daytona wave

Nearly two months after winning the biggest race of the year, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. says things have calmed down enough for the JTG Daugherty team to focus on racing. “We definitely were super busy there for a while, but I feel like things are back to …

Nearly two months after winning the biggest race of the year, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. says things have calmed down enough for the JTG Daugherty team to focus on racing.

“We definitely were super busy there for a while, but I feel like things are back to normal,” Stenhouse of everything that’s followed his Daytona 500 win. “It’s been really fun and really enjoyable. For us, we’re finally able to sit down and focus week to week on what we need to do at each racetrack, what we need to do going forward at racetracks ahead, and just learn as much as we can.

“I feel really good about a lot of the racetracks we’ve been to and our speed. Obviously, not every racetrack we’ve got the finish out of it that I feel like speed-wise we’ve had, so that’s a bummer at some points.”

Stenhouse’s third career win in the NASCAR Cup Series was the second for JTG Daugherty Racing, but winning the Daytona 500 was a first for all parties involved.

Since then, he’s been pleased with the speed in his No. 47 Chevrolet. The results have been up and down, though. A seventh-place finish two weeks ago at Circuit of The Americas was his first top-10 finish since the season-opening race.

Last weekend, Stenhouse got off to a fast start at Richmond Raceway using impressive speed in the outside lane before a mechanical issue forced him to the garage. He was running fifth at the competition caution before coming to pit road — where the day began going downhill. He finished 35th, his worst finish of the season and his first finish outside the top 25.

“We had a really good car at Richmond last week,” Stenhouse said. “Obviously we had an issue on our pit stop that knocked the brakes off of it, so that was a kind of a freak accident. But we got it fixed and went back out there and felt like we had a top-12 car.

“So stuff like that gives us a lot of confidence moving forward, especially since that was a short track, and we struggled at short tracks last year. I think things like that are definitely encouraging for us, so I feel like that’s what we’ve been able to focus on now that it’s slowed down a little bit.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Stenhouse has an average finish of 16.4 entering the Bristol dirt race (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET, Fox). The event is an opportunity race for the No. 47 team, the Mississippi driver not unfamiliar with dirt racing success.

Although the focus is back forward, that doesn’t mean Stenhouse and the JTG Daugherty organization haven’t gotten a lot of use out of their Daytona victory. Jodi Geschickter made it known it was a much-needed victory for the David of the NASCAR garage, and its loyal sponsors, up against the Goliath of the larger teams. In the days after the win, Stenhouse went on a victory tour, giving numerous interviews and exposure for the team owners.

“So far, it’s been a pretty cool year,” Stenhouse said.

It’s also a year that was completely shifted after Daytona. Stenhouse is looking at a potential playoff berth as JTG Daugherty capitalizes on the benefits of winning a prestigious event. It’s given the driver a chance to approach his job differently and perhaps from a little better perspective.

“I think the biggest thing is confidence,” Stenhouse said of what Daytona has done for the organization. “When you have a win, you show up to the racetrack with a little more pep in your step. Then the speed that we’ve had — I feel like I’ve been able to be a little bit more relaxed and probably get better finishes out of the car, sometimes, than what’s there, (compared to) what I would have done last year because we do have a win, and I’m a little more relaxed through the center potions of the race; even the beginning of the race when things aren’t going exactly as planned…

“So, it’s let me relax a little bit. On the team side of it, marketing (and other departments have) been quite a bit different. It’s really been good for us. It’s been really neat and special to see, and yeah, the confidence in the team has been super high.”

Logano survives the chaos in Bristol dirt Truck Series victory

Moonlighting in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Saturday night, Joey Logano performed the perfect Bristol Stomp in winning the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt. The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion swept the first two stages of the race at …

Moonlighting in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Saturday night, Joey Logano performed the perfect Bristol Stomp in winning the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt.

The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion swept the first two stages of the race at Bristol Motor Speedway’s Dirt Track, led 138 of the 150 laps and crossed the finish line 1.241s ahead of ThorsSport Racing teammate Ty Majeski.

“My fun meter was pegged tonight,” said Logano, who won the second Truck Series race of his career. “I had a lot of fun out here racing at Bristol. The dirt’s a lot of fun.

“Hopefully, tomorrow is just as good with the other car.”

Logano will start 12th in his No. 22 NASCAR Cup Series car in Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race at the half-mile track. He won the inaugural Cup Series dirt race at Bristol in 2021.

Majeski ran a strong second but was no match for his teammate.

“He’s a two-time Cup champion for a reason,” Majeski said. “Just happy we got ThorSport in victory lane. ThorSport deserves to be in victory lane — just wish it was us. Just one spot short.

“Overall, he was just better than us tonight. I thought maybe at times, if we would have had a long run, I might have been able to match him or at least make him nervous. Just wasn’t in the cards for us.”

Long runs were not the order of the day. The race was punctuated by 11 cautions for 64 laps as trucks rubbed fenders, cut tires and spun on the slick clay surface with predictable frequency. Out front for virtually the entire race, Logano avoided the chaos behind him.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“They gave me a great race truck,” said Logano, who pressed Team Penkse teammate Ryan Blaney into service as his spotter. “We qualified good in the heat race and were able to drive to the lead pretty early in the race and were pretty much able to control it.

“I’m not sure we learned anything for (Sunday), because I didn’t get to race a whole bunch, but it was fun leading all those laps. I had a great spotter up there in Blaney. He kept me entertained and light-hearted and a (was) a whole lot of fun, too.”

William Byron, a two-time Cup winner this season, ran third in the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Chevrolet. Matt Crafton was fourth, followed by Grant Enfinger, Jake Garcia, Chase Briscoe, Tanner Gray, Kaden Honeycutt and Matt DiBenedetto.

Dirt late model ace Jonathan Davenport finished 14th, one spot behind Hailie Deegan, who ran as high as third during the early stages of the race.

Majeski leads the series standings by 34 points over defending champion Zane Smith, who was collected in a three-truck accident on lap 95 and finished 21st.

RESULTS

Bowman and Byron – two sides of the Hendrick penalty coin

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and William Byron brought opposite attitudes to Bristol Motor Speedway after a second inspection penalty in three weeks. The two teams were penalized by NASCAR after they had their cars, the No. 48 and No. …

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and William Byron brought opposite attitudes to Bristol Motor Speedway after a second inspection penalty in three weeks.

The two teams were penalized by NASCAR after they had their cars, the No. 48 and No. 24, taken to the R&D Center for further inspection after last weekend’s race at Richmond Raceway. During the teardown, a violation was found in the greenhouse of both cars.

Both teams lost 60 points and five playoff points. The penalty knocked Bowman from the points lead.

“Man, I just drive the thing,” Bowman said. “We’ve got the best average finish of the year, and obviously having a good starting position was good last week, and we’re not leading points anymore, but all I can do is keep performing how we have been and trying to be better each and every week and do my job.”

Bowman has the best average finish of the series and the most top-10 finishes. Given that, he’s been focused on the positives and said it outweighs all the negatives around his team.

He did, however, say the penalty would be frustrating should he not win the regular season championship by that point margin. His dry sense of humor showed when asked about his and Byron’s cars being the ones chosen for inspection after Hendrick Motorsports won their appeal from the L2 penalty issued last month.

“It’s a random inspection, man,” Bowman said. “It’s completely random. Just chances got us there.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

Hendrick Motorsports was penalized in early March for modified hood louvers on all four cars. The organization immediately filed an appeal and repeatedly insisted they shouldn’t have been in that position because the single-source suppliers are not providing the correct parts.

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel rescinded the 100-point penalty to all four Hendrick Motorsports teams the week going into Richmond. Kyle Larson then won the Richmond race, while NASCAR took Byron and Bowman’s cars. Then came the second penalty earlier this week.

“It’s suboptimal, right?” Bowman said of two penalties. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with me. It’s my job to drive the race car and perform at the highest level that I’m capable of behind the wheel, and I feel like we’ve had a good start to the year and just running as well as we have has got me feeling pretty good about things.

“It’s the best start to the season that I’ve had in my career, so I’ve been enjoying that. I’m not frustrated. I feel like my team — we did a really good job of overcoming the first one and staying plugged in and not letting it get to us, and I’m confident we can do that throughout the second one as well.”

Humorous moods were not shared all around, though. During his media availability, Byron, who rarely shows frustration, was short and clear with his answers, very much not amused.

“I feel like they could take all the cars to the R&D Center, so I don’t understand it,” Byron said of what happened last week. “But I’m not happy.”

On whether he believes it was really random that NASCAR chose his and Bowman’s cars inspection: “You tell me. It doesn’t look very random, does it?”

Asked if he feels there is a stain on his team or organization after two penalties in the span of a few weeks, Byron said, “It’s not a stain for us. We don’t really look outside of our team. Our team has been great this year, and we’ll keep it going.”

He followed, “It’s been great; love my job,” when asked about the atmosphere around Hendrick Motorsports with everything that’s happened the last few weeks.

And given that he’s yo-yoed up and down the point standings with 100 points taken and given back and 60 points taken away this week, he summed the conversation up with a simple “I don’t have anything good to say.”

Larson slides to Bristol dirt pole in just one single lap

Kyle Larson went from sixth to first on the first lap of his heat race on the Bristol dirt, earning him enough points (14) to win the pole for Sunday’s race. The heat races set the starting lineup for the Food City Dirt Race by awarding drivers …

Kyle Larson went from sixth to first on the first lap of his heat race on the Bristol dirt, earning him enough points (14) to win the pole for Sunday’s race.

The heat races set the starting lineup for the Food City Dirt Race by awarding drivers points for passing as well as their finishing position.

It is Larson’s second pole of the season and 16th of his Cup Series career.

He’ll will be joined on the front row by Austin Dillon — winner of the first heat race.

JJ Yeley starts third for Rick Ware Racing. Yeley went from ninth to third in his heat. Sunday will the first time he has started in the top five in a Cup Series race since 2007, when he won the pole at Michigan driving for Joe Gibbs.

“They went well,” Yeley said after his heat race. “We obviously didn’t know what to expect. I tried to roll the bottom on our first two little hot laps, just judging off the previous heat race. The car didn’t feel very good, so I’m a dirt guy by nature and I knew all of those guys were going to fight for the bottom, so I said, ‘The heck with it.’ I was going to go to the top and the car handled really, really good up there.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]

“It took me a couple of laps to get into a rhythm. It felt like I might have been just a little bit better than the leaders once we got into third, and then I started overdriving and it just takes one little mistake to give up everything that you gained. To come from the back and finish third, I think it’ll be good for points and put us somewhere near the front half… I’m thinking anything can happen here tomorrow.”

Christopher Bell starts fourth and Kyle Busch starts fifth. Busch is the defending winner of the Food City Dirt Race.

Tyler Reddick starts sixth, Austin Cindric seventh, Ryan Preece eighth, Ryan Blaney ninth, and William Byron 10th.

NASCAR Cup Series points leader Ross Chastain starts 16th.

Jonathan Davenport starts 21st in his Cup Series debut, driving the No. 13 for Kaulig Racing.

Matt Crafton starts 24th for Rick Ware Racing. Crafton is substituting for Cody Ware, who is taking care of a personal matter.

There are 37 drivers entered at Bristol.