Kyle Larson’s bold statement on denying Denny Hamlin his first-ever three-peat: “We hate to see him win”
Kyle Larson dropped a bold statement after sidelining Denny Hamlin's bid to post his career-first three-peat. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the preceding races in Martinsville and Darlington and eyed another victory on Bristol's concrete. However, Hendrick Motorsports driver Larson aced the race with a comfortable 2.250-second margin.
Larson dominated the Food City 500. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion began the 500-lapper from third, survived four lead changes among four drivers and three cautions, eating 40 laps to claim his 31st Cup victory. The #5 Chevy driver outdueled his teammate, Alex Bowman, who led the first 40 laps before forfeiting the lead to Larson.
JGR's Denny Hamlin began in fourth and was within a second to Larson after the final pit stops. However, he couldn't threaten Larson's position as the latter masterfully swerved through the traffic while the former struggled to match the HMS rival's traffic maneuvering skills.
After leading 411 laps and doing the Cup victory burnouts for the second consecutive time in Bristol, Kyle Larson publicly delivered a bold statement on denying the #11 JGR Toyota driver the highly-coveted win.
If Denny’s in front of me, it could be a totally different story and be really hard to pass him. Glad to stop his three-peat; we hate to see him win. As I’m sure you guys do too," Kyle Larson said, via NASCAR.
Had Hamlin won the race, it would've been JGR's first time two drivers won three back-to-back races in the same season. Christopher Bell achieved his three-peat by conquering Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas, and Phoenix.
Denny Hamlin reacts to his crushing Bristol defeat against Kyle Larson
Denny Hamlin's #11 Toyota Camry had a clean race, didn't succumb to any chaos, and the 56-time Cup Series race winner maintained his pace throughout. He followed Kyle Larson for a second-place finish in Stage 1 and posted a fifth-place result in the second stage, salvaging 15 stage points from the weekend.
The JGR driver outperformed Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, and more, keeping his NextGen package glued with the frontrunners. Even though Larson brushed the outside wall with five laps until the checkered flag dropped, the hefty margin he had saved his lead from being relinquished.
Hamlin tried his way through the traffic and capitalized on the reduced gap between him and Larson, but the latter was a 'little too much to handle.'
“You have to give that team their due — just a dominant performance. It looked like a pretty flawless day for them. It looked pretty easy. It was all I had to try to keep up there. I’m glad we were able to give him a little bit of a run with our Progressive Toyota," Hamlin said via NASCAR.
“Wish we could have got one more spot, but I just wanted to keep him honest there at the end. That was all I was trying to do, but he was a little too much to handle,” he added.
It's worth mentioning that Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have finished 1-2 seven times. However, the 2025 Food City 500 is the first time the HMS driver reigned supreme.