If you look at the recent Bristol race, many would call it boring, because fewer crashes or even lead changes transpired. It basically was a one-man show, and the man was the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion. Kyle Larson passed the lap traffic with such ease that it seemed like he was in some obstacle training. After the first few laps where Alex Bowman had the lead, no one could catch Larson.

The Hendrick driver led a record 462 laps out of the 500. A feat no Hendrick driver has yet achieved, not even NASCAR legends Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. This is the most laps anyone has led since Cale Yarborough led 495 laps in 1977. Why was Larson so much better than everyone else on the track? “I never really got close enough to really know where he was good,” This is what Christopher Bell said after the race, expressing his disappointment even after attaining a top-5 finish.

Christopher Bell disappointed even after a good finish

Bell is the kind of driver who strives for perfection and is looking for his first Cup Series championship. En route that journey if a driver comes and schools you, it’s naturally disappointing. The #20 had a good run in Bristol. Bell started the race in the 6th position and halfway through stage 1, he gained the 5th, above Chase Briscoe, and eventually finished third in the first stage. Before even ending stage 2, Bell had enough points to make it to the next round.

Despite that, the #20 ran top 5 the whole night. Finally finishing in the 5th position, behind Denny Hamlin in the 4th. Yet he was disappointed after the race, all thanks to the #5’s dominance.

Post the race, Christopher Bell said, “Disappointed we didn’t have what we needed to get up there and race for the win. I mean I was gonna say there were times in the race, but there really weren’t. The 5 car just destroyed the field all day long and. At times I was good enough to run second. At start of stage 3 I feel all the way back really outside the top 10 so. They made good adjustments to get our balance back. At the end we were able to race for second with Chase then fell off a little bit. I don’t know mediocre day but a good top 5 out of it.”

A driver would rarely call a top-5 mediocre. However, for everyone on the track, Larson was a question no one had the answer to. “I think he was really strong running at the bottom, pretty much did that all day and drove away from us.” This is why Bell thought Larson was so dominant. While Larson credited his team for the impressive performance.

Post the race he said, “Man, that was just great execution all weekend by the team. Practiced good. You’ve got to qualify good; we did that. Yeah, just had a great car. Thanks to the whole 5 team. They’re the best in the business.” Larson was relieved to have finished the race this time, as there have been several instances where he’s led the most laps, yet lost the race. Like at Darlington where he led 263 out of the 367 laps yet only finished 4th.“We dominate a lot of races but we might not close them all out, so it feels really good to close one out here in this Hendrickcars.com Chevy. … Just a phenomenal car, could kind of manage my stuff and then really pass some cars there at the end,” Larson added.

Bell wasn’t the only one stunned by the #5’s performance. Other NASCAR drivers too surrendered to his dominance.

NASCAR drivers on Kyle Larson’s Bristol run

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Behind Larson, in the second position, was Chase Elliott, who too was impressed by how easily Larson cut through the traffic. Post the race, Elliott said, “I think Kyle did a really good job getting through traffic, and that was the difference. I kind of got hung up and he was able to slice through there, so credit to him and his team. They did a great job. Nice to get a Hendrick one-two and nice to be moving on. Nice to be in the mix.” 

Elliott currently stands at 7th in the playoff standings behind Denny Hamlin, who was the favorite going into Bristol. In the last two races on the track #11 was a dominant force. Ahead of the race, Hamlin was confident of getting a third consecutive win. However, little did he know about Larson bringing his top game to the track.

Denny Hamlin too lauded Larson’s run. He said, “My aspirations were to win it–but it looked like (Kyle Larson) was better than all of us. Solid car. I thought we were really good towards the middle of the stages, and then at the end, got too loose and couldn’t hang onto what we had. Overall, top-five day, good stage points. Hamlin entered the race in the elimination zone but ended up bagging the 6th position in the playoff standings.

Who do you think will win the next race? Let us know in the comments below.