BRISTOL, Tenn. – William Byron led the way for Hendrick Motorsports in Sunday night’s third dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Byron finished 13th in the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the 250-lap event. He was able to score a stage point as well in the opening 75-lap segment. The 25-year-old stayed out for the start of the final stage to gain track position and restarted in the top five. He spent the first half of the stage in the top 10 before dropping back a few spots.
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Josh Berry finished 27th in the No. 9 Hooters Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, while Alex Bowman was scored in 29th in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Kyle Larson finished the event in 35th in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Berry stayed out after stage two to restart from eighth and the strategy play worked for much of the stage. He was able to hold down a spot in the top 10 for much of the final 100 laps. Unfortunately, the 32-year-old got caught up in a multi-car incident late and that saw him fall back to 27th.
Bowman looked to be en route to another top-10 finish, but the chaos off the final restart with eight laps to go led to a flat right-front tire for the 29-year-old. As a result of that, he finished 29th in the race.
Larson led the opening 75 laps from the pole position to score his second stage win of the season. Last weekend’s race winner at Richmond Raceway also finished third in stage two. During the non-competitive pit stops, Larson opted to keep his tires on and stop for fuel only. He restarted 12th – the deepest he had been in the field to that point – and spun off of turn four on lap 157.
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Following that caution, the 30-year-old driver started to move back up the field before contact with Ryan Preece ended his race. The two were racing side-by-side on lap 175 with the two exchanging some door banging in turns three and four. More contact occurred off of turn one and Larson spun and hit the wall. The two had previously made contact earlier in the race in stage two.
"Yeah, I’m guessing he was paying me back for whatever I did earlier," Larson said of the incident with Preece. "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."
Sunday's race marked the last of the four-race suspensions for crew chiefs Cliff Daniels (No. 5), Alan Gustafson (No. 9), Rudy Fugle (No. 24) and Blake Harris (No. 48). All four will be back on the box next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
The .526-mile short track will be the ninth race of the 2023 Cup Series season as Hendrick Motorsports looks to add to their series-best 27 victories at the venue. The action takes place on Sunday, April 16, at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.