On Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch got some time on the dirt layout at the 0.533-mile speedway, ahead of next week’s NASCAR Cup Series Dirt Race at Bristol, in the Super Late Model division of the Bristol Dirt Nationals.
Larson, as expected finished well, while Elliott and Busch didn’t get impressive finishes in the feature event.
In qualifying, Larson turned the fastest lap of the two group sessions at 15.460 seconds. Elliott turned a fast lap of 15.861, while Busch’s qualifying lap was a 15.992.
In the Heat Races, Chase Elliott locked up his place in the feature event with a third place finish in Heat 2. Meanwhile, Larson would secure his place into the feature with a victory in Heat 3. For Busch, he would have to move on to the Last Chance Qualifiers as he finished just outside the advancement spot in fifth.
With his back against the wall, Busch took the victory in his 10-lap last chance qualifier race, and advanced to the feature as well.
All three NASCAR Cup Series starts were on to the 25-lap feature, which paid $10,000 to win.
On the initial start, Chris Ferguson pulled to the lead after starting alongside Larson.
Chase Elliott’s day would end early after a crash on lap 14. Elliott was running inside the top-10 at the time of the accident, but would be credited with a 17th-place finish after failing to continue on.
As the race rolled on, Chris Ferguson worked his way to the front and in the closing laps, Larson attempted to make up ground. But Ferguson was just simply too strong. Ferguson would take the win and the $10,000 payout, while Larson — the most prolific dirt racer in the country over the last year — finished runner-up.
https://twitter.com/BMSupdates/status/1373090122590257155?s=20
Kyle Busch would end the race in 13th, and while it wasn’t a super impressive night for Busch — or Elliott for that matter — at least both drivers are gaining experience on not only a dirt oval, but the exact dirt oval they’ll be driving on next weekend in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Here is some video of Busch taking a lap around the Bristol dirt track:
https://twitter.com/BMSupdates/status/1372998413000839168?s=20
However, after seeing Larson yet again, as expected, run in the front of the field in this race, and the drastic difference in performance between he and the duo of Busch and Elliott, Larson further cements himself as the favorite to win next weekend’s Cup Series race on dirt, the first NCS dirt race since 1970.
