Larson to start on pole for Bristol Night Race

BRISTOL — Kyle Larson will start on the pole for Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway with qualifying canceled due to inclement weather. Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, got the No. 1 starting spot based on NASCAR's metric when there is no qualifying. The metric is based off the most recent race finish for 70 percent and the car's place in the owner standings for 30 percent. Larson, the two-time and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, was the previous week's winner at Gateway. He's definitely glad to start up front at Bristol's high-banked .533-mile oval. "You don't know how the race is going to play out, but I would rather start up front than not," Larson said. "We've started mid-pack here before and raced our way to the front. You can do it if you have a good car, but I'm happy in a way that it was rained out." Three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano will start second in the No. 22 Ford. NASCAR Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin will roll off third in the No. 11 Toyota, followed by Chevrolet drivers over the next four positions. William Byron is fourth with Carson Hocevar in fifth. Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain occupy the next two positions. Austin Cincric in a Ford, Austin Dillon in a Chevrolet and Bubba Wallace in a Toyota round out the top 10 starters. Larson broke a 51-race winless streak at Gateway. He's certainly among the favorites at Bristol where he has three wins and was third in the Food City 500 in the spring. "Always coming here, I feel confident," Larson said. "It's Bristol, it's a fun place. You just have to come out there and race really hard." Christopher Bell, winner of the 2025 Bristol Night Race, will roll off 13th, one spot ahead of Food City 500 winner Ty Gibbs, who is running a special Kyle Busch-themed wrap on his No. 54 Toyota. Other Chase contenders include Tyler Reddick (20th), Chris Buescher (23rd), Chase Briscoe (26th), Chase Elliott (27th), Daniel Suarez (28th) and Ryan Blaney (29th). MCDOWELL WINS SCORCHER Dale McDowell captured the 50-lap Scott Bloomquist Memorial Scorcher on Thursday night at Volunteer Speedway. The Georgia racer, a close friend to the late Bloomquist, grabbed the lead on lap 44 when Chris Madden, who had led from the start had right-front suspension damage. McDowell's No. 17 machine rocketed around the high-banked, 4/10-mile dirt track the last seven laps to score the win. Arizona driver Jake O'Neil finished second with Garrett Smith third. Jimmy Owens, a four-time national champion from Newport, was fourth and Madden finished fifth. Rogersville racer Kaede Loudy was eighth. It was the third win of the season for McDowell, who was presented the winner's check by Ariel Bloomquist, the late driver's daughter who attends ETSU. Heath Alvey from Dandridge held off Johnson City driver Tim Maupin to win the Sportsman Late Model feature. Rogersville racer Jesse Helton started from the pole and finished third. Bradley Lewelling and Adam Mitchell rounded out the top five. Five-time track champion Dale Ball from Johnson City finished eighth. Shannon Emery from Morristown scored his second win of the season in Street Stock. Gary Blanken was second, one spot ahead of Colby Long. North Carolina drivers Chuck Sims and Dylan Hannah finished 1-2 in Crown Vics with Logan Chambers third.