Dirt is just a natural part of racing for Kyle Larson.
When he’s not on the asphalt or concrete racing on Saturdays and Sundays, he’s criss-crossing the country, racing on dirt at select tracks on the schedule.
Fresh off a win at Volunteer Speedway at Bulls Gap, TN this week, Larson just decided to head up I-81 to Bristol Motor Speedway for his weekly NASCAR run and settle in on the transplanted dirt surface of Bristol Motor Speedway.
For a driver who said last year that he wasn’t necessarily fond of the dirt at Bristol, it didn’t take him long to feel at home on the Bluff City clay on the high banks of The Last Great Colosseum.
Starting sixth in the third of four 15-lap Bush’s Beans Qualifying heat races, Larson had stormed into the lead before the end of the first lap and held off charging Ryan Preece for a wire-to-wire victory.
The combination of finishing position and passing points gave Larson 15 total points, good for the pole position for Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race at Thunder Valley on Sunday night beginning at 7 p.m. ET (FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Larson will start beside Austin Dillon, who drove from fifth to first in the opening heat race, scoring 14 points. Dirt specialist J.J. Yeley earned the third spot on the grid, driving from ninth to third behind Larson and Preece to earn 14 points in the third heat.
“The outside lane launched really well, and my car turned well enough to stay rotated and get by him,” Larson explained.
Christopher Bell, who ran third from eighth in the first heat, will start on the outside of the second row. Defending race winner Kyle Busch will take the green flag from the fifth position, with Tyler Reddick to his outside. Austin Cindric, Preece, Heat 2 winner Ryan Blaney and William Byron earned positions seven through 10, respectively. Heat 4 winner Bubba Wallace is 11th on the grid, having won the qualifier from the pole.
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