Every so often, you’ve probably heard that the only constant is change — and at Bristol, that’s no cliché. Featuring a storied past of transformation since its first Cup Series race in 1961, the half-mile oval has gone through multiple surface changes, banking tweaks, and night race introductions. Despite said changes at Bristol Motor Speedway, only one man this year has been able to tame the track in the spring. And now, as the Cup Series garage heads to its night race for the Round of 16 finale, Kyle Larson revealed the tricks he had up his sleeve.

Bristol Motor Speedway started as an asphalt track, switched to concrete in 1992, and in 2012 underwent banking adjustments to reduce the progressive banking and improve racing dynamics. Over time, track surface wear, rubber buildup, ambient conditions, and even weather can cause racing lines to shift dramatically during a race night. What feels good in practice or early laps often changes, sometimes as soon as cars begin fighting through traffic or entering the closing stages. But Kyle Larson has managed to tame the beast.

As the Bass Pro Shops Night Race approaches, Larson leans on his experience at the track. While taking a lap around the half-mile oval, he explains how he does it: “Well, this looks like it’s early in the race from the spring, probably right when I first get to traffic and everybody’s still buried at the bottom, you know, nervous about moving up because of the rubber and all that, or lack of rubber. But I started going and, yeah, I don’t know, just right here, just front of the bottom until I would catch people.”

“I’m probably going to go into three here and diamond, enter high and exit low like I did to get by the 88. Um, it’s just a, uh, efficient way to pass slower cars, I feel like. Um, and yeah, I’m just able to kind of use it to my advantage. I catch traffic, and they’re a little indecisive on, you know, where the track conditions are at that point.”

And that “enter high and exit low” move is a classic Bristol strategy; drivers use the outside line coming into the turn to carry more speed to the corner, then cut sharply down low on exit to get a shorter, faster run down the straightaway. And that’s exactly the move Kyle Larson used to overtake Shane van Gisbergen’s No. 88 car. And Larson has been all over the tires and rubber talk, especially at Bristol, where the concrete track lays down rubble like a moody artist, then drags it off, patches it, bounces, and generally keeps drivers guessing. And at Bristol, the rubber never sits still.

On the concrete surface, heat and load cause tires to shed bits of rubber that glue themselves into the racing line, creating grip early on, but as the laps build, the same rubber can crack, peel up, or get scooped back onto tires as loose marbles that make certain grooves treacherous. Further, as the habit of treating the track with resin or traction compounds continues, the whole equation shifts again; sometimes the bottom lane gets sticky, and it burns up tires. That’s why Larson talks about drivers being indecisive in traffic; the line that worked five laps ago might certainly feel like ice.

This is exactly where the weekend offers a twist. Goodyear is bringing a soft right-side tire compound to the night race at Bristol, a one-time-only tweak. The left-side tire stays the same as in April. The idea is to force teams and drivers to really manage wear now that the track will be warmer, the racing rubber heavier, and the surface more rubbered in. And Dale Jr. is all in for this gamble. Basically, expect more tire degradation, more setups that punish slop, more strategy, and more drama. But Larson has nothing to worry about.

Kyle Larson’s most recent run at Bristol showed exactly how he drives with that unpredictability. In the 2025 Food City 500, he started third and dominated, leading 411 of the 500 laps on the concrete surface and clocking a convincing win. And the fall prior, during the night race, he was even more commanding, leading 462 laps and setting records for most laps led in a single Cup race by a Hendrick Motorsports driver. He has led 1,762 laps at Bristol in his career, his highest total at any track by a margin of over 700 laps. And in recent races since 2022, his average result in Bristol has been very strong, often in or near the top five, which shows that he is not just good at brute speed but also at managing the ebb and flow of traffic and changing conditions.

But there were moments where Larson’s outsmarting maneuvers fired back. His run-in with Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney turned a bit ugly last weekend at the World Wide Technology Raceway, and Larson even took the blame for it; however, there is one driver who has shown some sort of understanding behind the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s actions.

Austin Cindric shows some support for Kyle Larson amid WWTR run-in with Penske teammate

Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson found themselves in a tense on-track clash during Sunday’s Cup Series race at Gateway, an incident that nearly derailed the Team Penske driver’s day, though he boldly managed to salvage a fourth place. The drama unfolded in stage 2, as the two drivers battled fiercely for fifth place. Larson, in a bold and aggressive maneuver, slid upward and clipped the left rear of Blaney’s No. 12 Ford Mustang, sending Blaney spinning out of control. Larson later admitted the mistake, insisting it was unintentional, and Austin Cindric backed him up.

As Blaney’s teammate, Austin Cindric could’ve easily held a grudge against Larson but insisted he offered a measured perspective, attempting to see the incident through the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s eyes. Cindric offered his explanation on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast, saying, “I think Kyle has constantly proven that he’s not really that guy. I mean, he’ll overdrive his car and make a mistake. But he’s brutally honest when it comes to things.”

Cindric acknowledged that while Larson’s admission doesn’t erase the consequences for Blaney, the context of the race made the situation understandable. Passing had been nearly impossible at that stage, and Larson’s aggressive move likely stemmed from the pressure to make a maneuver stick. True to form, Larson owned up to the error in post-race interviews, and he ultimately crossed the finish line in 12th place. But as the No. 5 driver heads to Bristol, he is certain to improve his Round of 12 chances.