Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team put on a masterclass in winning Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larson led 411 of the 500 laps, just missing out on a weekend tripleheader sweep after finishing second in Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race and prevailing in Saturday’s Xfinity Series go.
Plenty of other strong performances were worth noting from Sunday’s event, as were a handful of showings that could have used some improvement. With the Cup Series’ lone off weekend of the season coming up, here are our nods for three drivers up and three drivers down after Race 9 of the 2025 season:
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Bristol
THREE UP ⬆️
1. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Started: 14th
Finished: 4th
What happened: Briscoe righted the ship after a subpar 28th-place finish the week before at Darlington Raceway, netting his third top-five finish of his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing. Briscoe’s day in the No. 19 Toyota rounded out a solid performance all around for JGR, which placed three cars in the top five and all four Camrys among the top 10.
What’s next: The Cup Series is idle next weekend while the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series visit Rockingham Speedway, but Briscoe & Co. will return the following Sunday (April 27) at Talladega Superspeedway, where the No. 19 driver will aim to add to his tally of just one top-five finish in eight starts.
2. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Started: 35th
Finished: 7th
What happened: The Trackhouse driver wound up with a seventh-place outcome for the second straight week, making up the most spots of any driver in the field over the course of the 500 laps. Chastain bumped up one more spot to 11th in the Cup Series standings after recording his third consecutive top-10 run.
What’s next: Chastain had changed into some on-brand flannel for his post-race interview, and he said his off-weekend plans involve getting back to his roots on his family’s watermelon farm. After that, he’ll be back in action in two weeks at Talladega, where he drove the No. 1 Chevy to victory in 2022.
3. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Started: 8th
Finished: 9th
What happened: The ‘Dinger backed up his top-10 qualifying effort with a top-10 result Sunday, securing his third top 10 in the last five races. The Kaulig veteran also pocketed a point in the Cup Series standings for registering the Xfinity Fastest Lap, turning in a 15.38-second heater on Lap 396 on fresh tires after a pit stop.
What’s next: Allmendinger might be out of his road-course comfort zone when the Cup Series resumes after a rare idle weekend, but he’s heading to Talladega — the site of an Xfinity Series victory for him in 2022.
THREE DOWN ⬇️
1. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Started: 1st
Finished: 37th
What happened: An otherwise promising day for the No. 48 driver began to sour shortly after the final stage set sail. An engine issue sapped Bowman’s Chevy of its competitive speed, eventually forcing him to the garage and saddling him with his first DNF of the year.
What’s next: The season so far has been an undulating ride for Bowman, who strung together four straight top-10 finishes before landing on his current run of three consecutive results outside of the top 25. Talladega has produced a mixed bag of results for Bowman, who was fifth in the track’s springtime 500-miler last season.
2. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Started: 38th
Finished: 24th
What happened: Logano started at the back of the pack after bopping the wall in his Saturday qualifying run, and he was unable to overcome that deficit in the Food City 500. The Team Penske vet is a two-time winner at Bristol, but he’s gone the last nine races in the Tennessee hills without a top-10 finish.
What’s next: The defending series champ heads to Talladega in two weeks still in search of his first top-five result of the season. The 2.66-mile Alabama track has been kind to him in the past with three wins (2015, 2016, 2018), but his last top-five effort there came in 2021.
3. Daniel Suárez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Started: 23rd
Finished: 33rd
What happened: Suárez started in the back half of the field, and his Bristol adventure was complicated by an eventful Stage 2 pit stop. An errant wheel from John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 42 Toyota clanked into Suárez’s back bumper, just missing his No. 99 crew, and the team was hit with a removing equipment penalty for a separate violation.
What’s next: Suárez has been four straight races without a top-10 finish, and in two weeks he’ll visit a Talladega track that historically has been unkind. Suárez is 0-for-16 for his Cup Series career when it comes to top-five results.
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