Kyle Larson didn't get the finish he wanted at Saturday's Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, but his thoughts on Bristol Motor Speedway haven't changed.
In fact, Larson wouldn't mind racing at The Last Great Colosseum even more.
"I think Bristol is just (an) awesome race," Larson said. "If we could race here every Saturday and Sunday our granstands would be packed and our T.V. ratings would be very high, so let's build more Bristols."
Larson didn't stop there and added that "Bristol is still a badass place" even after his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win at the historic track will have to wait another year, finishing second to Kurt Busch on Saturday.
But just being in that position was almost a shock to the driver of the No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet. The car struggled all night and Larson never found the rhythm he wanted or the consistency he displayed leading up to the night race.
He qualified on the pole for the Cup Series race and then won the Xfinity Series race on Friday - getting his first career Bristol victory - setting up for what he thought would be another standout performance on Saturday.
The finish indicates a strong night, but Larson told a far different story.
"I'm happy to finish second," Larson said. "That's probably 12-15 spots better than I deserved to finish. Our car was just really bad. I got lucky all night lining up in the right lanes and I could get 3-4 spots in a restart and then just fight to hang on there, and then I would be terrible at the end of runs.
"I thought my car was going to be really good after practice. This was probably the most frustrating Bristol race because I never really felt like I had a shot to win."
It didn't keep him from praising Bristol during what was a thrilling Night Race. Larson contributed to that at the end, performing brilliantly on restarts in the latter portions of the race after struggling mightily during the first two stages. He suddenly found himself competing for the win in the closing laps, but Larson didn't have enough to challenge Busch down the stretch. As usual, though, Larson leaves fascinated with his experience at Bristol.
"I was very happy with how that second to last restart worked out and I was able to sneak into fourth," Larson said. "I knew I would get out to second, but I knew it was going to be tough pass him but I never even got close enough to get to him."
