BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kyle Larson entered the weekend intending to sweep all three national NASCAR series races. He fell short of this tripleheader Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Larson was on the second row for the final restart at the Tennessee short track, but he could only pull into second place over the final seven-lap run to the checkered flag. His No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado was not able to chase down Chandler Smith's No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150.
"I knew it was going to be hard to beat the leader of the race in a short run like that here at Bristol," Larson said on pit road after the race.
"I was hopeful that, honestly, I wanted Corey (Heim) to get a better launch than he did and them get racing side by side just to choke them up a little bit. And maybe I could get the top going. But he got clear to lead, and I got clear to second, and you're kinda just running a fast pace there to the checkered (flag)."
This was Larson's second attempt at the tripleheader sweep this season. His first was at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he won the Truck race, finished fourth in the Xfinity race, and won the Cup Series race.
He was one restart away from sweeping the weekend, considering that he had the dominant car in the Xfinity race. Larson was the control car for the final restart, but he didn't get the launch he needed due to Sam Mayer hitting him from behind.
Friday night's race at Bristol was quieter. Although Larson still dealt with some adversity. He raced inside the top 10 early but fell out of the top 10 near the end of stage 2. He then received a speeding penalty that forced him to work through the field in the closing 100 laps.
Larson achieved the goal of getting back into contention for the win, but he ran out of time to chase down Smith.
"Homestead was probably a little bit more of a bummer just because it was in our fingertips," Larson said while comparing the two tripleheader attempts. "You just want to win. I could be racing in one race and run second and... it would have been nice to win, but I'm happy with the rebound."
Despite falling short of the sweep, Larson will continue to try to win some races. He will take on the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, and then he will continue to compete in the Cup Series on Sunday while trying to defend his dominant win from the fall.