RICK WARE RACING
Food City 500
Date: April 13, 2025
Event: Food City 500 (Round 9 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
RWR Finish:
● Cory LaJoie (Started 37th, Finished 34th / Running, completed 494 of 500 laps)
● Cody Ware (Started 34th, Finished 36th / Running, completed 493 of 500 laps)
RWR Points:
● Cody Ware (36th with 45 points)
● Corey LaJoie (38th with 24 points, but running a limited schedule in 2025)
RWR Notes:
● This was LaJoie’s milestone 275th career NASCAR Cup Series start.
● LaJoie’s next start comes on June 28 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Quaker State 400.
Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Food City 500 to score his 31st career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. His margin over runner-up Denny Hamlin was 2.250 seconds.
● Larson dominated by leading twice for 411 laps (82 percent of the 500 laps available).
● There were three caution periods for a total of 40 laps.
● Only eight of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● William Byron remains the championship leader after Bristol with a 30-point advantage over second-place Hamlin.
Sound Bites:
“When we got turned by the 88 (Shane van Gisbergen), that put us on a whole different lap and it just kind of ruined our day. We never got the chance to take the ‘wave around’ and get back in position to race the guys who we were faster than. The last half of the race, we were faster than a lot of good cars, but just didn’t get the chance to capitalize on any of it. So, onto Talladega.” – Cody Ware, driver of the No. 51 Arby’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“That was a driver’s worst nightmare – a 250-lap, green-flag run to finish Bristol, especially coming off the couch. This place separates the men from the boys. We had a really good Schluter-Systems Ford – thought we could’ve ran 22nd to 26th with some track position – but my dumbass sped on pit road, and you can’t do that. You gotta be perfect in the Cup Series and we weren’t today, but it was still fun to get back in a Cup car and race.” – Corey LaJoie, driver of the No. 01 Schluter-Systems Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The NASCAR Cup Series takes a rare weekend off for Easter before returning to action on Sunday, April 27 for the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
