Whenever a family member or close friend passes away, the tradition is to send flowers or money. Kyle Larson paid his respects to close friend and Larson’s media relations director, Jon Edwards, who unexpectedly passed away Thursday at the far too young age of 52 years old, in a different way.
Advertisement
Larson did something that Edwards likely would have smiled about in his memory: Larson went out and dominated Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading a race-high 411 laps of the 500-lap race around the .533-mile high-banked oval.
“This one is definitely for Jon,” Larson said over the team radio shortly after crossing the start-finish line and before he did a celebratory “Polish Victory Lap” (drove around BMS in the opposite direction).
He then put an exclamation mark on the win by having one of the smokiest burnouts that NASCAR has seen in a long time, bringing out a huge cheer.
Later, interviewed by FOX Sports, Larson again gave a testimonial to his friend.
“This one’s definitely for Jon,” Larson said. “He’s just a great guy, and we’re going to miss him. Successful weekend here, wish he would have been here with us to celebrate, but I know he’s celebrating in spirit.”
All four Hendrick Motorsports cars carried testimonial stickers that had Edwards’ photo as well as the words: “Jon Edwards. One of a Kind. 1972-2025.”
Also saddened by the loss of Edwards was NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon. Edwards served as Gordon’s PR representative for over 20 seasons.
“It’s been a rough week, I’ll be honest,” Gordon told FOX Sports. “I lost somebody that was like a brother to me, and so many other people that he impacted. The outpouring, I just want to say thank you to everybody that has been sending messages, making phone calls, the tribute on the car.
“Kyle was obviously very close to Jon, and Jon did a lot for him. You could tell he was driving with a passion out there … what a just dominant performance, and this one was for Jon. He would not want the limelight or any of this attention, but I know how proud he’d be of this performance and this team.”
Larson Has Now Won 3 of the Last 6 Cup Races at Bristol
It was Larson’s second win of the weekend, having also taken the checkered flag in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol.
After expressing his sadness about the loss of Edwards, Larson then rebounded with his noted smile, including taking a good-natured jab at runner-up Denny Hamlin, who came into Sunday’s race having won the last two previous Cup races at Martinsville and Darlington.
“Glad to stop (Hamlin’s bid for a) three-peat,” Larson said before eliciting a large round of applause from the crowd by adding, “We hate to see (Hamlin) win, as I’m sure you guys do, too.”
It was Larson’s third career Cup win at Bristol; he’s won half of the last six races there, including the last two. It was also the fastest short-track race in NASCAR Cup history (average lap speed of 126.528 mph at a time of 2 hours and 41 minutes).
“It’s just good to be back here in victory lane,” said Kyle Larson.
It was also the 315th win for Hendrick Motorsports, as well as its third win in the first nine races of the season.
