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Kyle Larson leads all 125 laps to win Stage 1 of Food City 500 at Bristol

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500

BRISTOL, TN - APRIL 24: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet, takes the green flag to start the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 24, 2017 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

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Kyle Larson has gone through the opening segment of Monday’s weather-rescheduled Food City 500 like a dog with a bone: he refused to give up the lead throughout the entire 125 laps of Stage 1.

Larson started from the pole after Friday’s qualifying was rained out. Larson was awarded the pole because he’s the current leader in the NASCAR Cup standings.

The rest of the top-10 in Stage 1 were Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Busch.

The only significant incident of the opening stage occurred on Lap 54. Kurt Busch spun on the backstretch and hit the inside wall nose-first. As cars slowed to avoid Busch as he came up the track, Chris Buescher ran into the back of Reed Sorenson.

Busch was able to get the damage repaired on his car, but Buescher suffered significant damage to his front end to bring an early close to his race.

The race was red-flagged for five minutes, 10 seconds as safety crews had to clean up a significant amount of oil and fluids from Buescher’s car.

While there was concern early that weather may impact the race, the latest weather radar shows most rain has dissipated and the race should be able to continue to its full scheduled 500 laps.

Follow @JerryBonkowski