Kyle Larson enters Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet pursuing the season sweep at Kansas Speedway. (Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson hopes his bid for another Kansas Speedway win is as straightforward as his victory last Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Larson enters Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet pursuing his sixth win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and third at the 1.5-mile Midwest intermediate track. He was on the winning side of the closest finish in Cup history, besting Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds.
“It’s obviously used for highlight reels so you see it quite a bit,” Larson offered. “It was cool to be on the good end of that.”
The memorable finish came down to Larson building his run on the final half lap of the AdventHealth 400 on May 5.
“I had a great run off [Turn 2] and down the backstretch and was able to get to [Chris Buescher’s] outside getting into [Turn] 3,” Larson said in a team press release. “It was so tight at the line and I guess TV showed us second and I was fine with that because it was a great battle at the end. But then to hear we won was incredible.”
Buescher was called as the winner before a photo finish camera determined Larson as the winner. Qualifying 11th for Sunday’s Round of 12 opener, as usual, the driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry was fast in practice, posting the sixth fastest time and eighth quickest in a 10-lap average run.
If Bristol is one of Larson’s favorite tracks, Kansas ranks as one of his best venues on the Cup circuit. Logging 19 starts, the 2021 Cup champion has two wins, eight top fives and nine top 10s.
In contrast to the spring race at Kansas, Larson handily won at Bristol, leading 462 of 500 laps as he bested Chase Elliott by 7.088 seconds, the largest margin in the Next Gen car era.
Days after the race, fans were critical of the lack of action in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol. Despite Larson’s 28th career Cup win looking rather easy, there was more going on in his driver’s seat than what was seen on TV or from the stands.
Kyle Larson typically takes to the high line at Kansas Speedway as he will in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet. (Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)
“I’m not defending. I’m happy with how Bristol turned out for us,” he said to FOX NASCAR’s Bob Pockrass. “I’m excited to be here at Kansas, another great track and, hopefully, we can put together another solid weekend.”
As for Larson’s posts on social media about Bristol, he was chiming in on how Saturday night’s race was more about the culmination of hard work, preparation and determination put forth into winning the 500-lap race.
“To me, it really wasn’t a debate either,” he clarified. “I think I’m just trying to give a perspective from the driver’s point of view who’s been around now for over 10 years and seen different packages and results on the racetrack. Not every race is going to be super excited. I think that’s more of where I was coming from. It’s just… stop being so negative.”
It will take a positive mindset for Larson and his No. 5 team to excel in the Round of 12. Kansas may be the sole track of the three venues in this leg of the postseason where the drivers have the most input with Talladega being a white knuckle experience each lap and the Charlotte ROVAL offering little reprieve between high speed and technical driving.
Kyle Larson can carve an easier path of success in the Round of 12 if he can win Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN Bet at Kansas Speedway. (Photo: Cole Penning | The Podium Finish)
“Typically, this round, with Talladega and the ROVAL, I would say, has been the wild card round,” Larson said to Frontstretch’s Stephen Stumpf. I think we’ve now had two wild card rounds. Just the first one, the points were a little more spread out.
“Now, as it gets a bit narrower, it becomes a little bit more stressful. That’s why, for us, being in our position, if we can have a good Kansas, extend our gap to the cutoff, hopefully, we can make the rest of the round less stressful.”
The priority for Larson will be sweeping the races at Kansas and scoring a big win to advance into the Round of 8. Even for a driver like Larson, who races stock cars and sprint cars on most days of the week, he did not realize how long it had been since he raced on an intermediate racetrack, a track typically between 1 to 2 miles in length.
“I didn’t even know that I hadn’t been on a mile and a half that long,” Larson admitted. “In my opinion, Michigan feels that way, Darlington feels that way so they’re both intermediate style tracks to me. The size doesn’t really matter.”
