Kyle Larson returns to Kansas hoping to end a 32-race drought at a place where he’s won three times

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — It has been nearly a year since two-time champion Kyle Larson reached victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series.

He knows the way to the one at Kansas Speedway quite well.

That was the site of his last victory in NASCAR’s top series, and two more of his 32 career wins. But it’s been a 32-race winless stretch for Larson dating back to last May, one that the No. 5 team hopes to snap when it returns to Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

“Every track is a measuring stick, so I wouldn’t say it’s any more when you come here,” Larson said, “but we do have a good package for this track, and this style of track. We always want to get better and all that. Just try to execute a good weekend.”

Larson could match Denny Hamlin for the most wins at Kansas with his fourth, and he needs to lead 25 laps to pass Kevin Harvick for that standard at the intermediate track. But even when he hasn’t been up front, Larson is usually close. He also has three second-place runs, a third-place finish and a couple of others top-5 runs dating back to his days with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Larson has been trending in the right direction, too.

He finished ninth a couple of weeks ago at Martinsville, where Chase Elliott gave Hendrick Motorsports its first win of the season, and Larson was dominant most of last weekend at Bristol. He led 284 laps before finishing third.

As for the team, Hendrick Motorsports is hoping to turn around an uneven season at a place where it has likewise had success. It has won three of the last four Kansas races, including a sweep last season — Larson winning in the spring, Elliott in the fall.

“Just try to execute a good weekend. Execute a good Saturday — that’s really important to feel your car’s balance out in practice, and then take that into qualifying,” Larson said. “Hopefully that goes well and we can start toward the front on (Sunday), and we can chip away throughout the day and give ourselves an opportunity at the end.”

Gibbs relishing win

Ty Gibbs was still savoring his first Cup Series win last week at Bristol, where he outdueled Larson and Ryan Blaney in his 131st career start in NASCAR’s top series. And the 23-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs acknowledged Saturday that he didn’t realize how hard it would be to win in the Cup Series after just a couple of seasons in what was then the Xfinity Series.

“I think I got a false sense of how easy it was,” Gibbs said. “It’s hard, for sure. But you have to get your ass kicked to get better.”

Gibbs won at Kansas in NASCAR’s second-tier series in 2021. He also won the same year in the ARCA Series.

Heim gets start for 23XI

Corey Heim has won twice at Kansas Speedway in the Truck Series, which made the track an enticing one for a spot start in the Cup Series for XI Racing. It will be the first time the No. 67 makes an appearance since the season-opening Daytona 500. Heim is expected to run 12 races for the team owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan this season.

Odds and ends

Larson (+425) is the favorite among sportsbooks, followed by Denny Hamlin (+450) and Christopher Bell (+550). Tyler Reddick (+850) is the No. 4 choice among bettors to win for the fifth time in the first 10 races this season. … Bell has led laps in each of the last eight races at Kansas Speedway. His only finish worse than eighth came when he crashed a few years ago. … Daniel Dye was second in the ARCA race Saturday behind Gio Ruggiero. Dye had been suspended by NASCAR earlier this season for mocking IndyCar driver David Malukas during a livestream. Dye apologized to Malukas in a social media post, calling his comments “careless.”

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