Kyle Larson looks to break winless drought as NASCAR returns to Chicagoland
JOLIET, Ill. — When it comes to 1.5-mile tracks, Kyle Larson is always confident. With NASCAR returning to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend, there is even more reason for optimism for the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
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Larson has a successful history on the bumpy asphalt of Chicagoland, a D-shaped oval circuit. He has four top-five finishes in six Cup Series starts at the speedway about 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. His 6.17 average finish is tops in track history among drivers with multiple starts.
Sunday is the first Cup Series race at Chicagoland since 2019, but Larson participated in two days of testing at the track in April. He had one of the fastest cars in practice on Friday.
“I felt like we learned a lot about our race car at the test that has benefited the four of us as we’ve moved on from it,” Larson said, referring to fellow Hendrick drivers Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman. “So yeah, I think just extra laps here gives some confidence, but everybody’s so good, they’re going to get the speed fast.”
The 33-year-old Larson is looking to stop a 42-race drought dating to his win at Kansas in May 2025. It looks as if the two-time Cup Series champion is rounding into form midway through the season, posting top-five finishes in five of his last six races, including fourth at Sonoma last weekend.
Larson was second in the previous two Cup races at Chicagoland, losing to Bowman in 2019 and Kyle Busch in a memorable finish in 2018. When it comes to NASCAR’s top series, he remains in search of his first win at the speedway.
Larson rewatched his last-lap duel with Busch before he tested at the track in April, and he watched the highlights again ahead of his return this weekend.
Busch died in May at age 41, and Larson said watching the end of the race has a different meaning for him now.
“It was a really neat battle and it’s always fun to be a part of battles that still to this day get replayed, and I’ve been a part of a few,” Larson said. “So yeah, just wish he was here for obvious reasons and we could have another battle.”
Larson is taking on Byron this weekend in one of the most intriguing matchups for the second round of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament receives $1 million.
There were no signs of any awkwardness as Larson and Byron discussed their own duel within the race on Friday.
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“It would be fun to go heads up with William, but it’s really not something that you’re too focused on in the race,” Larson said. “I think you’re always just kind of focused on winning and if you win, I mean that takes care of it. Yeah, as it gets closer to the race, I think you pay a little bit of attention to it, but I’m just trying to do a good job.”
Hamlin continues pole dominance on ovals
Denny Hamlin has the pole position for a NASCAR Cup Series race — again.
Hamlin had a lap time of 30.296 seconds at 178.241 m.p.h. in Saturday qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway. It was just enough to edge Larson in second at 30.297 seconds and 178.235 m.p.h. in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“We got very fortunate that the last 12 cars had full sun, 100 percent sun (over the track),” Hamlin said. “The last few had probably like 90 percent, but that was, I think, the deciding factor. As we saw right after I went, the track, it definitely got hotter, and it seemed like the corner speeds of those guys started to slow down.”
The 45-year-old Hamlin, a 2015 winner at Chicagoland, is going for his fifth victory this season. He arrived at Chicagoland with a one-point lead over 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick for the top spot in the Cup Series standings. Hamlin co-owns 23XI Racing with NBA legend Michael Jordan.
It was Hamlin’s third straight pole on an oval track. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has four poles this season in his No. 11 Toyota and 52 for his career, snapping a tie with Ryan Newman for ninth on the NASCAR list.
“They did a really good job with my car overnight,” Hamlin said. “We worked for a long time with the team, trying to figure out what I need to go faster and execute around here.”
Larson posted his 12th top-10 start this year and his fourth in seven races at Chicagoland Speedway.
Larson was followed by RFK Racing drivers Chris Buescher (178.153 m.p.h.) and Brad Keselowski (178.089). It was the first time that RFK had two cars qualify in the top five since Darlington in May 2024.
Ty Gibbs (178.083) rounded out the top five for Sunday’s race, followed by Christopher Bell (177.643) and Chase Briscoe (177.637). Connor Zilisch was the fastest qualifying rookie at 21st.
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