{"id":4281,"date":"2026-07-04T22:33:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T22:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4281"},"modified":"2026-07-04T22:33:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T22:33:42","slug":"kyle-larson-looks-to-break-winless-drought-as-nascar-returns-to-chicagoland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4281","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Larson looks to break winless drought as NASCAR returns to Chicagoland"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>JOLIET, Ill. \u2014 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4279\">How the Juliet House shattered my fantasies<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>\u201cI felt like we learned a lot about our race car at the test that has benefited the four of us as we\u2019ve moved on from it,\u201d Larson said, referring to fellow Hendrick drivers Chase Elliott, William Byron, and Alex Bowman. \u201cSo yeah, I think just extra laps here gives some confidence, but everybody\u2019s so good, they\u2019re going to get the speed fast.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>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\u00a0Sonoma\u00a0last weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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\u2019s top series, he remains in search of his first win at the speedway.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span>Larson rewatched\u00a0his last-lap duel\u00a0with Busch before he tested at the track in April, and he watched the highlights again ahead of his return this weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Busch died in May at age 41, and Larson said watching the end of the race has a different meaning for him now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt was a really neat battle and it\u2019s always fun to be a part of battles that still to this day get replayed, and I\u2019ve been a part of a few,\u201d Larson said. \u201cSo yeah, just wish he was here for obvious reasons and we could have another battle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Larson is taking on Byron this weekend in one of the most intriguing matchups for the second round of NASCAR\u2019s\u00a0In-Season Challenge. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament receives $1 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There were no signs of any awkwardness as Larson and Byron discussed their own duel within the race on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4277\">Azzedine Ounahi scores twice to help Morocco beat Canada in the World Cup round of 16<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt would be fun to go heads up with William, but it\u2019s really not something that you\u2019re too focused on in the race,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI think you\u2019re 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\u2019m just trying to do a good job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Hamlin continues pole dominance on ovals<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Denny Hamlin has the pole position for a\u00a0NASCAR Cup Series\u00a0race \u2014 again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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\u00a0Larson\u00a0in second at 30.297 seconds and 178.235 m.p.h. in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe got very fortunate that the last 12 cars had full sun, 100 percent sun (over the track),\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span>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\u00a023XI Racing with NBA legend Michael Jordan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It was Hamlin\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThey did a really good job with my car overnight,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cWe worked for a long time with the team, trying to figure out what I need to go faster and execute around here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Larson posted his 12th top-10 start this year and his fourth in seven races at Chicagoland Speedway.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ty Gibbs (178.083) rounded out the top five for Sunday\u2019s race, followed by Christopher Bell (177.643) and Chase Briscoe (177.637). Connor Zilisch was the fastest qualifying rookie at 21st. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4275\">Tadej Pogacar starts quest for fifth Tour de France title, but Jonas Vingegaard grabs edge in Barcelona<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Hendrick Motorsports driver has been successful on the bumpy, D-shaped oval circuit in the past, and looks for more in Sunday&#8217;s first race here since 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kyle Larson looks to break winless drought as NASCAR returns to Chicagoland - 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