Kyle Larson Doesn’t See Himself as Las Vegas Favorite After Dominant Kansas Win
· Yahoo Sports
Kyle Larson won at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, but he doesn’t see himself as the favorite at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. Denny Hamlin is the NASCAR Cup Series points leader.
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Larson made the comments on Dale Jr Download podcast with Dale Earnhardt Jr. this week. Earnhardt asked if Kansas made Larson the favorite, since the two 1.5-mile tracks are similar.
Larson said he expects many of the same cars up front. He pointed to Hamlin’s recent record and speed at Las Vegas.
“Yeah, I mean, I think it’s gonna be a lot of the same faces for sure up front. But I would say they’re very, very similar.
“But I would still point to Denny as potentially being the favorite just based off of him winning the last two times there and just the raw speed that he had in his car at those races compared to the field.”
Hamlin won the South Point 400 at Las Vegas in October 2025 and the Pennzoil 400 there in March. He trails Larson by 26 points.
Larson said the Joe Gibbs Racing cars handle the track’s bumps better than his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“I feel like the Gibbs cars get over the bumps through one and two a little bit better than we do. And so they can carry a bit more speed and kind of be on offense a little bit better.
“But I do believe we have improved our car, and compared to our last two trips there. So that’s where I don’t really know how we’ll stack up to the Gibbs cars.”
Larson also named Team Penske as a contender. Austin Cindric finished second at Kansas, and Ryan Blaney finished fifth.
“The Penske cars, I would say Vegas is typically their better intermediate. And with them being really good at Kansas last week, that was a little bit surprising, I think, to all of us. So I would look at them as being even more of a contender this weekend.”
He said the field feels more even than it has in recent weeks.
“But yeah, it’s been fun. I feel like the field is a bit more equal. But we’ll see. There are still six races to go.
“And a lot of teams are still in this, even though it may not seem that way right now.”
Larson, who also races sprint cars and other forms of motorsports, led 235 of 267 laps at Kansas and swept both stages for the maximum 76 points. After the race, he said he wasn’t convinced he was better than the Toyotas there, since canceled qualifying put him on the front row.
Las Vegas should give a clearer answer. The South Point 400 is Sunday, Oct. 4, the fifth of 10 Chase races.