Streaking Kyle Larson looks to pad points lead at Charlotte as NASCAR playoffs reach midway point

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Larson didn't win a race during the regular season.

But the defending NASCAR Cup champion already has two postseason victories along with three other top-five finishes, vaulting him into a commanding lead as the "Chase” heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway for Sunday's Bank of America 400.

Larson, who is looking for his third championship overall, leads regular-season champion Denny Hamlin by 40 points. But he knows he still has some work to do.

Christopher Bell is lurking in third place only 55 points back heading to one of his favorite tracks, while Joey Logano (71 points behind), Ryan Blaney (80) and last week's winner at Las Vegas Chase Briscoe (84) are all within 100 points of the lead with five of 10 playoff races remaining.

As for his team's uptick in production, Larson said his Hendrick Motorsports team has taken the things it learned from the regular season and applied them to the playoffs.

He said the team is peaking at the right time.

“It's been amazing," Larson said. “I definitely didn't think we would start off the Chase like this. ... It was tough to stay motivated and I didn't think we would get to this point back in the summer. But you can never count out Hendrick Motorsports.”

The turnaround of the No. 5 team hasn't surprised Logano one bit.

“You're talking about Kyle Larson and Hendrick Motorsports,” Logano said. “These guys have won championships before and when you have a bit of a slump it's not like they forgot how to do it. It's just they are trying to catch back up, and now somebody (in their organization) has found something to make them go faster.”

Rain washed out practice and qualifying on Saturday, which means Larson will start on the pole based off the metrics now used by NASCAR. Briscoe will start alongside Larson, followed by Tyler Reddick and Blaney on the second row.

The metrics were not kind to Bell.

He will start 17th despite being third in the playoff hunt.

Bell was outspoken Saturday about the situation, saying that while he doesn’t have any issues with the metrics used by NASCAR he does feel racing’s governing body should do everything it can to have qualifying — even it if means doing so on Sunday morning before the race.

Charlotte is the fourth playoff race — and the ninth overall this season — in which weather wiped out qualifying.

“I just think we should be practicing and we should be qualifying,” Bell said. “We’re the top level of auto racing in America and you’re not going to see the other forms of racing line the races up without qualifying. I just think we need to qualify.”

Hamlin is trying to put a disastrous 16th-place finish last week behind him and regroup at his home track.

Hamlin spun out at Las Vegas and then had a misplay in which he pitted rather than staying out and trapping Larson a lap down. Once back on the lead lap, Larson was able to navigate his way up through the field to finish second, extending his series lead.

Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast earlier this week that he and his team took their eyes off the ball for just a second — and it cost them.

“Had I known that Larson was a lap down and he would have got his lap back by me pitting, I would have never turned down pit road," Hamlin said. “I don’t care what the crew chief says. I would have never turned down pit road. I think if you had time to think about it and all the things, I think there’s no question that we do something different next time around."

Hamlin said he has completely disengaged from the public this week, something he frequently does following a tough race when he feels like he needs to regroup.

Brad Keselowski said he's still evaluating his options after his split with RFK Racing , hinting that the future looks bright for him.

“There are more opportunities than you guys are aware of right now,” Keselowski said. “There's a lot of behind-the-scenes chatter that doesn't always make its way (to the media)."

The 42-year-old Keselowski said he wants to race for at least three to five more years, but it needs to be the right situation. He has won 36 Cup Series races during his career but only one since 2020.

He thinks he can return to victory lane much like Mark Martin did late in his career if he finds the right ride.

“I feel like in tier one equipment I can win a lot more races,” Keselowski said. “There's an old Kevin Harvick saying ‘you can’t make a slow racecar go fast.' That's just how it is. I don't think our cars (at RFK Racing) are awful, but we're clearly not tier one."

Kasey Kahne, an 18-time Cup Series winner and one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers, will return to Truck Series racing full time for Spire Motorsports in 2027, it was announced earlier this week.

Kahne has made only six career starts in the Truck Series, but won five of them.

“Kasey is not only a legendary driver but is someone that Spire shares a long history with,” Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson said. "Having him in one of our trucks running for a championship means a lot to our organization and we fully trust that he has the same competitive nature and drive to win that he’s always had.”

Drivers were still abuzz in Saturday's media session over the burnout performed by 11-year-old Brexton Busch Friday night as part of a celebration of life ceremony for his late father, Kyle Busch.

"I could not imagine, like literally could not imagine, being his age and driving a Cup car and doing a burnout at Charlotte Motor Speedway," Bell said. “I know he enjoyed that and I hope he cherishes that for the rest of his life.”

Larson called the younger Busch, an aspiring Cup driver, mature beyond his years.

After Charlotte, the Cup series heads to Phoenix, Talladega and Martinsville before the season finale Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami.

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