(photo credit Leon Hammack)

After a lackluster stretch of races during the summer, top-seeded Kyle Larson enters the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs fresh from back-to-back sixth-place finishes at Richmond Raceway and Daytona International Speedway.

Larson expects to be fast in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Darlington Raceway, one of his best tracks, but there are challenges on the horizon in each of the first two rounds—specifically World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (second race in the Round of 16) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (first race in the Round of 12).

“Yeah, I think still the shorter, flatter tracks (are potential weaknesses), so seeing Gateway and New Hampshire in the Playoffs is not something that I was thrilled about,” Larson acknowledged. “But I do think we’ve made our package better on that style of track. You know, I look at Iowa—we were fast and (Hendrick Motorsports teammate) William (Byron) won.

“Chase (Elliott) was fast. Alex (Bowman) was fast. When we went to Richmond, we were all really good again. Alex finished second, and I think I was in sixth. Chase was probably one of the best cars that night. William was good, as well. I do think we’ve gotten our cars better on those places, but we still need to probably be better. We’ll see when we get to Gateway and New Hampshire.”

In three starts at WWT Raceway, Larson has one top five, a finish of fourth in 2023. At New Hampshire, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet has posted six top fives in 14 outings, including third- and fourth-place results in his last two races there.

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!