“Nothing is hitting him” – Kyle Larson dominates Kansas

Kyle Larson is easily heralded as one of racing’s greatest talents, and that’s why he will come to Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the NASCAR Cup Series points leader for the Indianapolis 500 (Sunday, May 25).

He’ll race in a sprint car and hit 230 mph on Tuesday in preparation for the biggest race in the world.

Larson has wrecked his Indy 500 car in the past 18 days, won sprint car races, nearly got rear-ended by another sprint car, won an Xfinity Series race, finished second and fourth in Cup races, and dominated the Cup field Sunday at Kansas Speedway for his third win of the season.

In fact, he even had a race he didn’t compete in. Larson entered Saturday’s truck race at Kansas to replace the injured Connor Zilish, but William Byron asked him to do it and Larson was fine with that.

Most racers would have been left with anxiety after the accident, angry that the race was taken away from them, or they would have missed an opportunity to take another win. But not Larson.

• “Maybe I’m in enough crashes that I have a short memory,” Larson joked. 

Larson led 221 of 267 laps Sunday at Kansas, adjusting as the race went on how much he penalized the car to avoid the tire problems that other competitors experienced. 

He also took over the points lead from his Hendrick teammate Byron.

The ability to forget the past includes Friday’s accident at Lakeside Speedway, located a stone’s throw from the Cup track. While participating in the series, which he co-owns with his brother-in-law, Larson saw another car pull out in front of him and hit Larson’s car.

For the second year in a row, Larson enters the Indianapolis 500 as the points leader in the Cup Series. Larson doesn’t like to brag, but he sees his importance in that fact.