When it comes to racing in Kansas, Toyota doesn’t need a map to find the victory lane. The carmaker has placed a winner on the city’s 1.5-mile intermediate speedway in seven of the last nine Cup Series events. Heading to the midwest once against this Sunday it is poised strong as the favorite to grab maximum points. However, Chevrolet – through Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) – could foil the after party plans.
In the first two intermediate track races on the 2024 schedule, in Las Vegas and Texas, HMS drivers found the victory lane. A key point to note is that the victories were not by William Byron, who has won three other races this year, but by Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. The fact that there are multiple drivers of winning caliber in the team’s garage puts HMS as the best contender to upset Toyota’s dominance.
Of the four drivers who’ll be wearing HMS colors on Sunday, Kyle Larson is the best bet to get past the Toyotas. Piloting the #5 Chevrolet Camaro since 2021, he has finished outside the top-10 just once in Kansas. He has 1 win and 4 top-5 results in the car to back up his case. The second-best bet would be Chase Elliott. He won in 2018 and finished inside the top-10 in his last two Kansas outings.
Byron and Alex Bowman are in pretty great form heading to the race as well. Byron is a three-time winner already this season and Bowman has 5 top-10 finishes in the last seven races. According to NBC Sports, Hendrick drivers led 46% of the two races in Kansas last year. Should the four-car team manage to put up a similar performance this time and manage to execute to the end, Toyota might very well call it day.
A glimpse at the dominance of Toyota in Kansas ahead of Sunday’s race
Since the Next-Gen car was introduced in 2022, a Toyota has won all the four races in Kansas. 23XI Racing completed a sweep in 2022 with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace grabbing wins. Last year, Tyler Reddick won in fall and Denny Hamlin won in Spring. The latter’s expertise in the midwest isn’t limited to the Next-Gen era. He has a total of four victories on the track making it one of his best venues.
The 2024 Toyota Camry XSE has shown blithering pace and been a complete beast on the track. Talking about the machine on NBC, former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte said, “This new Camry seems to have super efficient downforce. It will really show up when those tires age at Kansas, what is known as a low grip mile and a half racetrack.” All said and done, it’s not going to be an easy task for Hendrick Motorsports to grant Chevrolet that sweet taste of beating Toyota this weekend.
