Drivers to watch in NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas

NASCAR returns to a 1.5-mile oval this weekend with a trip to Kansas Speedway.

Kansas marks the second traditional mile-and-a-half track on the Cup schedule. Las Vegas hosted the first in March followed by a race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was reconfigured and now features the sport’s superspeedway rules package.

Who should you have your eye on this weekend?

Nobody led more laps at Kansas in 2021 than Kyle Larson. The No. 5 Chevrolet was out front for a combined 262 laps between the track’s two races, capitalizing in October by leading 130 circuits from the pole and onto the win.

His 2022 results remain a little less consistent than the standard set one year ago, but Larson has turned in four finishes of sixth or better in the past six races. A mechanical failure at Darlington led to a last-place finish, ending a three-race streak of top-six results.

Harvick has three Cup wins at Kansas Speedway and is on a heck of a hot streak. The 2014 Cup champion has finished inside the top four in each of the past four Kansas contests, including two runner-up finishes.

His last win in Kansas City came in May 2018. His next two starts resulted in finishes outside the top 10, but he hasn’t finished worse than ninth since then. Harvick has scored points in 18 of the 20 stages at Kansas and finished third in last October’s playoff race.

Elliott is a former Kansas winner, scoring his lone win at the facility in October 2018. While he hasn’t gone back to victory lane there since, he has been consistently fast at the 1.5-mile oval.

Elliott has notched six finishes of sixth or better in the past seven Kansas races, with eight career top 10s in 12 Kansas starts. The No. 9 Chevrolet has finished inside the top 10 in each of the past