“Not anywhere close to Penske”: Kyle Larson makes concerning admission about Hendrick Motorsports’ short-track package

Kyle Larson opened up about Hendrick Motorsports' short-track racing package ahead of the playoff race at Gateway. Speaking about their setup, the HMS driver said they were nowhere close to Team Penske when it comes to short tracks such as Gateway and Phoenix.

Following an underwhelming show by the Hendrick Motorsports contingent at the recently concluded playoff race at Darlington, questions were raised regarding the team's future races, especially at the upcoming race at the World Wide Technology Raceway this weekend. Speaking of which, Larson shared a concern about his team.

The #5 driver, who had a tire test at the Gateway track this summer, is aware of the challenges the track can present. However, as per Larson, his team is not yet ready for the challenges, not as much as Team Penske.

"We had a great test at Gateway earlier this year, and that's kind of led us down a different path with our short-track package here lately — and it seems to be better," Larson said about it.

"I would say we're still not anywhere close to Penske, and we've gotten closer to Gibbs, but we've gotten better, which is a plus. We still have a few more short tracks to go to kind of fine-tune our package and hopefully hit where we need to at Phoenix."

The World Wide Technology Raceway is a track that has seen Team Penske's success in the last few years — Joey Logano won in 2022, while Austin Cindric did it in 2024. In 2023, Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch took the victory.

Kyle Larson entered the playoffs with +26 points. After the Darlington race, he is in third place with +38 points. He is currently out of elimination danger, but his teammate, Alex Bowman, is under the cutline.

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Kyle Larson hopeful for a "good" outcome at Gateway for an impetus at Phoenix

Hendrick Motorsports star, Kyle Larson, stated that he was looking forward to having a good race at the upcoming playoff race at the World Wide Technology Raceway, at Gateway, which could prove to be an impetus for the Phoenix race.

Kyle Larson (5) in turn one during the Cookouts Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway - Source: Imagn Images

Speaking about this, here's what the #5 driver said:

"We’ve been really bad at Gateway but a little bit better at Phoenix," Larson said. "If we can be good at Gateway in the same ballpark as [Penske and Gibbs], that would give us some confidence going to Phoenix."

Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway will take place on September 7 at 3 PM ET, and the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix, the title decider, will take place on November 2.