By Neha Dwivedi
Kyle Larson will start 22nd at Phoenix Raceway, while the five drivers immediately behind him in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase take the top five spots. That qualifying split will give his competitors a chance to attack stage points and track position early in Sunday’s Freeway Insurance 500 as Larson tries to work the No. 5 Chevrolet through traffic.
Denny Hamlin will enter the race 49 points behind Larson and start P4; Christopher Bell, 51 back, will start P5, while Chase Briscoe trails by 65 and will start P3. Team Penske will control the front row with Ryan Blaney on pole and Joey Logano second. With Phoenix opening the final four-race stretch, Larson will have to face his most obvious early track-position disadvantage of the Chase.
Kyle Larson’s Phoenix admission is going to give his rivals more reason to attack
Larson had already questioned Hendrick Motorsports’ underlying Phoenix speed before Saturday produced that starting position. “We’re able to finish well, but I think that just has a lot to do with team execution.” He said the No. 5 often performs like an 8th-to-13th-place car at Phoenix even when the final result looks stronger, and he credited execution for salvaging those afternoons. The driver made those comments before practice and qualifying.
During practice, Larson ranked 13th on single-lap practice speed and 12th in the best consecutive 10-lap average before qualifying 22nd. Traffic, tire wear, and warmer race-day conditions can alter those comparisons. His first challenge will be reaching the top 10 before Stage 1 ends, because the drivers ahead of him can collect points while he spends laps passing cars. Interestingly, no winner in the past 18 Cup races at Phoenix has started deeper than 13th.
By contrast, Blaney has the best chance to control that opening run. He won his fifth pole of 2026, a career-best for one season, with a 137.143 mph lap, edging his teammate, Logano, by 0.032 seconds to complete Penske’s front-row sweep. The No. 12 driver also topped single-lap practice speed.
Phoenix will also make the first pit stall unusually valuable to Blaney. He expects the box to let him leave more directly and find traction without angling around another stall on a slippery surface. That can help his crew protect positions during stops. The Team Penske driver praised the pit crew he received from Austin Cindric’s No. 2 team when his team reshuffled crews at the beginning of the Chase, saying that group has delivered a solid postseason so far.
Roger Penske’s team still needs much more than respectable finishes. Blaney trails Larson by 85 points, while Logano sits 92 behind. The three-time Cup Champion called his situation “pretty desperate,” because Penske traditionally runs well at Phoenix.
“It’s a must-win scenario and probably multiple times to do that, so if we want to win this whole thing and do it without wishing bad luck upon somebody, then we’re going to have to win.”
Briscoe, Hamlin and Bell starting directly behind the Penske pair also mean Ford’s best-positioned title hopefuls must deal with three JGR cars before they can maximize any Larson setback.
Also, Larson’s previous performances strongly backs that 22nd does not dictate his finish. In March, he had started P2 at Phoenix, fell to 13th by the end of Stage 1, left pit road 26th after major adjustments, and fought back to third without leading a lap.
That finish marked his third consecutive third-place finish at the track. And now, Sunday will show whether Hendrick can repeat that recovery from a much worse starting spot.