NASCAR: Kyle Larson penalized before Phoenix race
By Asher Fair
Kyle Larson has been penalized for an unapproved adjustment ahead of Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway.
If reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson wants to win for a second time at Phoenix Raceway, he is going to need to do it from the back of the 36-car field.
Larson qualified for Sunday afternoon’s 312-lap Ruoff Mortgage 500, the fourth of 36 races on the 2022 schedule, around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) oval in Avondale, Arizona in seventh place behind the wheel of his #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
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However, despite the fact that he advanced to the second and final round of qualifying, he was dealing with a steering issue during the session, and the #5 team opted to fix this issue prior to Sunday’s race.
As a result, Larson is set to drop to the rear of the field at the start of the race.
Due to unapproved adjustments to address steering issue, @KyleLarsonRacin will start at the rear of the field on Sunday.
— No. 5 Team (@Hendrick5Team) March 12, 2022
A full starting lineup can be found here.
Of Larson’s 17 career Cup Series victories, only one has come after he has had to drop to the rear of the field at the start. However, that one win was his first win of the 2022 season, which he earned two weeks ago at Auto Club Speedway in the season’s second race.
Larson won the most recent race at Phoenix Raceway last November, the second ever Championship 4 season finale at the track. The win was his first win in 15 starts at the track, and it earned him his first career championship in only his first season driving for Rick Hendrick’s team.
The win was his 10th of the 2021 season, making him the first driver to win 10 races in a season since former Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson won the second of his record seven titles in 2007.
While he only has one win at Phoenix Raceway, he has not finished outside of the top seven at the track in any of his last six starts there.
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Tune in to Fox at 3:30 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the Ruoff Mortgage 500 from Phoenix Raceway. If you have not started your free trial of FuboTV, now would be a great time to do so!