This past weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson made his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start since filling in for the injured Connor Zilisch at JR Motorsports at Texas Motor Speedway back in May, and he made his first start for Hendrick Motorsports, the team for which he also competes full-time in the Cup Series, since the April race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Larson, who also finished in fourth place at Homestead-Miami Speedway in his first start of the Xfinity Series season in what wound up being the only national series race he did not win that weekend, swept the stages and won at Bristol, and he won again at Texas.
He had a shot to win Saturday's race at Indy before a late mistake on a restart ironically opened up the door for the rookie sensation Zilisch, who took advantage to claim his series-leading fifth win of the year (and third in a row).
Larson is technically allowed to compete in one more Xfinity Series race this year; full-time Cup drivers with at least three years of experience are allowed to compete in up to five. However, he does not currently have any more races lined up at NASCAR's second highest level in 2025.
Kyle Larson replacement confirmed by Hendrick for Iowa
Hendrick Motorsports, however, are still set to field the No. 17 Chevrolet in this coming Saturday afternoon's race at Iowa Speedway, and a familiar face is set to be back behind the wheel.
Corey Day, who made his fourth and most recent start for the team at Sonoma Raceway earlier this month, is set to drive the No. 17 car in Saturday's 250-lap race around the four-turn, 0.894-mile (1.439-kilometer) Newton, Iowa oval.
Though he won't compete in all 12 remaining races on this year's schedule, Day is effectively set to become the car's primary driver moving forward. He is set to compete in six of those 12 races.
Like Larson, Cup teammates William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Chase Elliott have all driven the car this year, but none of them have any further starts lined up. Jake Finch is the only other driver to have driven the car so far this year, having just done so at Dover Motor Speedway two weekends ago.
Rajah Caruth is also expected to drive it at some point, but a location has not yet been confirmed. As for Day, Saturday's race is set to mark his final appearance of the regular season. He is also set to compete in the playoff races at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix Raceway.
In four starts so far, his top result is 11th place at Nashville Superspeedway, back in early June.
The CW Network is set to provide live coverage of the Hy-Vee PERKS 250 from Iowa Speedway starting at 4:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 2. If you have not yet had a chance to begin a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss any of the action!