Connor Zilisch remains sidelined with a back injury he suffered in a crash during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway two weekends ago, and objectively speaking, his injury came at the perfect time, with the Xfinity Series now set for a three-week break after having only raced once since his injury.
Kyle Larson stepped in for Zilisch in this past Saturday's race at Texas Motor Speedway and won, but Zilisch is expected to be good to go for the next race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 24.
However, the 18-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native had also been planning to compete in this Saturday's Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway for Spire Motorsports; he has not competed in the series since last year.
Due to his injury, that possibility was ruled out fairly early on, and according to Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass, Larson believed that he may be called upon to replace him again.
Larson made two Truck Series starts in the team's No. 07 Chevrolet earlier this year, his first two starts since 2023. He won at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished in second place at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Kyle Larson not running Truck race at Kansas
However, it was William Byron, one of his Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series teammates, who was included on the entry list for this 134-lap Heart of Health Care 200 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kansas City, Kansas oval.
Byron competed for the team at Martinsville Speedway and finished in 14th place. It was his first start for the team since he won at the same track back in 2022, and it marked his first Truck Series start of any kind since 2023.
Spire Motorsports' other shared entry is set to be driven by Carson Hocevar, who competes for the team full-time in the Cup Series. Hocevar made his first start of the Truck Series season this past weekend at Texas and finished in 17th place.
The Heart of Health Care 200 is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Kansas Speedway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, May 10. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!