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05/10 17:59 CDT Kyle Larson is ready for another busy May with 'the Double' on deck. But first, he defends at Kansas Kyle Larson is ready for another busy May with 'the Double' on deck. But first, he defends at Kansas By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) --- Kyle Larson isn't quite ready to start thinking about his return to the Indianapolis 500. That will change by Sunday night. And he would like nothing better than to have those thoughts of "the Double" --- running every lap of the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day Memorial Day weekend --- enter his consciousness than in victory lane at Kansas Speedway, where Larson will be defending his win from a year ago in the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history. "I haven't really thought about it much at all. Just kind of been excited about these upcoming races and tracks we can run well at," Larson said before qualifying on the pole for Sunday's race. "I think once the checkered flag flies here at Kansas, I'll be excited about Indy, because I'll be headed to Indy." He has qualifying on deck at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next weekend. Larson certainly had a memorable month of May last year, when he roared around the outside of Chris Buescher and beat him to the finish line by 0.001 seconds to win the race at Kansas Speedway. He headed from there to Indianapolis, where weather made for a stressful race weekend and ultimately scuttled his shot at completing all 1,100 laps. Larson was among the leading cars in the rain-delayed Indy 500 until a late penalty for speeding on pit lane left him 18th. He then hopped a plane to Charlotte, where rain there kept him from making a single lap in the Cup Series race. "It's been a bit busy for me here, just with a lot of racing I've done," said Larson, who was involved in a hard crash in his sprint car at nearby Lakeside Speedway in the High Limit Racing series Friday night. "With Indy, I haven't done a whole lot, but there's not much you can do studying wise. You can watch film, which I will and all that, but for Indy you have a lot of time really. So I think once you get in the car and understand the balance of the car, you can pick apart studying and you know, where your strengths and where your weaknesses are." There don't seem to be many weaknesses when it comes to Larson in his No. 5 for Hendrick Motorsports. He already has won at Homestead and Bristol this season, and he's finished in the top five in each of the past three races. Ryan Blaney doesn't think there are many weaknesses when it come to Larson in any car. And he will be among the many Cup Series drivers keeping an eye on how Larson fares in both the Indy 500 and his dash to the Coca-Cola 600 this year. But as part of Team Penske, Blaney said, he hopes Larson finishes no better than fourth on May 25 in the Indy 500 --- right behind two-time defending champion Josef Newgarden and Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and Will Power. "I thought it was really cool last year. He did a really good job there until he sped on pit road," Blaney said. "I'm sure he will be in contention, but yeah, Penske loyalty. I want him to run fourth. But you do root for him because he's representing us."

Other qualifying tidbits Larson turned a lap of 183.730 mph to earn the pole, and in quite a coincidence, Buescher will be starting alongside him after a lap of 183.374. Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick will be right behind them in the second row. Bell had won the last three poles at Kansas. The last to win four at any track was Larson at Sonoma Raceway from 2017-22.

Up-and-comers Truck Series star Corey Heim will make his fourth career Cup Series start when he drives a fourth entry for 23XI Racing. His first two last year came with Legacy Motor Club, including a 22nd-place finish in the spring race at Kansas. Meanwhile, Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love will make his third career Cup Series start for Richard Childress Racing. He made his debut for RCR last year at Bristol and was 31st last week in a car from Beard Motorsports.

Smoothing things out Carson Hocevar tried to smooth things over with Ryan Preece this week after causing them to wreck late in last week's race at Texas. Preece called him out, saying Hocevar has "no respect for his equipment and any other driver out there." "He heard my point of view and I heard his, right? And we have a really good understanding going forward," Hocevar said.

Odds and Ends Larson at +375 is the betting favorite to win Sunday, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by Blaney (+700) and Tyler Reddick (+750). ... Joey Logano is the only driver to take Ford to victory lane in the last 12 races at Kansas. He is coming off a win last week at Texas. ... The last six Cup Series races at Kansas have been won by six different drivers. ___ AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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