NASCAR champion Kyle Larson will look to defend his crown at the Auto Club Speedway after thrilling win last year

The 2023 Pala Casino 400 is set to roll out this Sunday (February 26) at Auto Club Speedway and Kyle Larson, the defending winner of the event, will look to defend his title. The #5 Chevrolet driver impressed everyone with his driving skills last year, taking second career win to his name at Auto Club Speedway in February 2022.

Auto Club Speedway will host the second NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. Larson and his #5 Hendrick Motorsports team will look to replicate last year’s performance on Sunday.

During an interaction with the media ahead of the race, Kyle Larson was asked what he would do to defend his victory at Auto Club Speedway. The 30-year-old answered, saying:

“We seem to be really good on that style racetrack. It’s a place that I really love with the line changes and the (way the) tires wear out. I remember last year you could draft pretty well down the straightaways. It was a fun race. Hopefully, we can be fast again and win in my home state again.”

Kyle Larson will start in 15th place at the two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped Superspeedway on Sunday. Unsurprisingly, the 2021 Cup Series champion is the favorite to win the race and will hopefully take his career win tally to 20.

During Larson’s last year stint at Auto Club Speedway, he started from the rear of the field for an unapproved adjustment and took the lead from Daniel Suarez with three laps remaining in the race to win by a margin of 0.195 seconds.

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“It will play out much differently this year than what we saw last year” – Kyle Larson’s crew chief

Cliff Daniels, crew chief of Kyle Larson, spoke about the difference in strategy this year compared to last year at Auto Club Speedway, Daniels said:

“I would expect the race to play out a lot more similar to a standard intermediate race with longer green flag runs and potential green flag pit stops. That is where we will have to get into some strategy."

"We are doing our homework to prepare for whatever is going to come in that regard. I feel like it will play out much differently this year than what we saw last year.”

Catch Kyle Larson in action at the Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023.