Kyle Larson is used to setting the benchmark in NASCAR, but 2026 is shaping up to be a season where he is chasing it instead. As rivals surge and Hendrick Motorsports struggles to assert its usual dominance, the reigning champion finds himself facing an unfamiliar battle: staying relevant in a rapidly shifting competitive order.

And Larson knows it all too well. In a conversation with Kevin Harvick and Will Buxton, Larson did not hesitate to point out the biggest weakness yet.

“For me, I’m not the most consistent, but I feel like I can be more consistent,” he said. “You know the other format you take more risks with it and so I think you have a little bit less risk that will help the consistency and even when more races too but I think with big teams that consistently run in front is going to help a little more where you can’t get taken out of circumstances easily as you could with the previous playoff format.”

So far in 2026, Larson’s campaign has been solid but far from dominant. He has yet to win a race and has hovered around the back end of the top 10 in points, sitting roughly between 7th and 10th in the standings depending on the race weekend.

While he has consistently stayed in contention with multiple top 10 finishes, the lack of race-winning pace stands out sharply, especially for a driver who dominated fractions of recent seasons. Earlier in the year, he was also outside the top 10 after four races, underlining a slower-than-expected start.

What amplifies the concern even more is the strength of rival teams. Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske have looked for more consistency in the opening phase of the season. Drivers like Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, and Ty Gibbs, all belonging to the Toyota camp, have been among the most consistent on the grid, stringing together multiple top finishes while Penske’s lineup, including Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano, has regularly featured near the front.

In contrast, HMS, despite flashes from drivers like Chase and William Byron, hasn’t matched that same week-to-week sharpness across the board.

With competitors capitalizing on both speed and execution, Larson’s admission about his own inconsistency may be the most telling sign yet, because in 2026, consistency isn’t just an advantage; it’s quickly becoming the difference between contending and falling behind.

Moreover, the team has been grappling with its new body, struggling to find a rhythm early in the season. In fact, 2026 marks the first time since 2019 that Hendrick failed to win any of the opening six races, barring Chase Elliott’s recent victory, a stat that may seem small on paper but speaks volumes given the sky-high standards at their Concorde base.

Additionally, the No.5 driver is also enduring something he has seldom encountered since joining the team in 2021: a long winless streak.

His consistency and the championship yielded in 2025 somewhat masked the drought for Larson and his team, who now head into Bristol on a 31-race winless stretch, the longest of his HMS tenure. And in a season where others are raising the bar, that distinction could prove decisive.

Can Larson crack his winless streak at Bristol and Kansas?

Amid a difficult stretch, Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway are firmly marked as crucial opportunities for Kyle Larson’s team and for good reason. The 33-year-old was untouchable at both venues during the 2025 spring stretch, delivering dominant, statement victories that highlighted his peak form.

At Bristol, Larson put on a clinic, leading an astonishing 411 of 500 laps in a commanding performance. He followed that up at Kansas by securing pole position, leading 221 of 267 laps and cruising to another emphatic win.

However, the latter half of the season told a different story as he finished 32nd at Bristol and sixth at Kansas in the fall races. That dip underlined a broad issue; the No.5 team hasn’t consistently shown the same race-winning speed in recent months.

Still, if there are tracks where a turnaround feels likely, it is definitely these two. A strong result or better yet, a victory over the next couple of races could inject fresh momentum into Larson’s campaign and reignite his title defense as the season heads towards its summer stretch.