Kyle Larson secured his third NASCAR Cup Series championship on Sunday even though he went the entire 26-race regular season without a single victory. The title was decided early during the first stage of the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, leaving the final laps to play out without the pressure of a points battle. Larson finished 12th in the race and never led a lap, yet he still took home the biggest prize in the sport. He started the day 67 points clear of Christopher Bell and 70 points ahead of Denny Hamlin, a gap that proved too large for his rivals to bridge.
A Season of Two Halves
The path to this trophy was far from smooth for the driver of the No. 5 car. Larson entered the playoff Chase as the seventh seed, sitting 55 points behind Denny Hamlin after a rough start to the year. His team, Hendrick Motorsports, admitted the season began with some of their worst numbers on record while struggling with Chevrolet’s new car design. A dramatic drive from 11th to 1st on the final lap at Talladega marked the turning point that shifted momentum for the last ten races. He scored a maximum 76 points with a dominant win at Kansas after ending his winless streak at Gateway, then added a wild Talladega victory by charging from 11th on the final lap.
Per Kickin The Tires, Larson credited the turnaround to the people around him. “We absolutely could not have done what we did in the Chase without the teamwork that it took.” This victory made him the first back-to-back Cup champion since Jimmie Johnson’s five-title run ended in 2010. The win also joined him with a select group of three-time champions, a feat that highlights the resilience of his crew chief, Cliff Daniels, and the entire No. 5 team.
Redemption for Blaney
Tyler Reddick was leapfrogged by Ryan Blaney just before the white flag flew in an exciting finish to the race, though Larson claimed the title. Blaney had started the race in ninth place and moved up through the field after William Byron took the lead following the last green-flag pit stops. He led only seven laps during the event, but those laps came at the perfect moment to seal the victory. This marked the second time in a row Blaney has won the season finale, though it happened at two different tracks. The win served as a form of redemption for him after a heartbreaking finish to the 2024 season.
The race itself was dominated by Toyota drivers, who led 222 of the 267 laps, or about 83 percent of the event. Chase Briscoe started from the pole position but never made it to the end of the first stage due to a catastrophic engine failure that left him in 39th place. That mechanical issue ended his hopes of finishing second in the championship standings, dropping him to sixth in the final results. The championship weekend also included recognition of the late Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle as co-recipients of the Comcast Community Champion award for their work with families and disaster relief efforts.
Larson used the awards ceremony to thank his daughter Audrey for her tough love during the season. “A while back you told me I sucked at NASCAR and I want you to know I took that personally. So, I went out and won the championship. “I’m still waiting on that apology, by the way,” Larson said with a smile, according to Kickin the Tires. The 2026 NASCAR Cup season is now officially over, with all results final and the trophy case filled by a driver who proved that a winless start does not mean a winless end.
