Kyle Larson Clinches Third NASCAR Cup Title at Homestead as Stage 1 Ends

Updated 23:34 UTC

Update: Ryan Blaney won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, passing Tyler Reddick with two laps to go and holding on to win by 0.314 seconds, NASCAR said. It was the fourth win of the season for Blaney and the 21st of his career in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford, and he finished the season fourth in the points standings. Reddick finished second, with William Byron third, Christopher Bell fourth and Bubba Wallace fifth. Denny Hamlin finished sixth after touching the wall with six laps to go. Larson, who had clinched the championship at the end of Stage 1, finished the race 12th. Bell held on to second place in the final standings, seven points ahead of Hamlin.

Kyle Larson is a three time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and he knew it before the season finale was even half run. Larson clinched the 2026 title at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday when Stage 1 ended on Lap 80, sealing his third championship after his titles in 2021 and 2025, and his second in a row.

Larson finished fourth in the stage and collected seven stage points. The segment ended under caution after Chase Briscoe's No. 19 Toyota went up in smoke on Lap 78. Larson had come into the finale 67 points ahead of Christopher Bell and 70 points ahead of Denny Hamlin. Bell finished third in the stage and Hamlin fifth, and once Larson's seven points were added to the point guaranteed for finishing the race, along with his tiebreaker advantage, neither rival had a path left to catch him.

On the team radio, crew chief Cliff Daniels told him: "We got it. It's over."

Decided while the race went on

The championship was settled while the finale continued. Stage 2 was under way with Tyler Reddick leading in the running order reported by USA Today live coverage, and no race winner had been decided. The title fight, though, was finished.

A place in the record book

Larson, 34, from Elk Grove, California, drives the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. He is the 11th driver with at least three Cup titles, joining Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano as three time champions. He is the first driver to win back to back titles since Jimmie Johnson completed five straight in 2010, and the third youngest three time champion behind Jeff Gordon and Johnson. Daniels became the eighth crew chief with at least three championships.

The title is a record 16th Cup championship for Hendrick Motorsports, spread across five drivers. Johnson won seven, Gordon four, Larson three, and Terry Labonte and Chase Elliott one each. Larson is the third Hendrick driver to reach at least three titles.

A season that turned late

The championship closed a season that started slowly. Larson went through the whole 26 race regular season without a win, and his drought reached 51 races before he snapped it at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in the second race of the Chase. He then swept both stages and led 235 laps at Kansas, and he won at Talladega for the first superspeedway victory of his career, a rebound that came after a 34th place finish at Phoenix had cut his lead to five points.

One week before the finale, at Martinsville, Larson went a lap down early and scored no stage points. A caution involving Bell and Hamlin gave him the free pass, and he recovered to finish ninth with 28 points, enough to carry a commanding lead into Homestead.