With the 2021 racing season coming to a close, it’s time to offer special recognition for stock-car racing’s championship performances from all levels of the sport. Recap the stellar seasons for multiple NASCAR, ARCA and touring series, plus the title hardware handed out in eNASCAR.
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CUP SERIES
2021 champion: Kyle Larson
Season review: Larson wrapped up his first NASCAR Cup Series championship by capping a historic season, his first with Hendrick Motorsports, with a clutch victory in the final race at Phoenix Raceway. Larson won 10 times during the year, adding the non-points All-Star Race and the Regular Season Championship to his 2021 haul. The pit crew for his No. 5 Chevrolet provided a crucial boost in the Phoenix finale, with a rapid final stop that helped Larson outlast fellow title contenders Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. down the stretch. Along the way, he finished with 2,581 laps led for the season — a record since the Cup Series moved to a 36-race schedule. (Recap)
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XFINITY SERIES
2021 champion: Daniel Hemric
Season review: Hemric shook off the nagging question about when his first NASCAR national-series win might come, adding some extra emphasis and flair by securing his first victory in the Phoenix season-ender and icing his first Xfinity Series crown. Hemric brushed past fellow title contender Austin Cindric in the final set of corners with a bold last-lap move, inching his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota ahead and reaching the checkered flag first. He punctuated his victory with a backflip, celebrating his first win in 120 Xfinity Series starts and his first in 208 national-series efforts. Hemric moves to Kaulig Racing next season as he bids for a repeat Xfinity title. (Recap)
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CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
2021 champion: Ben Rhodes
Season review: The 24-year-old Louisville native rolled to his first title in his sixth Camping World Truck Series season, edging out other championship hopefuls Zane Smith, John Hunter Nemechek and Matt Crafton with a third-place finish in the Phoenix finale. Rhodes won the first two races of the 2021 season, prevailing on the Daytona International Speedway oval then road course in back-to-back weeks in the No. 99 ThorSport Racing Toyota, then remained in the thick of the postseason picture to the end. Rhodes stayed among the top three in the series standings all season. He topped off his clinching performance at Phoenix with a champion’s press conference for the ages. (Recap)
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ARCA MENARDS SERIES
2021 champion: Ty Gibbs
Season review: The teenage driver rounded out an impressive ARCA Menards Series championship season, winning 10 of the 20 races and finishing among the top five in all but one event. Gibbs needed only to start the season finale at Kansas Speedway to seal the crown, which he took by 37 points over rival Corey Heim. Gibbs won 11 pole positions, led a record 1,689 laps — more than four times more than any other driver — and posted an average finish of 3.0. A crash-related 27th place at Talladega was the only major blemish on his 2021 campaign. When he wasn’t winning in ARCA, he also made waves in the Xfinity Series, taking the checkered flag in four of his 18 starts as a part-timer for his grandfather’s race team. (Recap)
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ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST
2021 champion: Sammy Smith
Season review: Smith, a 17-year-old Iowa native, made the most of the ARCA Menards Series East season, winning three of the eight races and outdistancing Daniel Dye by 34 points in the final standings. What initially started as a part-time schedule for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver turned into a full-season title run after he triumphed in two of the first three races on the calendar. Smith went on to lead 396 laps, notched one pole position and placed among the top five in seven of his eight starts. His average finish of 4.3 was tops among series regulars. (Recap)
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ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST
2021 champion: Jesse Love
Season review: Love secured a second consecutive ARCA Menards Series West championship in dramatic fashion, prevailing in a tiebreaker over Jake Drew. Love forced the deadlock atop the series standings on the last lap of the season finale at Phoenix, slipping by Drew teammate Trevor Huddleston for 14th place. That clinched the West Series’ first repeat title since Todd Gilliland went back-to-back in 2016-17 and also brought team owner Bill McAnally his 11th series crown. Love won two of the series’ nine races in 2021, sweeping the pair of events held at Irwindale Speedway during the summer months. (Recap)
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WHELEN MODIFIED TOUR
2021 champion: Justin Bonsignore
Season review: Bonsignore roared to his third Whelen Modified Tour championship in the last four years. The New York native won twice in 2021, surging to victory at Jennerstown in the spring then polishing off his title march by winning the season finale at Stafford Springs. That gave the 33-year-old veteran a 22-point cushion over closest challenger Patrick Emerling in the final season tally. Bonsignore brought the title back home to Ken Massa Motorsports, which has fielded Bonsignore’s No. 51 entry ever since he joined the Modified Tour full-time in 2010. (Recap)
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PINTY’S SERIES
2021 champion: L.P. Dumoulin
Season review: Dumoulin made it three Pinty’s Series crowns this season, assembling a remarkably consistent campaign to clinch the title in NASCAR’s Canada-based circuit. The Trois-Rivieres, Quebec native completed all 1,011 laps in the 10-race season, topping all series regulars with nine top-10 finishes. His lone victory came at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the opening race of a doubleheader weekend. He outpaced Andrew Ranger by eight points and D.J. Kennington by 11 in the final standings, adding the 2021 title to the Pinty’s championships he scored in 2014 and 2018. (Recap)
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ADVANCE AUTO PARTS WEEKLY SERIES
2021 champion: Peyton Sellers
Season review: Sellers corralled his second national Division I crown 16 years after his first title, capping a successful year of Late Model racing at weekly tracks in his home state of Virginia. The 38-year-old veteran won track championships at South Boston Speedway and Dominion Raceway, winning 21 times in 38 starts to top Jacob Goede — the 2019 national champ — by 34 points in the final standings. Sellers’ performance also clinched the Southeast Region title; Goede (Midwest), Craig Von Dohren (Northeast) and Eric Rhead (West) cinched up the other regional crowns for 2021. (Recap)
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WHELEN EURO SERIES
2021 champion: Loris Hezemans
Season review: The 24-year-old Dutch driver became the youngest two-time champion in series history, netting four wins and six pole positions in the 10-race EuroNASCAR Pro Championship season. He edged Junior Trophy winner Gianmarco Ercoli by just three points in the final standings. Hezemans, who finished third last season after claiming the series title in 2019, is scheduled to compete in a partial NASCAR Cup Series schedule in 2022 for the newly formed Team Hezeberg, focusing on the tour’s road-course events. (Recap)
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PEAK MEXICO SERIES
2021 champion: Salvador de Alba Jr.
Season review: The Guadalajara, Mexico, native surged to four victories in the 2021 campaign to claim his first Peak Mexico Series championship for the Sidral Aga Racing Team. De Alba drove his No. 48 Ford to a fourth-place finish in the season finale at Amozoc, Mexico, to hold off Ruben Garcia Jr. in a tight points battle. He finished among the top five in 10 of the 12 races on the schedule, coming out on top in the final standings in his fifth season on the Peak Mexico Series circuit. (Recap)
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eNASCAR COCA-COLA iRACING SERIES
2021 champion: Keegan Leahy
Season review: Leahy brought the 2021 title home to 23XI Racing with a clinching victory in the eNASCAR season finale at virtual Texas Motor Speedway. The Nova Scotia resident held off Logan Clampitt by .517 seconds in the year-ending event and by just five points in the season-long standings. Leahy won three times (Homestead-Miami, Bristol, Texas) in the 18-race season and topped the series in the laps-led category (582) in the 2021 campaign. He collected a cool $100,000 for the championship-sealing triumph. (Recap)