Kyle Larson suffers tire issue as laps tick down in Cup Championship Race

Kyle Larson bounced back from a right-front tire failure on Lap 215 in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship to earn his second title Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. "I'm just speechless. I can't believe it. We had an average car at best," Larson told NBC after the race. "What a year by Hendrick Motorsports. Cliff Daniels, everybody, his leadership, his complete leadership just showed that whole race. Keeping us all motivated. Always having a plan. All of that. That's just the story of our season. Again, just unbelievable. I cannot believe it. This is insane." RELATED: Race results | At-track photos Finishing Stage 2 in fourth, Larson had a lengthy stop on pit road and fell to 17th on the ensuing restart. The Hendrick Motorsports driver had worked back inside the top 10 before his tire went down, slowing in Turn 4 and gathering his Chevrolet up without major damage. He came back to pit road for service and fell a lap down before a caution for Carson Hocevar. Chase Briscoe first had a tire go down in Stage 2, but had fought back to third before a second tire issue moments after Larson. Both drivers stayed on the lead lap with the timely caution. Larson took the wave around before the Lap 226 restart.

"We had the right front go down, lost a lap," Larson said. "Got saved by the caution. Did the wave-around. Was really bad that run. We took two tires. I was like, Oh, God, here we go. We're going to go to the back now."

Using additional cautions to his advantage, Larson returned to the mix later in the final stage, and after a caution to fellow Championship 4 driver, the No. 5 driver capitalized. Taking two tires in his final pit stop, Larson jumped to fifth for NASCAR Overtime, while Denny Hamlin, the most dominant driver of the afternoon, took four and restarted 11th. MORE: Larson is a two-time champion! That six-position difference was enough of a gap for Larson to hold off the Joe Gibbs Racing phenom and earn his second career title, finishing third in the race. "It had a lot more grip than I anticipated," Larson said, recalling the final moments of the race. "We got lucky with the final caution. I was really hoping we were going to take two again. I felt like I learned a lot on that restart, bombing one and two really hard. Thought I could do the same thing if we got another one. Just unbelievable." Larson entered Sunday's title-deciding race with three victories on the 2025 campaign, but has been winless since Kansas Speedway in May. He clinched the lone Championship 4 spot on points, recording a pair of top fives in the Round of 8.