Kyle Larson readies for role as steward of sport now that he’s three-time champ

MIAMI -- The coronation of a new era in the NASCAR Cup Series concluded with Tuesday's NASCAR Awards as Kyle Larson was formally celebrated for his third championship. His consecutive clinches of the Bill France Cup echoed of chapters past in NASCAR, considering no one had gone back-to-back in title pursuits in 16 years, when Jimmie Johnson was last to do it. Larson's excellence has long been admired by his competitors. But the dominance with which he and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team crushed the competition throughout the 10 races of The Chase presented by Mobil 1 lands Larson's name among NASCAR's greatest of all time. MORE: Champions crowned, legacies honored at NASCAR Awards His third go-round as champion is something Larson relishes. There is a particular platform champions receive in NASCAR that allows -- or demands -- that they become a steward of the sport. That can entail representing the sport's past and present while also helping identify its future. "I think once you do win a championship, you do feel some sort of role and responsibility in representing the sport in a right way," Larson said. "Not that you were never doing it the right way before, but there's more eyes on you to represent it in a good fashion. I can't think of a champion that hasn't been a good champion for the sport. I'm proud to be a champion, and I do feel that responsibility, so try to notice it and live by whatever role that Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon might have." The championship speech Larson delivered on stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County proved to be a microcosm of what his life has become. In a suit that shimmered under the lights in a way that resembled Jeff Gordon's ChromaLusion car, Larson stood in front of the NASCAR industry -- drivers, teammates, media, fans and sponsors alike -- perhaps more comfortable in his role than he ever was previously. He began by chiding his daughter Audrey for telling him he sucked at NASCAR while in the midst of a 51-race winless streak, then offered his own admission of hopelessness in a Hendrick Motorsports team luncheon just before The Chase began. "(Team president and general manager) Jeff Andrews got up there and said, in so many words, 'Never doubt Hendrick Motorsports,' " Larson recalled. "And I'll admit it: I was sitting there almost rolling my eyes. I thought, 'That's just what you say at a luncheon. How could anybody in this building believe we could beat the Toyotas right now?' Jeff, I owe you an apology. Right after Audrey gives me mine." Larson's legendary Chase run exemplified the power of belief in process, something that crew chief Cliff Daniels preached throughout the course of a 2026 season that didn't produce the No. 5 team's first win until Race 28 of the season at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. A budding star in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, Corey Day has seen Larson's maturation firsthand and from a unique perspective. The 20-year-old Californian is seen as Larson's prodigy, a sprint-car star who has made the transition to NASCAR with the backing of Larson and Hendrick Motorsports. Despite this year being Day's first full season in stock cars, he walked away with four wins, 12 top fives and 22 top 10s and had a real chance to win the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship entering the finale. A part of his growth this season has come thanks to Kyle Larson, who has become a true mentor for the up-and-coming Day. "I learned a ton for sure on many aspects of this -- the mental side, and then obviously the driving side," Day said. "And just the never-give-up by him and the 5 guys in general was really cool to see this year. I mean, I could sit in competition meetings, and there was a lot of tough ones this year of the drivers just unsure of how to help, right? As a driver, you can only say so much before you start steering people down the wrong path. So just seeing how he handled that -- all the drivers, really -- see how everyone handled that, doing all they can, but not too much or not too little to help. I mean it shows. I mean they won a freaking championship, and they didn't have a win before September." Leading by example has become a key part of Larson's story in 2026. Opposed to years past that were spent splitting time between dirt racing, Indianapolis 500 pursuits and NASCAR, Larson largely refined his focus to his day job this season in a way that was palpable to all within the walls of Hendrick Motorsports. MORE: See best Red Carpet photos from NASCAR Awards "I think over this year, he's probably changed a little bit in that sense," Day said. "You know, he never used to sim before. He does sim a lot now. There's just a lot of things that he really like went to work on this year to try and better himself, as well as a team was trying to obviously better themselves. So when I think of  leader, I think of Cliff Daniels, right? Like you hear Cliff talk, and you just want to die for the guy. He's so good. But yeah, I think as a driver, too, your influence of just being in the shop with the guys and just showing your commitment to this is huge, and I think that's what Kyle does very well is he's always there when he needs to be and shows face and just give the guys the motivation that he's put in the work and he's just as committed as as they are." "He's just a good teammate," said William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. "I think in the debriefs, he's open about what his car is doing. He describes it well and (I) feel like he gives everyone a lot of information to lean into. ... And yeah, it's changed. Like he's used the sim more this year and we're in the gym together sometimes. Just kind of a different method of how to get there on the weekends, whereas I'd say early on he was racing a lot of the dirt stuff most weekends, and so didn't see him a whole lot at the shop." In a sense, Larson is beginning to bring his NASCAR career full circle. Highlights of his rookie season featured thrilling battles at the front of the field with his mentor and idol Jeff Gordon, throwing crossovers and trading positions in the postseason. Now, he's only one championship shy of Gordon's four, with Gordon overseeing Hendrick Motorsports as its vice chairman. At age 34, Larson still has a long future ahead in NASCAR. Day will likely not be his last mentee, and 2026 will likely not be his final championship season. But after 12 years of Cup racing, three championships and 35 race wins, Larson has rounded the corner from competitive veteran to one of the sport's flagship drivers, firmly planting himself on the doorstep of the greatest of all time moniker. Watch the full NASCAR Awards Show at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 13 on the NASCAR Channel.