Posted on by Brandon White

HICKORY, N.C. – The November evening air may have been cold during the closing laps of Saturday’s Limited Late Model feature as part of the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway, but 15-year-old Carter McMurray knew the heat was about to get turned up.

Four laps were going to decide which driver would end his season with a victory in one of the North Carolina track’s crown-jewel races. McMurray had the outside of the front row for the final restart; not an auspicious position, but one on which he could capitalize if he kept his composure.

McMurray held his line until Dexter Canipe III surged ahead of him coming to the white flag. Seeing an opportunity, McMurray pulled a crossover on Canipe in Turn 2, which gave him the preferred bottom lane.

The two young competitors pushed their cars to the limit with the checkered flag in sight. McMurray prevailed over Canipe in a photo finish for his third consecutive Limited Late Model victory at Hickory to close 2026 — arguably his most prestigious win in a full-bodied stock car to date.

“Originally it was about timing the restart and making sure I could stay side-by-side [with leader Spencer Bradshaw] and try to roll the top on him,” McMurray said. “[Canipe] moved him, and we were three-wide top off of [turn] two. I just knew that I had to drive it in there. Four laps to go, it’s all or nothing.

“Me and [Canipe] dueled it out the last three or so laps, side-by-side, crossover. It was super fun, super fun.”

The four-lap sprint to the finish was only a part of McMurray’s adventurous first outing in the Fall Brawl. He qualified on the outside pole but faded to fourth so he could conserve his tires while simultaneously managing a car that was not to his liking.

Long runs favored McMurray as the 100-lap Limited Late Model feature progressed. After climbing back to second, he began chipping away at his deficit but saw his momentum get derailed twice by ill-timed cautions.

Every yellow meant fewer laps for McMurray to utilize. The odds may not have been in his favor with the Fall Brawl being decided on a short run, but he did not let the circumstances deter him.

Through resilience and determination, McMurray found his way to Hickory’s Victory Lane.

“I was definitely doubting myself with how tight we were,” he said. “I made some brake-bias adjustments, and it started to help; it started to cut. I just believed we were on the right side of it starting tight and that we would be there at the end. We were.

“It’s been surreal. With the way the race went, I’m so happy for my team and my guys. What a way to go into the offseason.”

Carter McMurray
Carter McMurray (40) won the Limited Late Model portion of the Fall Brawl at Hickory Motor Speedway by fending off Dexter Canipe III in a photo finish. (Photo: Gardner Street Photography)

As Carter parked his No. 40 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet on the frontstretch, he was met with an exuberant reaction from his MKM Racing Development crew. The victory was another high note on a successful 2026 for MKM at Hickory that saw the team clinch the Limited Late Model title with Paityn Mary Jane, the first female champion in the track’s long history.

One person missing from the post-race festivities was McMurray’s father in 2010 Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray — though that’s not to say he was not keeping an eye on what his son was doing Saturday.

While Jamie was calling the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway for The CW, he had the FloRacing broadcast of the Fall Brawl playing on his phone. Jamie was able to pay close attention only during commercial breaks, but he saw Carter had worked his way into contention.

Jamie was elated to see Carter pull off such a monumental victory. With an assist from fellow commentator Parker Kligerman, Jamie found a way to work the occasion into the broadcast while staying focused on the task at hand.

“During the broadcast, we were on Carson Kvapil’s car and went to his in-car camera, which was a Bass Pro Shops in-car camera,” Jamie said. “Parker [Kligerman] made a joke saying, ‘I think it’s a great night for Bass Pro Shops because Carter McMurray just won at Hickory in the Fall Brawl.’ We had a pretty good laugh after Carter had won on-air, so that was pretty fun.”

Seeing Carter win the Fall Brawl only reinforced Jamie’s amazement over his son’s progression. Just a few years ago, Carter was tackling his first go-karting events. Now he competes in full-bodied cars and Modifieds, having won in both.

That’s why Jamie finds this journey ironic in many ways, as he and his wife Christy originally tried to steer Carter away from racing.

Jamie knew a motorsports career for Carter would be a costly endeavor from both a financial and time perspective. If Carter wanted to become a racer, he would need to be committed to the idea and manage the sacrifices that come with it.

The catalyst that led to Carter’s commitment was his stumbling across photos of Kyle Larson and Clint Bowyer with their sons, Owen and Cash, respectively, at the go-kart track. Carter realized then that he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and asked if he could pursue racing as an interest.

Before long, Carter and Jamie were regulars at their local go-kart track. With his own driving career winding down, Jamie suddenly found himself as Carter’s mentor, guiding him through the challenges motorsports would inevitably bring.

Jamie now finds it hard to believe he was ever trepidatious about Carter becoming a racer. Every milestone Carter reaches only inspires Jamie to commit himself more to Carter’s racing ambitions, with the Fall Brawl triumph being another positive step forward in that trajectory.

Carter & Jamie McMurray
Jamie McMurray has mentored his son Carter throughout his career so far, ensuring he takes all the right steps to find sustainability in racing. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)

What impressed Jamie the most about Carter’s performance in the Fall Brawl was the discipline. Carter stayed patient throughout the night and was not overly aggressive during the final sprint to the finish — qualities Jamie made sure to instill in him at a young age.

“The only time I ever really get mad or yell at (Carter) is when I feel like it’s a safety issue,” Jamie said. “That started all the way back in karting. I’ve tried so hard to make him be a respectful driver. I told him when we first started doing Modifieds that you’ll have to pay your dues a little bit here and give way more than you take. That will pay off in a few years for you.

“You don’t want to be known as the kid that comes in and is running people over. You have to gain the respect of everybody, and I think he’s done an awesome job of being able to manage that.”

Respect was essential for Carter when he began racing Modifieds on a regular basis in 2025. Facing drivers like Bowman Gray Stadium track champions Burt Myers and Brandon Ward, along with another Daytona 500 winner in Ryan Newman, provided Carter vital hands-on experience.

With Carter having found his cadence in Modifieds, he was ready to try full-bodied cars this season. Hickory was the perfect facility for Carter to acclimate to Limited Late Models. The fields were competitive, and the track’s abrasive surface encouraged him to conserve his equipment.

Carter’s results in five starts at Hickory with MKM were impressive. After finishing top five in his first two Hickory Limited Late Model appearances, he swept the twin features on Aug. 22. In the second race that night, he climbed from ninth to first in just 40 laps.

Carter is still trying to figure out every intricacy of the Limited Late Model but is thrilled with his early success in the car. Despite how different the Modified is from the Limited Late Model, Carter felt the laps logged in the former were crucial toward all three of his wins at Hickory in 2026.

“I almost feel like the transition from a Modified to a Late Model is very easy,” he said. “The Late Model is very similar even though it has a lot less power, which honestly makes it easier to drive. The transition hasn’t been bad because of the amount of time I’ve taken to move through everything. I think it’s been pretty good.”

Carter McMurray
With a Fall Brawl victory now to his name, Carter McMurray is eager to tackle an expanded schedule of late model events in 2027. (Photo: Ted Malinowski/NASCAR)

More late model races are the plan for Carter in 2027 — not just at Hickory, but around the entire southeast. A new set of obstacles await him as he tackles new tracks, but there’s nothing ahead that Jamie doesn’t think his son can handle.

Watching Carter mature into a talented young prospect has been a tremendous source of pride for Jamie. The developmental ladder Jamie has Carter on requires him to take in copious information at a rapid pace, yet Carter is always eager to learn and embrace the next challenge.

As Carter gets older, Jamie knows there will be less information for him to pass down. He intends to cherish this chapter in his son’s life while also making sure Carter stays on the right path.

“Winning is what everybody wants to do, but when you’re in the position (Carter) is in his career, it’s all about learning,” Jamie said. “I’ve never really let him get comfortable in anything we’ve done. We’re going to continue to move up and keep challenging him. As a kid, you learn so fast, and your brain absorbs so much than when you get older.

“With that learning, if you can go out and win, that’s what it’s all about.”

The Fall Brawl victory was a culmination of everything Jamie has taught Carter, but seeing the No. 40 Bass Pro Shops car in Victory Lane evoked many proud memories Jamie had of his time in NASCAR.

Bass Pro Shops was one of Jamie’s sponsors during his time with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, primarily in his early years with the team. Jamie and Bass Pro Shops won three races together in 2010, including the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400. The duo also prevailed in the 2014 All-Star Race.

The No. 40 carries more significance for the McMurray family, as Jamie used it while filling in for an injured Sterling Marlin in 2002. In just his second Cup Series start, Jamie fended off Bobby Labonte at Charlotte Motor Speedway to pick up his first of seven Cup Series victories.

When Carter decided to start racing, he knew he wanted to use the No. 40 from Jamie’s maiden Cup Series triumph. That number has been on each of Carter’s cars since his go-karting days, and he intends to keep using it until it’s not an option.

Yet for as much of an inspiration as Jamie is to Carter, he still wants to build his own identity. Carter still has much to learn, but he feels confident in his ability to keep flourishing behind the wheel, especially with a Fall Brawl win now on his resumé.

“I’m just looking to prove my name and prove myself,” Carter said. “I know I have a very high rep just from my background and because of my dad. I’m just trying to improve the McMurray legacy and honestly be the best race-car driver I can be.”

The legacy of the McMurray family is defined by their ability to learn. Jamie needed just two attempts to win his first Cup Series race; Carter needed just three Limited Late Model starts at Hickory to find Victory Lane.

Every step Carter takes will get more difficult. Yet with a versatile background and an enthusiastic desire to learn, Carter is setting himself up to one day win in the Cup Series, just like his dad.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 25 NASCAR Cup Series drivers entering the 2027 season after Kyle Larson won the 2026 championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

RELATED: 2027 Cup Series schedule | Cup Series standings

Analysis: A third championship seemed well within reach entering 2026, but the path there was hardly what anybody envisioned. Larson went the entire 26-race regular season without a victory before flipping the switch in The Chase, winning three times and building such a commanding advantage that he clinched the title with two stages to spare at Homestead-Miami. Perhaps more impressively, the No. 5 team proved it could overcome adversity nearly as effectively as it could dominate. That’s an awfully dangerous combination, and Larson enters 2027 as the rightful favorite to make it three straight.

Analysis: Hamlin entered 2026 looking to finally finish the championship job after a heartbreaking conclusion to 2025. Instead, another tremendous season ended without the one trophy that continues to elude him. Four victories, a series-leading 24 top 10s and the No. 1 Chase seed reflected just how strong the No. 11 team was, but Larson’s postseason surge left Hamlin third in the final standings. The speed and consistency remain championship-caliber, though time is becoming an increasingly relevant factor as Hamlin has publicly stated he intends to hang it up after next year. Entering 2027, there’s little reason to expect anything other than another legitimate title push, and it’ll be the perfect storybook ending if he finally does it.

Analysis: Bell’s 2026 campaign was something of a contradiction. A driver coming off four wins in 2025 managed just one this season, yet he ultimately finished second in the championship standings, led more than 800 laps and at times looked like the most formidable driver in the series. The No. 20 team remained among the most consistently competitive in the garage, even if the outright victories didn’t materialize nearly as often as expected, finishing runner-up a dizzying number of times. Bell has now demonstrated that he can contend for the title annually across multiple championship formats. It’s increasingly difficult to envision a Cup title fight without him playing a significant role, and he may be Larson’s greatest threat over the next 10 years.

Analysis: Another year, another four victories for Blaney, who continued establishing himself as one of the most dependable A-list championship threats in the sport. His second straight season-ending triumph at Homestead-Miami was a reminder of the No. 12 team’s ability to deliver when it matters, even if Larson had already secured the championship. A fourth-place points finish represented another strong campaign, and Blaney’s combination of speed, race craft and championship experience makes him difficult to rank much lower. He enters 2027 with as credible a path to a second title as almost anybody.


Analysis: Expectations were understandably elevated after Briscoe’s breakout first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, and he largely delivered again in 2026. Three victories, 13 top fives and a sixth-place championship finish further established him as a legitimate front-line contender rather than a driver who simply enjoyed a fortunate first year in elite equipment. His strong late-season performances reinforced that assessment, though the No. 19 team as a whole still has another step to take to match the series’ very best over a full championship campaign (pit crew sure looks ready, though). That feels entirely attainable entering Year 3 at JGR.


Analysis: Well, that sure answered the questions about his winless 2025. Reddick opened 2026 by winning the Daytona 500 and the season’s first three races, ultimately collecting a series-leading six victories in one of the more remarkable rebounds in recent memory. Yet a fifth-place championship finish showed that even overwhelming early-season success doesn’t necessarily translate to November hardware. Reddick returned to the ranks of NASCAR’s elite in emphatic fashion, and there’s little reason to doubt his ability to win at that level again. The challenge for 2027 is sustaining that excellence deep into The Chase.

Analysis: Coming off a 2025 Regular Season Championship and another Championship 4 appearance, Byron seemed poised to take the next step in 2026. Instead, the No. 24 team went much of the season without the winning form that had become its trademark, ultimately collecting just one victory — essentially a buzzer-beater, at that — and finishing eighth in points. A late Martinsville triumph and strong Homestead performance provided encouragement heading into the break, but the overall campaign fell short of lofty expectations. Byron remains firmly in the championship conversation for 2027, though he’ll need to rediscover the week-to-week consistency that made him such a formidable contender.


Analysis: Logano’s reputation for even-year success held up to a point in 2026, with three victories and another competitive Chase run. Still, his seventh-place championship finish and relatively modest seven top fives suggested the No. 22 team wasn’t quite on the same level as the season’s most complete contenders or even up to its own typical standard. The three-time champion certainly hasn’t forgotten how to win, as victories at North Wilkesboro, Richmond and Bristol demonstrated. Heading into 2027, the question isn’t whether Logano can deliver another championship-caliber performance on a given afternoon. It’s whether he can string enough of them together to capture title No. 4.


Analysis: Elliott entered 2026 hoping the return to a points-based championship format would reward his trademark consistency and perhaps restore some of his former dominance. Two early victories offered encouragement, but a 12th-place standings finish ultimately represented another season that fell below the standards of a former champion in Hendrick Motorsports equipment. The No. 9 team remains capable of winning races, though the sustained superiority that defined Elliott’s earlier career has become considerably harder to find. He’ll enter 2027 as a credible title contender, but a more convincing season-long performance is overdue.


Analysis: If 2026 was supposed to be a pivotal season for Gibbs, he answered the call. After three winless full-time campaigns, the Joe Gibbs Racing prospect finally broke through at Bristol and added another victory at Iowa, collecting 13 top fives and 20 top 10s along the way. A ninth-place points finish confirmed meaningful improvement beyond the two trophies. Gibbs hasn’t yet established himself on the same level as his championship-winning teammates, but the biggest question surrounding his Cup career has finally been answered. The next challenge is turning that breakthrough into sustained championship contention.

Analysis: Wallace entered 2026 looking to build on a career-best campaign and demonstrate that he could legitimately contend for a championship. The results were mixed. He remained a reasonably consistent presence near the front, collecting 17 top 10s and finishing 11th in the standings, but failed to return to Victory Lane after his breakthrough Brickyard 400 triumph the previous year. With 23XI Racing continuing to establish itself among the sport’s strongest organizations, the opportunities should remain plentiful. Wallace’s next step is converting competitive afternoons into victories more regularly and finding another level when The Chase begins.

Analysis: Cindric entered his fifth full Cup season hoping to continue closing the gap to his championship-winning Team Penske teammates. A 10th-place standings finish was respectable, but a winless campaign with only four top fives made it difficult to argue that the No. 2 team took a meaningful competitive leap, though there were clear gains the second half of the season, including The Chase. He remains a capable driver in equipment that has repeatedly proven it can win championships, and his experience should only become more valuable. For 2027, however, simply remaining inside the top 10 won’t be enough to establish him as a genuine title threat.

Analysis: Expectations were already substantial for Heim entering 2026, but winning twice in just 12 Cup starts — including the Brickyard 400 — was an extraordinary introduction to NASCAR’s highest level. Those performances validated 23XI Racing’s decision to move him into the No. 35 Toyota full time for 2027, immediately making him one of the sport’s most intriguing championship prospects. Still, succeeding in carefully selected appearances and navigating an entire Cup season are different challenges. The talent and equipment suggest an exceptionally high ceiling, but a little restraint is warranted until we see how Heim handles the full-time grind.

Analysis: The move back toward a cumulative-points championship format seemed tailor-made for Buescher’s steady approach, but 2026 didn’t produce the breakthrough RFK Racing had hoped for. He managed just two top fives, failed to win and finished last among the 16 Chase participants. The No. 17 team’s occasional flashes of speed never translated into the sustained results necessary to challenge the elite. Buescher remains one of the series’ more capable veterans, though 2027 is shaping up as an important opportunity for RFK to demonstrate that its development has moved beyond merely respectable performances.

Analysis: The road-course brilliance continued in 2026, with van Gisbergen winning at Watkins Glen and Sonoma, but missing The Chase underscored how much work remained on ovals. Now comes another intriguing wrinkle: Blake Harris arrives from Hendrick Motorsports to replace Stephen Doran, ending a partnership that produced seven Cup victories over the past two seasons. Harris brings considerable experience, but changing the combination behind such an effective road-course operation introduces uncertainty (though it doesn’t, of course, change the guy holding the steering wheel’s extensive road-racing experience). For 2027, the challenge is clear: Find more consistent oval results without sacrificing the dominance that has made van Gisbergen nearly unbeatable on his preferred tracks.

Analysis: A difficult 2026 became considerably more complicated when Bowman was sidelined by vertigo early in the season. He eventually returned, but finished 26th in points without a victory, falling well short of expectations for a Hendrick Motorsports driver. Now, entering his final full-time Cup season, Bowman faces another significant adjustment with longtime crew chief Blake Harris departing for Trackhouse Racing. A replacement has yet to be announced as of Tuesday, leaving an important piece of the No. 48 team’s 2027 outlook unresolved. There’s still championship-capable equipment underneath Bowman, but a strong farewell campaign will require both a return to form and a productive new crew-chief partnership with little time to gel.

Analysis: Preece’s steady development at RFK Racing finally produced the breakthrough he’d been chasing, as a dramatic Daytona victory secured his first Cup win and a place in The Chase. A 15th-place championship finish represented further progress, though the victory was also his only top-five result of the season. Now moving into RFK’s flagship No. 6 Ford following Brad Keselowski’s departure, Preece faces a completely different level of expectation in 2027. The talent has been apparent for years; now the next step is showing he can compete for victories beyond the occasional breakthrough afternoon.

Analysis: Hocevar entered 2026 with significant momentum, but still in search of his first Cup victory. He finally found it at Talladega, added six top fives and made his first Chase appearance, all meaningful steps forward for one of the sport’s most talented young drivers. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all, as a late-season disciplinary controversy and suspension from the Homestead finale — along with a high-profile Bristol fight, among other things — underscored that his development remains unfinished. Hocevar has shown he can contend with the best drivers in NASCAR, but for 2027, his championship prospects may depend as much on channeling that aggression productively as on finding additional speed.

Analysis: Moving to Spire Motorsports in 2026 represented a fresh start for Suárez, and the transition produced one of the season’s defining moments with his rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 victory in the wake of his former friend and mentor Kyle Busch’s passing just days earlier. The win, along with a season’s worth of steadiness, helped propel him into The Chase and a 13th-place championship finish, a respectable return for a driver adapting to yet another new organization. Still, only three top fives suggested there was room for considerable improvement beyond that signature evening. With a full season at Spire behind him, Suárez enters 2027 looking to turn a successful debut campaign into something more consistently competitive.

Analysis: Trackhouse Racing entered 2026 having made a significant crew-chief change in hopes of restoring the No. 1 team’s former competitiveness. Instead, Chastain went winless, collected just three top fives and missed The Chase entirely, ultimately finishing 18th in points. It was another frustrating campaign for a driver who once appeared firmly established among NASCAR’s emerging championship contenders. The talent, in theory, hasn’t disappeared, but the results have increasingly struggled to justify that earlier promise. With another year to develop the pairing, 2027 needs to produce a much more convincing return to form.

Analysis: Berry’s second season with Wood Brothers Racing didn’t produce a repeat of his breakthrough 2025 Las Vegas victory, but there were encouraging stretches — unfortunately for him, not until after the team announced he would not return in 2027 — that suggested more potential than his 22nd-place standings finish might indicate. A six-race top-10 streak during the summer and continued relevancy during The Chase races were particularly impressive, but the overall campaign lacked the consistency required for serious championship contention. Now moving to Legacy Motor Club’s No. 42 Toyota, Berry gets another opportunity to establish himself in a new environment, and it’s easy to see him thriving there. His 2027 outlook is closely tied to whether Legacy can provide the equipment to build on those flashes of form, but it’s a team headed in the right direction and he could be a big part of its evolution.

Analysis: The expectations surrounding Jones and Legacy Motor Club were relatively modest entering 2026, and the results did little to dramatically alter that outlook Two top fives and a 23rd-place points finish represented another season spent mostly outside serious contention, despite the organization’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its operation. Some things take time, however, and the arrival of Josh Berry and other changes across the Legacy lineup could provide fresh momentum in 2027, but Jones still needs stronger week-to-week results. His Cup-winning experience remains valuable; the question is whether the equipment can consistently put it to use.

Analysis: Zilisch arrived in the Cup Series with enormous expectations after a dominant 2025 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series campaign, but his rookie season offered a reminder of just how difficult the transition can be. Just two top 10s and a 33rd-place points finish fell well short of the immediate impact some anticipated from NASCAR’s premier young prospect. Still, one challenging season shouldn’t erase the talent that made him such a coveted addition to Trackhouse Racing  in the first place (and, in 2028, Hendrick Motorsports). The experience gained in 2026 should prove invaluable, and a substantial sophomore improvement remains entirely plausible heading into 2027 and then from there the sky’s the limit.

Analysis: McDowell’s second season with Spire Motorsports brought modest progress but little evidence of a major competitive breakthrough, with three top fives and a 20th-place finish in the standings. The outlook for 2027 just became considerably more interesting, however, with Stephen Doran returning to Spire to serve as crew chief of the No. 71 Chevrolet. Doran won seven Cup races working with Shane van Gisbergen over the past two seasons, bringing proven road-course expertise to a driver who already excels on those tracks. The pairing offers genuine upside, though more consistent oval performance remains essential if McDowell hopes to become a serious championship contender. Still, he’s a dark-horse Chase contender.

Analysis: Love entered 2026 seeking to defend his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship and came agonizingly close, finishing just 14 points behind Justin Allgaier after another two-win campaign. That performance reinforced his credentials as one of NASCAR’s most promising young talents, even if the repeat title never materialized. Now stepping into the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford for his first full-time Cup season, Love faces the same considerable adjustment experienced by nearly every highly regarded prospect. The championship expectations should remain measured, but the talent and organizational support (and Team Penske alliance) make him a compelling addition to the 2027 field.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

Sometimes, the sweetest revenge comes in chocolate form.

In July, then-championship front-runner Denny Hamlin offered advice to Hendrick Motorsports and its frustrated supporters during an uncharacteristically difficult NASCAR Cup Series regular season: Have a Snickers.

A little more than three months later, Hendrick took that suggestion quite literally, right next to the 2026 Bill France Cup.

On Monday, a day after Kyle Larson clinched his third Cup Series championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the team shared a photo of its championship celebration in Victory Lane featuring team execs Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon alongside Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels, each chomping down on a Snickers bar next to its newest trophy.

MORE: Larson ascends into racing’s ‘rare air’ with third title

The accompanying caption was short, sweet and unmistakably pointed: “Feeling like ourselves again.”

The reference traced back to a late-July episode of Hamlin’s “Actions Detrimental“ podcast, when the Joe Gibbs Racing driver discussed Hendrick’s struggles following a particularly rough Brickyard 400. The organization’s four drivers had gone three consecutive races without a top-10 finish, and Hamlin noticed growing frustration among Hendrick supporters on social media.

“They need to have a Snickers,” Hamlin said. “They’ve not been [themselves] in a while. It’s not really indicative of their speed. They’ve always got a couple cars that are in the top five or near the top five. But just the standard we expect from Hendrick Motorsports, from the legacy, we expect lots of race wins. When I see William Byron in 12th, that’s mind-boggling to me.”

The comment played off the candy bar’s familiar advertising campaign, but Hamlin’s underlying point was serious: NASCAR’s winningest organization wasn’t producing the results its reputation demanded.

That changed rather dramatically shortly after.

Larson snapped a 51-race winless drought at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in September, then added Chase victories at Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway before mathematically clinching the championship during Stage 1 of Sunday’s Homestead finale — at Hamlin’s expense.

“Rick, he pays attention and he takes it personally, which he should,” Larson said before Tuesday’s NASCAR Awards. “And I think nobody knows more about what happens on the inside of Hendrick Motorsports and Chevy than Rick Hendrick. So I think when he hears people talk like they know all the facts, it probably rubs him the wrong way.”

The title was Larson’s third, his second consecutive and Hendrick Motorsports’ record 16th. Hamlin, meanwhile, led 87 laps at Homestead but finished sixth, his own championship hopes having ended in the opening stage.

“Generally speaking, that’s why people tune in to listen to our podcast for a week. They know they’re going to get an honest take,” Hamlin said  “… And back then, Hendrick was struggling, so my job as a podcaster is to discuss those things. And at the time, yeah, I was having their back at the moment.”

Three months after Hamlin’s suggestion, Hendrick rediscovered its championship form — and apparently hadn’t forgotten Hamlin’s advice.

And, as it turns out, winning another title can be pretty satisfying, too.

Posted on by Nathan Solomon

Kyle Larson is the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series champion!

Larson finished fourth in Stage 1 Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and those seven points were all that the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver needed to secure his third Bill France Cup in six years and his second in a row. He became just the 11th driver to earn three Cup Series titles, entering rarefied air at stock-car racing’s highest level.

RELATED: Final Cup Series standings | Homestead results

But as Larson celebrated on the Homestead frontstretch, the other 15 Chase presented by Mobil 1 drivers were left scratching their heads about how the 10-race postseason played out. With three races remaining, seven drivers were separated by 56 points, but Larson’s Talladega Superspeedway triumph marked a major turning point in the championship equation.

Take a look at what went wrong for some of the top title contenders, and what needs to change in the 2027 season.

CHRISTOPHER BELL

Entered Chase: Sixth in points, 50 back.

Finished Chase: Second in points, 49 back.

What happened: Bell opened The Chase with a bang, motoring his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a crown-jewel victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The speed remained for the entirety of the postseason, but Bell suffered damage in a crash the next race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, then battled a failing power-steering column a few weeks later at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Back-to-back top fives at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Phoenix Raceway brought him within five markers of Larson heading to Talladega, but a crash during Stage 1 pit stops in the antepenultimate race marked Bell’s ultimate fatal flaw.

What needs to change: One more spot. Bell placed runner-up eight times across the 2026 season, fittingly culminating in a second-place finish in the final standings. His seven second-place finishes without a win in the regular season tied the most all time, and turning some of those into victories would have resulted in major points swings to improve his starting Chase position. Execution became an issue at times — especially during The Chase — but earning a career-best 16 top-fives proves Bell remains a perennial championship contender. Considering he fractured his left wrist in a crash at Michigan International Speedway over the summer, the season is all the more remarkable for the Oklahoman.

Quotable: “In that moment, like leaving Michigan, I think, if you’d have told me, hey, you’re going to go into Homestead, second in points, 67 back, be like, OK, yeah, that’s pretty good, but, yeah, just the way that we got here, the way that the Chase unfolded, obviously has been disappointing, and yeah, I mean, overall, I think, I don’t know, three months from now, it, I’ll look back at it and maybe, I don’t know … it’s just we’re in the moment today and it is what it is. — Bell on Friday at Homestead, reflecting on Michigan.

DENNY HAMLIN

Entered Chase: First in points, 25 ahead.

Finished Chase: Third in points, 56 back.

What happened: The Chase felt like Murphy’s Law for Hamlin. The No. 11 pit crew had a pair of costly stops at Darlington and Gateway, with the former leading to an on-track incident and damage while racing Michael McDowell. At Las Vegas, Hamlin had an opportunity to trap Larson a lap down while leading, but instead elected to pit. Laps later, Hamlin spun by himself later on, and his Toyota was never the same. A tire failure the next weekend at Phoenix was arguably the most costly, resulting in a 28th-place finish. In the penultimate race at Martinsville Speedway, Hamlin lost control of the lead with pit strategy gone wrong, and a spin after contact from Bell — who was hit from behind by Joey Logano — felt like the straw that broke the camel’s back.

What needs to change: The outcome? Although execution certainly wasn’t great down the stretch, it’s difficult to identify a weakness in the No. 11 team’s game. Hamlin still won four times this season, and amid his postseason struggles, still mathematically had a shot at the title at Homestead. The future NASCAR Hall of Famer has won 27 races over the last seven seasons, finishing worse than fifth in points just once. But Father Time isn’t on his side. Hamlin continues to say that 2027 will be his last behind the wheel, meaning that if he’s true to his word, he has just one more opportunity at a championship. And other than a Brickyard 400 win, that’s quite literally the only box he has left to check.

Quotable: “It was a few times. I mean, I had a role. I think Vegas is certainly one. Now, did I love pitting? No, and did I feel a sense of urgency to make up for that? Yes, but those are mistakes no one on the team’s fault for a couple of the incidents I had. The (Michael) McDowell one, I mean, that probably could have gone either way. Yes, we have an execution problem, but I’m not going to totally remove myself from that problem … we obviously had a great regular season, and the Chase tracks lined up great, but obviously, we just did not perform at a championship level the last nine races.” — Hamlin on his strategies during the 2026 Chase.

RYAN BLANEY

Entered Chase: Second in points, 25 back.

Finished Chase: Fourth in points, 94 back.

What happened: Blaney had blazing speed all Chase — but his results didn’t show for it. He finished inside the top five six times, including the race win Sunday at Homestead, but also had four finishes of 35th or worse. The most notable came at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he led 202 laps before contact with Carson Hocevar ended his night early and resulted in fisticuffs on pit road. A brake rotor failure took him out a week before at Gateway, and the No. 12 Team Penske Ford was involved in the first “Big One” at Talladega.

What needs to change: Limit DNFs. Blaney had three during The Chase, and that doesn’t include damage sustained via a Josh Berry brake check at Martinsville. Certainly, not all of these DNFs were of Blaney’s doing, but it’s become a trend in the last few years. He had six in 2026, which came after eight last year. In 2024, he had seven. Blaney continues to leave valuable points on the table, whether it be in the regular season or the postseason, and it’s cost him since his 2023 championship.

Quotable: “Gateway ending the way it did was frustrating after having a really good day and throwing away a lot of points, and then having to start in the back at Bristol from qualifying being rained out after having our issue at Gateway, doing a really good job getting up through there, had a fast car, had our issue on pit road and we fought back from it and then the night ending poorly again, and just realizing how many more points we lost. It just kind of built,” — Blaney at Kansas Speedway, speaking about his fight with Hocevar.

TYLER REDDICK

Entered Chase: Third in points, 35 back.

Finished Chase: Fifth in points, 104 back.

What happened: Reddick limped into The Chase after a historic regular-season start, opening the postseason with two finishes of 18th or worse in the first three races. A stretch of three straight intermediates played into his hands a week before scoring a victory at Phoenix — a significant milestone for a No. 45 23XI Racing team that has generally struggled on flat tracks. That win pulled Reddick within 56 points of Larson. But a week later, Reddick was involved in a crash at Talladega and finished 37th before his elimination at Martinsville.

What needs to change: Sustained success. Reddick won five of the first nine races this season — including the Daytona 500 – and paced the series by 129 markers after the 12th race at Watkins Glen International. But a crash at Michigan in June marked a turning point, beginning a stretch of six finishes of 25th or worse in the next nine races. Certainly, winning five of every nine races isn’t sustainable, but Reddick needs to find a way to keep some measure of solid results throughout the entire 2027, and that’s ultimately what cost him this year. In short, his lows can’t be nearly as low.

Quotable: “There was two sides to it, really. We’d be on, or we’d be off, and not necessarily from a base standpoint of just executing and having the clean days versus having catastrophic days. So yeah, I mean, I’d say if it was all sunshine and roses all year long, you feel good about what you do, but it is important to have a degree of toughness, a degree of understanding how to deal with losses, how to deal with failures, how to deal with whatever it is, and we’ve been on both sides of it.” — Reddick during Chase Media Day in September. 

Tyler Reddick in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead.
Karl Anderson | Getty Images

CHASE BRISCOE

Entered Chase: Fifth in points, 45 back.

Finished Chase: Tied for sixth in points, 115 back.

What happened: Briscoe got off to a slow start in The Chase that ultimately cost him late. Chase Elliott suffered a brake-rotor failure at Gateway and collected Briscoe, an innocent bystander, and finished 32nd. He pounded the wall with six laps to go at Bristol, which forced a premature retirement. The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team ripped off back-to-back victories at Las Vegas and Charlotte, and his eighth-place effort at Phoenix put him just 24 points in arrears heading to Talladega. But a crash in the draft all but sealed his championship fate, and a blown engine in the finale at Homestead was the final dagger — even though his 14th-place finish at Martinsville officially eliminated him.

What needs to change: Improve execution. The No. 19 team made three key self-inflicted mistakes during the postseason. Briscoe ran out of fuel at Stage 2 at Darlington, forcing a trip to pit road while it was closed. He ran seventh at Bristol before hitting the wall and heading to the garage early. Briscoe bled multiple spots at Kansas after another wall tap while racing for the win. Widening the scope, Briscoe started sluggish for the second year in a row, placing 33rd in points after four races. In total, he finished 32nd or worse seven times. No doubt, the Indiana native had his fair share of bad luck, but Briscoe left chunks of points on the table due to the team’s own mistakes.

Quotable: “A lot of it’s been myself, so it’s just trying to have a better understanding of risk versus reward and just a better picture. I say execution, but like Gateway, the 9 (Chase Elliott) blows the rotor underneath you; there’s nothing you can do there. You get caught up in the big one at Talladega. Nothing you can do there. You know, the big one was really Bristol for us, and that was a mistake on my end, and then Darlington was the other one where we just ran ourselves out of fuel and had to go to the back. We could have won the stage and controlled the race. I feel like we’re close on an execution level,” — Briscoe after winning the pole Saturday at Homestead.

JOEY LOGANO

Entered Chase: Ninth in points, 65 back.

Finished Chase: Tied for sixth in points, 115 back.

What happened: Logano continued his end-of-summer heater at the start of The Chase, finishing inside the top 10 in six of the first seven races with a Bristol victory sandwiched in between. He sat just 44 points back of Larson with three races to go, but the No. 22 Ford Team Penske Ford flipped in a crash at Talladega before a pit-road mishap at Martinsville officially eliminated the three-time champion from title contention. The 18th-place finish at Martinsville was Logano’s worst finish at “The Paperclip” since 2019 — an uncharacteristic blip.

What needs to change: Start stronger. Logano sat 20th in points halfway through the 2026 campaign, and without three short-track wins in relatively quick order, it’s unlikely Logano would have been any sort of factor in the championship. Multiple times this spring, including Darlington and Kansas, he finished multiple laps down on pace. If Logano can get off to a better start in 2027, theoretically, he should earn a better Chase seed, making his postseason journey easier.

Quotable: “It was a big hole that we dug ourselves into, there’s no doubt, and trying to make that up on, to your point, the best teams, it’s really hard to do that … There was a moment where I was like, I don’t think we’re going to make the Chase here; this is going to hurt. Just crazy how quickly things can turn around.” — Logano after his Bristol victory in September.

Joey Logano in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Posted on by Staff Report

Trackhouse Racing announced Monday that Blake Harris will serve as crew chief for Shane van Gisbergen and the No. 97 Chevrolet in the 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Harris joins the organization after spending the last four seasons leading the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports outfit with driver Alex Bowman. He replaces Stephen Doran atop the No. 97 pit box after Spire Motorsports announced Doran will crew chief the No. 71 car and driver Michael McDowell in 2027.

MORE: Final 2026 standings | 2027 schedule

Harris has one win in the NASCAR Cup Series, leading Bowman to Victory Lane on the Chicago Street Course in 2024, a career-best year for Harris as a shot-caller. The No. 48 team scored eight top fives and 17 top 10s that season in addition to a pole-position effort at Bristol Motor Speedway. Before joining Hendrick, Harris served as crew chief of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team with McDowell in 2022, guiding McDowell to 11 top 10s and a 15.8 average finish in 32 races.

The 2026 campaign proved challenging for Harris and the No. 48, losing Bowman for four races as he battled vertigo early in the season. Through combined efforts with Bowman, Justin Allgaier and Anthony Alfredo, the No. 48 team ultimately finished 24th in owners’ points this season. Bowman finished 26th with four top fives and eight top 10s.

Harris now partners with SVG, a three-time V8 Supercars champion and renowned road racer whose transition to full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing took a notable step forward on ovals in 2026. The New Zealand native finished the 2026 regular season just outside The Chase presented by Mobil 1 and earned a career-high six top fives and 10 top 10s in his second full season, improving his average finish of 21.0 in 2025 to 18.9 in 2026. Van Gisbergen won twice in 2026 (Watkins Glen International; Sonoma Raceway), bumping his career total to eight wins, tied for 71st all-time alongside Bowman and Chase Briscoe as well as former driver and current television analyst Kyle Petty.

“Feel like we made good strides this year, and it’d be good to get some momentum going,” Van Gisbergen said Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “We started the year pretty average as a team. Middle of the year was average, and I feel like we really sort of turned it around the last couple of months. So hopefully that keeps going.”

Van Gisbergen finished 17th in the final points standings of 2026, the highest available position outside the 16-driver Chase field.

Posted on by Staff Report

Spire Motorsports announced Monday that Stephen Doran will serve as crew chief of the No. 71 Chevrolet for veteran driver Michael McDowell in the NASCAR Cup Series next year. 

Doran will make the move from Trackhouse Racing’s No. 97 Chevy and driver Shane van Gisbergen at season’s end. He replaces Travis Peterson, who has been paired with McDowell for the last four seasons — two with Front Row Motorsports and two with Spire.

MORE: Final 2026 Cup Series standings | 2027 Cup Series schedule

Doran has worked the last three years with Trackhouse, scoring seven Cup Series wins and five pole positions in the last two seasons with van Gisbergen. Before joining the Justin Marks-owned organization, Doran spent 11 seasons with Stewart-Haas Racing and was part of the No. 4 team that claimed the Cup Series championship with Kevin Harvick in 2014.

 Van Gisbergen ended the season 17th in the Cup Series standings, having just missed The Chase presented by Mobil 1 field.

“I’m incredibly thankful to Justin (Marks) for giving me the opportunity to be a crew chief at Trackhouse,” Doran said in a press release. “I’m equally grateful for the opportunity to work alongside SVG. He’s a world-class driver on the track and an even better person away from it. I’ll truly miss the people and relationships I’ve built within the Trackhouse family.

“The timing felt right to return to Spire Motorsports. Coming back to the No. 71 team is something I’ve thought about since leaving at the end of 2024. What Jeff, Dan (Towriss), and the entire organization have built in such a short time is impressive, and I’m excited to be part of what’s ahead. I can’t wait to get to work with Michael and the entire team as we push to become a consistent race-winning organization for years to come.”

“Our 2027 season starts today, so we’re eager to bring Stephen back to Spire Motorsports,” Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson said in a team release. “He’s an exceptionally talented individual, a winning crew chief and someone who fits in with our group, seamlessly. Spire had a great 2026 season, so we have a lot to be proud of. Adding Stephen to the mix with Matt McCall and reuniting him with Ryan (Sparks), Luke (Lambert) and Dax (Garringer) gives me a lot of confidence that our best days as an organization are still in front of us.”

Peterson helped guide McDowell to the most recent of his Cup Series victories, prevailing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2023 — their first year together. McDowell has been on the outside of the Cup Series postseason field the last three seasons and finished 20th in the standings.

Posted on by Zack Albert

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Even Kyle Larson admitted that the way he clinched his third NASCAR Cup Series championship verged toward buzzkill. The 34-year-old California kid salted a hard-fought title away in an abbreviated Stage 1, with nary a “WOO!” or even a lower-case “woo” over the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet’s radio. The championship stage wouldn’t be wheeled to the frontstretch for nearly 190 laps, and the whirring of calculators was the clinch soundtrack instead of fireworks.

“Uh, they’ve declared it. We got it,” said Cliff Daniels, the No. 5 team’s ever-reliable crew chief.

“Like, it’s done?” asked Larson.

“It’s over.”

“OK, that was a little anticlimactic,” Larson said, “but that’s cool. Good job, guys.”

As understated a radio moment as it was, the sense of accomplishment that accompanied one of the most celebrated 12th-place finishes in recent memory should be trumpeted to the Homestead-Miami Speedway rafters. Larson took out all the guesswork early in Sunday’s Cup Series season finale, giving the heralded 1.5-mile track another entry in its rich history of crowning champions.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Homestead

There’s no understating where Larson ranks now in the conversation among stock-car racing’s all-time greats. Getting just one Cup title is an achievement in itself — a feat that many fine racers aren’t fortunate enough to taste. Winning two moves the needle into the next stage of elite. Now as just the 11th driver to reach three championships in NASCAR’s top division, there’s an easy association with some of the sport’s immortals — Yarborough, Waltrip, Stewart, Pearson, Logano.

His ability to excel in other disciplines of racing, however, has placed Larson on a separate, lofty plateau. At Richmond, Larson expressed his faith in Hendrick Motorsports’ process after some early struggles, trusting that both he and the team would have the ability to turn around their fortunes at the most critical time in the postseason. It was also at Richmond where he ran 300 miles, bolted from his No. 5 Chevy to fly halfway across the country to claim his fourth Knoxville Nationals triumph in the wee hours of a damp Iowa morning.

NASCAR, IndyCar, sprint car. Larson has demonstrated searing speed in all, much in the way legends with names like Foyt and Andretti once did. No less an authority than four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon said it’s time to put his driver’s name alongside those icons.

“In our eyes, he’s there, right?” said Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman. “We see what he accomplishes and everything he gets in. It’s hard to pick the most impressive thing that he does because he gets in an IndyCar, he goes fast. Sprint car, he’ll fly overnight, get in the car, go win Knoxville, then come back and win the Brickyard, hop in the car and fly the next day in the stock car. That’s rare air. Very rare. So few guys that are capable of doing that, or even get the opportunity to do that. Whatever stats he needs to accumulate, OK, if that’s what it takes. I think he’s already there.”

Once the championship race became a mathematical inevitability, team owner Rick Hendrick — who had fretted each time early on when Larson tempted calamity in his search for speed up against the outside wall — finally keyed the No. 5 radio to loosen the reins. “Congratulations, champ,” he said. “Now you can ride the wall.”

With newfound freedom, Larson began ripping along the outer barrier without objection — to the detriment of his car’s scuffed right side, but to the delight of those watching his breathless derring-do. His skillset has always felt like a perfect match to Homestead’s high-banked sweeping turns, where the reward/risk balance of running the highest of lines has lured some of the sport’s bravest.

According to race winner Ryan Blaney, one of his generation’s peers, that wasn’t always the case.

“Right when he got in the sport, he kind of changed the game. He’s one of those guys,” Blaney said, noting how he’d pointed this out years ago when the two drivers were marketed heavily in a “they’ve got next” program. “… He revolutionized running the wall. I don’t know if anyone knows that. Go look up when Kyle Larson came into the Cup Series in like ’14 or even before, was then the Nationwide Series, nobody ran the fence like that. Everyone would kind of go in the middle, fade up to the top, come off of it. Kyle was one of the first guys I’ve ever seen just park it entering, two inches off the wall, and not getting two inches off the wall the whole way. That was a talent like I’d never seen before personally. …

“I think he’s really good at finding the edge,” Blaney added. “He used to step over it a lot in his early days. He would always be at the edge, take himself out of contention. As he’s gotten older, more experienced, he’s really refined that skill of he’s still on the edge but he definitely doesn’t go over it a lot. That’s really dangerous for the rest of us. Obviously he’s incredibly talented. His natural, God-given talent is off the charts. He is very deserving to win his third championship. That group makes it very hard on everybody in the garage. They’re a very good team. Everyone has their work cut out for them to keep contending with that group, specifically that pairing of Kyle, Cliff, all those guys.”

That talent came to its brightest focus under the spotlight of the sport’s first go-round with a new-look Chase format. The freshened postseason structure rewarded winning and consistency, and Larson and the No. 5 team delivered on both in epic fashion, rising from a seventh-seed slot to take a commanding lead. Larson shook off a regular-season slump with victories at Gateway, Kansas and of all places Talladega, where his unlikely charge erased all doubt about the strength of his title candidacy.

MORE: Blaney rolls to Homestead win | Hamlin, Bell ‘at peace’ after 2026 season

With three titles in a six-year span and the amped-up performance over this year’s final 10 races, the parallels to another Hendrick dynasty were bound to be drawn. Jimmie Johnson secured all seven of his record-tying Cup Series championships here and was the last to go back-to-back, and Daniels was a key component to the No. 48 team’s repeated success — prosperity he’s enjoying with a team he now leads. Even Denny Hamlin — among Larson’s closest challengers this year — was quick to connect all those dots.

“I mean, just an exceptional talent. He’s this generation’s Jimmie, right?” said Hamlin, who ended up third in the final Cup Series standings. “I mean, I think that’s the only way you can kind of describe it. Just when it comes to playoff time, they perform their best, and that’s something that Jimmie used to do. And you know, Jimmie was a guy that could get tons of speed out of a car. Kyle’s the same way, you could argue even more speed. There’s a little bit more variance in the results because of how hard he pushes it, but he reaps the benefits because he gets lots of wins, and that’s something that certainly he’s going to be winning championships and races well beyond when I’m gone from here. But it’s been fun to really race against him and see how really he’s gotten better and matured over the last 10 years on the race track.”

And that’s where the conversation goes as NASCAR traipses into its offseason break, even with the trophy-shaped confetti still freshly flown — just how many more titles Larson & Co. can accumulate. Richard Petty’s seven Cup championships were once thought of as an unbreakable record until the rise of Dale Earnhardt. Those two stood alone for more than two decades until Johnson stunningly made it a three-man crowd of seven-timers, complete with his own unprecedented five-in-a-row burner.

Now Gordon can only smile as Larson makes gains on his own Hall of Fame credentials, but potentially on others with first-ballot, Mount Rushmore and GOAT cred. Anticlimactic? Hardly.

“He’s going to pass me. I already came to that conclusion,” Gordon said, grinning. “Kind of knew that when he was going to Hendrick Motorsports. He’s special. It was one of the first things that I said to him when I saw him today. All right, there you go, number three, one more to go.”

Posted on by Staff Report

The all-time list of NASCAR Cup Series winners starts with Richard Petty (200 wins) and includes more than 60 drivers who won just a single time at NASCAR’s top level.

Below is the list of all-time winners, in order, in the Cup Series.

Last update: After Race 36 of the 2026 season (Homestead-Miami Speedway).

Active drivers in ALL CAPS

RankDriverWins
1.Richard Petty200
2.David Pearson105
3.Jeff Gordon93
4.Bobby Allison85
5.Darrell Waltrip84
T-6.Jimmie Johnson83
T-6.Cale Yarborough83
8.Dale Earnhardt76
9.DENNY HAMLIN64
10.Kyle Busch63
11.Kevin Harvick60
12.Rusty Wallace55
13.Lee Petty54
T-14.Ned Jarrett50
T-14.Junior Johnson50
16.Tony Stewart49
17.Herb Thomas48
18.Buck Baker46
19.Bill Elliott44
T-20.JOEY LOGANO40
T-20.Mark Martin40
T-22.Tim Flock39
T-22.Matt Kenseth39
24.Bobby Isaac37
25.BRAD KESELOWSKI36
26.KYLE LARSON35
T-27.Kurt Busch34
T-27.Martin Truex Jr.34
29. Fireball Roberts33
30.Dale Jarrett32
T-31.Carl Edwards28
T-31.Rex White28
T-33.Dale Earnhardt Jr.26
T-33.Fred Lorenzen26
T-35.Jim Paschal25
T-35.Joe Weatherly25
T-37.CHASE ELLIOTT23
T-37.Ricky Rudd23
39.Terry Labonte22
T-40.RYAN BLANEY21
T-40.Jeff Burton21
T-40.Bobby Labonte21
T-40.Benny Parsons21
T-40.Jack Smith21
45.Speedy Thompson20
T-46.Davey Allison19
T-46.Buddy Baker19
T-46.Greg Biffle19
T-46.Fonty Flock19
T-50.Geoff Bodine18
T-50.Neil Bonnett18
T-50.Harry Gant18
T-50.Kasey Kahne18
T-50.Ryan Newman18
T-55WILLIAM BYRON17
T-55.Marvin Panch17
T-55.Curtis Turner17
58.Ernie Irvan15
T-59.TYLER REDDICK14
T-59.CHRISTOPHER BELL14
T-59.Dick Hutcherson14
T-59.LeeRoy Yarbrough14
T-63.Dick Rathmann13
T-63.Tim Richmond13
T-65.Donnie Allison10
T-65.Clint Bowyer10
T-65.Sterling Marlin10
T-68.Paul Goldsmith9
T-68.Cotton Owens9
T-68.Bob Welborn9
T-71.CHASE BRISCOE8
T-71.SHANE VAN GISBERGEN8
T-71.ALEX BOWMAN8
T-71.Kyle Petty8
T-75.Darel Dieringer7
T-75.AJ Foyt7
T-75.Jamie McMurray7
T-75.Jim Reed7
T-75.Marshall Teague7
T-80.AUSTIN DILLON6
T-80.CHRIS BUESCHER6
T-80.ROSS CHASTAIN6
T-83.Ward Burton5
T-83.Dan Gurney5
T-83.Alan Kulwicki5
T-83.Tiny Lund5
T-83.Dave Marcis5
T-83.Jeremy Mayfield5
T-83.Ralph Moody5
T-90.Lloyd Dane4
T-90.Bob Flock4
T-90.Charlie Glotzbach4
T-90.Eddie Gray4
T-90.Bobby Hamilton4
T-90.Pete Hamilton4
T-90.Parnelli Jones4
T-90.Hershel McGriff4
T-90.Joe Nemechek4
T-90.Eddie Pagan4
T-90.Ken Schrader4
T-90.Morgan Shepherd4
T-90.Nelson Stacy4
T-90.RICKY STENHOUSE JR.4
T-90.Billy Wade4
T-90.Michael Waltrip4
T-90.Glen Wood4
T-107.AJ ALLMENDINGER3
T-107.Aric Almirola3
T-107.AUSTIN CINDRIC3
T-107.Bill Blair3
T-107.Robby Gordon3
T-107.ERIK JONES3
T-107.Dick Linder3
T-107.Frank Mundy3
T-107.Elliott Sadler3
T-107.Gwyn Staley3
T-107.DANIEL SUÁREZ3
T-107.Brian Vickers3
T-107.BUBBA WALLACE3
T-120.MICHAEL MCDOWELL2
T-120.TY GIBBS2
T-120.COREY HEIM2
T-120.Marcos Ambrose2
T-120.John Andretti2
T-120.Johnny Beauchamp2
T-120.Red Byron2
T-120.Derrike Cope2
T-120.Ricky Craven2
T-120.Ray Elder2
T-120.James Hylton2
T-120.Bobby Johns2
T-120.Joe Lee Johnson2
T-120.Al Keller2
T-120.Elmo Langley2
T-120.Danny Letner2
T-120.Juan Pablo Montoya2
T-120.Billy Myers2
T-120.Jimmy Pardue2
T-120.Steve Park2
T-120.Tom Pistone2
T-120.Marvin Porter2
T-120.David Ragan2
T-120.David Reutimann2
T-120.Gober Sosebee2
T-120.Jimmy Spencer2
T-120.Emanuel Zervakis2
T-147.Johnny Allen1
T-147.Bill Amick1
T-147.Mario Andretti1
T-147.Earl Balmer1
T-147.Trevor Bayne1
T-147.Johnny Benson1
T-147.JOSH BERRY1
T-147.Brett Bodine1
T-147.Ron Bouchard1
T-147.Richard Brickhouse1
T-147.Dick Brooks1
T-147.Bob Burdick1
T-147.Harrison Burton1
T-147.Marvin Burke1
T-147.Neil Cole1
T-147.Jim Cook1
T-147.Cole Custer1
T-147.Mark Donohue1
T-147.Joe Eubanks1
T-147.Lou Figaro1
T-147.Jimmy Florian1
T-147.Larry Frank1
T-147.Danny Graves1
T-147.Royce Haggerty1
T-147.Justin Haley1
T-147.Bobby Hillin1
T-147.CARSON HOCEVAR1
T-147.Jim Hurtubise1
T-147.John Kieper1
T-147.Harold Kite1
T-147.Paul Lewis1
T-147.Johnny Mantz1
T-147.Sam McQuagg1
T-147.Casey Mears1
T-147.Paul Menard1
T-147.Lloyd Moore1
T-147.Jerry Nadeau1
T-147.Norm Nelson1
T-147.Bill Norton1
T-147.Phil Parsons1
T-147.Dick Passwater1
T-147.Lennie Pond1
T-147.RYAN PREECE1
T-147.Bill Rexford1
T-147.Jody Ridley1
T-147.Shorty Rollins1
T-147.Jim Roper1
T-147.Earl Ross1
T-147.John Rostek1
T-147.Johnny Rutherford1
T-147.Greg Sacks1
T-147.Leon Sales1
T-147.Frankie Schneider1
T-147.Wendell Scott1
T-147.Buddy Shuman1
T-147.Regan Smith1
T-147.John Soares1
T-147.Lake Speed1
T-147.Chuck Stevenson1
T-147.Donald Thomas1
T-147.Tommy Thompson1
T-147.Art Watts1
T-147.Danny Weinberg1
T-147.Jack White1
Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin knew the odds were stacked against them heading into Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The hill toward stealing a championship away from Kyle Larson proved too tall to climb, but it sure wasn’t from a lack of effort from the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Homestead-Miami

Bell (46 laps) and Hamlin (87) combined to lead 133 of Sunday’s 267 laps and ultimately finished the 400-mile contest fourth and sixth, respectively. The battle for the championship was out of reach after Larson clinched the title at the conclusion of Stage 1, but the fight for second was alive and well: Bell entered just three points ahead of Hamlin for the position. At night’s end, Bell landed second in the final championship rundown, 49 points behind Larson, with Hamlin third, 56 points back.

“I would have been really disappointed if we didn’t hold second for sure,” Bell said. “And I knew it was going to be a battle. We knew that he was going to be fast, but I don’t feel proud that I won second. I guess I feel like I should have maintained second, and we did that. So we checked the box and didn’t lose it.”

A late caution triggered a round of pit stops on Lap 254 with 13 laps remaining, with Hamlin emerging second on the front row alongside William Byron. Bell was the third car on the inside row, fifth in the running order. Hamlin knew a win would’ve propelled him ahead of Bell … but that he also had nothing to lose. That aggression led Hamlin into the outside wall and sank Hamlin.

“[Crew chief Chris Gayle] told me that we needed to win,” Hamlin said. “I mean, that’s why I drove it straight in the fence. I was trying to get to the lead and knew that I wasn’t gonna get caught by any of the rest of the guys, so I tried to do everything I could to get to the outside. Just couldn’t quite hold it. But he told me that Bell needed to drop one or I needed to win the race. I wasn’t gonna count on Bell dropping one.”

MORE: Watch Hamlin’s post-race interview

The disappointment in falling short of the championship wasn’t so palpable post-race at Homestead after each Bell and Hamlin contended for the race win. Both knew the chances were about the same as winning the lottery, and Hamlin said he was “definitely at peace with this well before this weekend.”

Both also expressed their respect for Larson, who executed an extraordinary performance throughout The Chase presented by Mobil 1 that allowed the No. 5 team to clinch the championship before the race had reached its halfway point.

“Kyle did a great job. He did exactly what he needed to do,” Bell said. “He clinched it in Stage 1 whenever he got the fourth-place points and they were the best team throughout the 10 weeks. So I will always say that this is way better than what we had for sure. … But it creates high-intensity moments throughout the entire Chase, not just at the last race. So the 5 car earned their buffer for what they had today, and they did. They executed the race exactly like they needed to. So credit to them.”

Hamlin was pleased with his No. 11 team’s performance at Homestead, leading his most laps at Homestead since he last won at the 1.5-mile oval in 2020, when he paced the field for 137 laps.

“That was as competitive as we’ve been at this track for quite a few years,” Hamlin said. “I knew [the championship] was over at the end of Stage 1, but I still thought that we put together a pretty good race. And it developed a chance on that last few laps. It just didn’t quite work out.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Ryan Blaney stole the consolation prize from Tyler Reddick with two laps left in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but it’s Kyle Larson who will leave South Florida with the championship trophy.

Blaney passed Reddick on Lap 266 of 267 in the final race of the reconstituted NASCAR Cup Series Chase presented by Mobil 1 and powered his No. 12 Team Penske Ford across the finish line 0.314 seconds ahead of Reddick’s 23XI Racing Toyota.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Homestead-Miami

Long before Blaney secured his fourth victory of the season and 21st of his career, Larson had clinched his second straight championship and third overall with a fourth-place finish in the first stage.

After multiple brushes with the outside wall, Larson eventually rolled home in 12th in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, becoming the first Cup Series driver to win back-to-back titles since Hendrick legend Jimmie Johnson claimed five straight from 2006 through 2010.

“I got word that we clinched it, and I started driving like an idiot,” Larson said with a laugh.

Larson became the 11th driver to win three or more championships in NASCAR’s top division. As broadcaster Jeff Burton pointed out earlier in the weekend, more humans have walked on the moon (12) than have won three Cup titles.

Larson joined an elite group of three-time champions that includes NASCAR Hall of Famers Lee Petty, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Tony Stewart and current Team Penske driver Joey Logano.

SHOP: Champion’s gear | Winner’s gear

The championship was the 16th for team owner Rick Hendrick, extending Hendrick Motorsports’ series record.

“I’m just so proud of my team, first and foremost,” said Larson, who finished 49 points ahead of second-place Christopher Bell and 56 in front of third-place Denny Hamlin. “Hendrick Motorsports, this was statistically probably one of our worst years. To still come away with the championship shows how resilient everybody at the race shop is, everybody on my 5 team, all my teammates, 24 (William Byron), the 9 (Chase Elliott), the 48 (Alex Bowman). GM (General Motors), too, Chevrolet, all the key partners there.

“We absolutely could not have done what we did in the Chase without the teamwork that it took. That’s what this championship is, makes it so meaningful, just the teamwork. This one, more than any of them, took teamwork.”

Larson’s third championship was official when pole winner Chase Briscoe’s engine blew on Lap 78, ending the first stage. Larson was running fourth at the time, one position behind Bell, with Hamlin in sixth.

By scoring seven stage points to Bell’s eight and Hamlin’s five, Larson put the title mathematically out of the reach of his Joe Gibbs Racing pursuers. Hamlin and Bell were left to battle for second place in the final standings.

“They’ve declared it — we’ve got it,” crew chief Cliff Daniels radioed to Larson during the caution. With his third championship — all with Larson — Daniels is tied for fourth all-time among Cup Series crew chiefs.

“Like it’s done — over?” asked Larson, just making sure. “That was a little anticlimactic, but that’s cool. Good job, guys!”

WATCH: The moment that Larson clinched

Hendrick radioed his delight to the 34-year-old driver from Elk Grove, California.

“Congratulations,” Hendrick said. “Now you can run the wall.”

That’s exactly what Larson did, but the freedom came with a price. On Lap 119, Larson steered the No. 5 Camaro to pit road with a cut right rear tire — the result of contact with the outside wall.

Larson’s trip to the pits started a green-flag cycle, with Bell following from the race lead eight laps later and Reddick right behind him. But it was Hamlin, who pitted three laps earlier than Bell, who grabbed the lead and held on to win the second stage, as Larson faded to 17th on well-worn rubber.

Blaney’s journey to the checkered flag was convoluted, to say the least. During the first stage break, he returned to pit road to remedy a loose wheel and restarted at the back of the field. By the end of Stage 2, he had climbed to fifth in the running order.

In the final stage, Blaney ran long and pitted on Lap 220 and was running down Byron and Reddick from five seconds back when a caution bunched the field and set up a restart with eight laps left.

SHOP: Champion’s gear

Blaney restarted fourth, passed Bell on Lap 263, slipped past Byron a lap later and made the winning pass on Reddick at Lap 266 of 267.

“Pretty cool night battling back from coming down pit road,” said Blaney, who avenged a haunting last-lap loss to Reddick at 1.5-mile Homestead in 2024. “Car was really, really fast. I appreciate everybody for sticking with it.

“Even though we weren’t part of the championship fight, our goal was to try to win the race, end on a high note, get the most points we can.”

The victory elevated Blaney three positions to fourth in the final standings, 94 points behind Larson.

Byron, who was leading by just over one second when Noah Gragson spun Daniel Suárez in Turn 1 to cause the third and final caution with 14 laps left, finished third in front of Bell and Bubba Wallace.

Hamlin came home sixth, followed by Austin Cindric, Suárez, Gragson, and Michael McDowell.

Bell and Hamlin were the only other two drivers still mathematically alive for the title entering Sunday’s race, but winning would have required a perfect night from one of the two JGR drivers along with calamity for Larson.

Neither happened.

SHOP: Champion’s gear

“This year consistently we were in the mix,” Bell said. “We were in there for contention of race wins. Obviously disappointed we didn’t win more. Yeah, just happy and thrilled and thankful that I’m in position.

“Something to build on. Hopefully, we can execute a little bit better and get that grand prize at the end.”

A four-time winner this season, Hamlin echoed Bell’s sentiments.

“We had a great year,” he said. “Every way you can measure the year, it’s been really, really good. Congrats to the 5 team. They deserve everything, the spoils of victory. They performed absolutely incredible during these last 10 races.

“We are extremely happy with the 36 races that we put together. It’s really tough to do in this sport. Certainly felt good to be competitive from the first race to the last.”

Stage 2 recap: Hamlin takes second frame

Denny Hamlin won Stage 2 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Christopher Bell finished second, followed by Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney. William Byron, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Zane Smith and Daniel Suárez completed the top 10.

Reddick fired back into the lead on the Stage 2 restart, touching fenders with Bell to briefly pull away. Three laps later on Lap 94, Bell crossed Reddick over, clearing the No. 45 23XI Toyota for the lead in Turn 2.

Newly minted three-time champion Kyle Larson pitted with a flat right-rear on Lap 118, surrendering his fourth-place position after contacting the wall. That pit stop came toward the beginning of the expected pit cycle, and Chase Elliott pitted for his Stage 2 service moments later.

MORE: Stage 2 results | Watch Hamlin clinch Stage 2 dub

Hamlin pitted on Lap 125, two circuits before leaders Bell and Reddick pitted on Lap 127 — just moments after Reddick washed up the track and nearly contacted the wall while battling for the lead. Once those two pitted, Hamlin cycled to the lead for his first advantage of the afternoon.

With a tire disadvantage for the second stint of the frame, Larson faded well outside of the top 10 by the green-white checkered flag, finishing 17th.

The stage was incident-free.

Stage 1 recap: Reddick wins opening frame, Larson clinches title

Tyler Reddick won Stage 1 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway as Kyle Larson’s fourth-place finish clinched the 2026 championship.

Larson earned seven points in the frame, enough to clinch after Christopher Bell finished third and Denny Hamlin finished sixth in Stage 1. Ryan Blaney finished second and Austin Cindric finished fifth, with Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suárez, William Byron and Chase Elliott taking positions seventh through 10th.

Polesitter Chase Briscoe fired out to the lead at the green flag, leading the first 34 laps until pitting for four tires and fuel. The No. 19 team had a 16-plus second pit stop after a hangup on the left side, forcing him out of the top spot once the cycle completed. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Bell pitted one lap later, prompting many leaders to make their first stop of the day.

Reddick and Larson pitted together on Lap 40, exactly halfway through the opening frame. They pitted later in the cycle, losing time on old tires in the short term for an advantage later in the run.

On Lap 43, Bell cycled to the lead for his first advantage of the afternoon with Briscoe in fifth after the pit slipup.

MORE: Full Stage 1 results | Watch Stage 1’s conclusion

Eleven laps later, Reddick powered his No. 45 23XI Toyota to the lead for the first time, just moments before teammate Corey Heim suffered an issue. Heim reported no power in his No. 67 Toyota after running 14th, rolling down pit road for his team to analyze the problem.

With three laps left in the stage, Briscoe’s engine expired from seventh, ending Stage 1 prematurely.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed in the NASCAR Cup Series garage with no issues, confirming Blaney as the Homestead winner and Larson as the 2026 champion.

Contributing: Staff report