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.
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.
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.
Three months after Hamlin’s suggestion, Hendrick had 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.
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.
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 wastwosidestoit,really. We’dbeon,orwe’dbeoff,andnotnecessarilyfromabasestandpoint ofjustexecutingandhavingthecleandaysversushavingcatastrophicdays.Soyeah,Imean,I’dsayifitwasallsunshineandrosesallyearlong,youfeelgoodaboutwhatyoudo,butitisimportanttohaveadegreeoftoughness,adegreeofunderstandinghowtodealwithlosses,howtodealwithfailures,howtodealwithwhateveritis, andwe’vebeenonbothsidesofit.” — Reddick during Chase Media Day in September.
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.
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.
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.
“Feellikewemadegoodstridesthisyear,andit’dbegoodtogetsomemomentumgoing,” Van Gisbergen said Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Westartedtheyearprettyaverageasateam.Middleoftheyearwasaverage,andIfeellike wereallysortofturneditaround the lastcoupleofmonths.Sohopefullythatkeepsgoing.”
Van Gisbergen finished 17th in the final points standings of 2026, the highest available position outside the 16-driver Chase field.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Imean,justanexceptionaltalent. He’sthisgeneration’sJimmie,right?” said Hamlin, who ended up third in the final Cup Series standings. “Imean,Ithinkthat’stheonlywayyoucankindofdescribeit.Justwhenitcomestoplayofftime,theyperformtheirbest,andthat’ssomethingthatJimmieusedtodo.Andyouknow,Jimmiewasaguythatcouldgettonsofspeedoutof a car.Kyle’sthesameway, youcouldargueevenmorespeed. There’salittlebitmorevariance intheresultsbecauseofhowhardhepushesit,buthereaps the benefitsbecausehegetslotsofwins,andthat’ssomethingthatcertainlyhe’sgoingtobewinningchampionshipsandraceswellbeyondwhenI’mgonefromhere.Butit’sbeenfuntoreallyraceagainsthimandseehowreallyhe’sgottenbetterandmaturedoverthelast10yearsontherace 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.”
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).
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.
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.
“Iwouldhavebeenreallydisappointedifwedidn’tholdsecondforsure,” Bell said. “AndIknewitwasgoingtobeabattle.Weknewthathewasgoingtobefast,but I don’tfeelproudthatIwonsecond.IguessIfeellikeIshouldhavemaintainedsecond,andwedidthat.Sowecheckedtheboxanddidn’tloseit.”
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 thatI 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.”
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 withthiswellbeforethisweekend.”
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.
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.
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.
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!”
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Kyle Larson went the entire 26-race regular season without a victory. A mere 10 Chase races later, he was a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
Larson clinched his third Cup title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, completing a remarkable championship turnaround and securing his second consecutive crown in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“All three mean something way different,” Larson said in his championship stage interview after the race. “The first one being your first. Doing it the way we did was extra special. Then last year, we started off the year really hot. Just declined kind of throughout the regular season. But then steadied out in the playoffs. Again, with (crew chief) Cliff’s (Daniels) leadership, kept us in it, to be able to attack when we needed to, get the surprise of that championship.”
The 34-year-old Californian mathematically clinched the championship at the conclusion of Stage 1, finishing fourth and collecting seven stage points after Chase Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota went up in smoke to bring out a caution on Lap 78. Larson entered Sunday needing nine total points to guarantee the title regardless of his rivals’ results, but his seven stage points proved sufficient. Christopher Bell finished third in the stage, earning eight points, while Denny Hamlin finished sixth with five, eliminating both from championship contention. Bell still trailed Larson by 66 points with only 66 available the rest of the race, and Larson was guaranteed at least one additional point for his finishing position.
“Good job to you. We’re going to keep our eyes forward, and we’re just going to keep running through this race, how’s that?” Daniels radioed to his title-clinching driver shortly after.
Larson, ever the racer, replied, “Yeah, love it. Let’s go.”
Larson’s work wasn’t finished, however, even with the championship already secured. The No. 5 team dealt with nose damage following contact on pit road at the conclusion of Stage 2, and Larson ultimately finished 12th in the 267-lap finale. Ryan Blaney won the race with a dramatic final-lap pass of Tyler Reddick, taking the checkered flag by 0.314 seconds, while Bell finished fourth and Hamlin sixth.
For the first time since Jimmie Johnson completed his remarkable five-title run in 2010, the Cup Series has a back-to-back champion. Larson also joins Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano as a three-time champion.
“Congratulations to Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the entire No. 5 Chevrolet team on their third NASCAR Cup Series championship,” said Mark Reuss, president of General Motors, in a Chevrolet release. “Championships are earned through preparation, trust and execution, and this team demonstrated all three throughout the 2026 season. They stayed focused through adversity, and performed the best when it mattered most.”
Hendrick team owner Rick Hendrick praised Larson’s evolution from his more timid early years with Chip Ganassi Racing to the looseness he’s garnered since joining Hendrick in 2021.
“I tell you, just from my standpoint, I remember going up to Kyle when he was driving for Ganassi. He didn’t say much; he didn’t show any emotion,” Hendrick said in his championship press conference. “I think after the championship last year, he started enjoying, like watching his kids. They’ve done an unbelievable job in winning races. You see his interviews, how he talks more. He’s engaged more. He’s kind of accepted the fact that he’s a NASCAR champion and that he owes the fans, the media, and everyone a chance to see Kyle Larson.
“I just think back to the early days when he was tight-lipped, when he was sitting in my basement before we hired him, and he says, ‘can tell you, I’m more talented than anybody out there.’ That’s all he said. That’s all I needed to hear. He just has blossomed in the last few years.”
Larson’s path here was anything but straightforward.
The Chase presented by Mobil 1 returned in 2026 with a single points reset following the regular season, followed by a 16-car field and 10 races without eliminations. Wins carried a 55-point reward, but stage points and avoiding bad afternoons mattered, too.
Larson turned out to be exceptional at both – he just needed an entire regular season to find that version of himself again.
Held winless through the opening 26 races, Larson rode a 51-race drought into September while Hamlin entered The Chase as the dominant No. 1 seed, 55 points ahead of seventh-seeded Larson. There was obvious speed in the No. 5. What hadn’t been there consistently were the finishes to match it.
That changed at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, where Larson snapped his drought in the second Chase race, then kept turning competitive cars into extraordinary points days as the No. 5 team appeared to grow stronger race by race. He opened the postseason fifth, first, second, first and second, a 2.2 average finish through five races — the best start in the format’s history, according to Racing Insights. He scored 273 points in that run, averaging 54.6 per race to nearly double his regular-season pace.
At Kansas Speedway, he swept both stages, led 235 laps and scored the maximum 76 points. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a 26-second pit stop dropped him a lap down, but he and crew chief Cliff Daniels recovered to finish second.
Kansas showcased the No. 5’s speed. Vegas demonstrated why its championship mettle was becoming the strongest in the field.
Daniels deserves a substantial share of the credit. During the winless stretch, he acknowledged that the team had sometimes overreached in its search for speed, but kept the tight-knit group focused on continually building a foundation of excellence. With questions swirling throughout the first half of 2026, the response wasn’t to invent a new identity, but to dig deep and rebuild around the fundamentals of the team itself.
After Charlotte, Daniels summarized the team’s approach: “I feel like it’s us against us, and it’s always been that way,” emphasizing the importance of focusing on internal improvement rather than the competition.
And then came Phoenix.
Larson had warned after Charlotte that he wouldn’t feel comfortable with his championship lead until it was over. Disaster in the desert displayed why.
His sixth-place finish at Charlotte ended his run of five consecutive top fives, and things took a turn a week later. At Phoenix, handling problems and a tire failure sent him to 34th, with just three points. His 49-point championship lead shrank to five. Seven drivers suddenly sat within 56 points of one another.
What had seemed increasingly inevitable suddenly wasn’t — with arguably Larson’s unluckiest track next on the docket.
Yet Talladega resulted in one of the least likely defining statements for the No. 5 team imaginable.
Larson, winless in his previous 58 drafting-track starts, led 23 laps and banked 16 stage points but fell from the lead to 11th on the final lap. Then came a remarkable charge back through the tri-oval in a stunning last-gasp rally for his first career superspeedway victory, netting a whopping 71 points.
The championship lead went from five points to 73 in one afternoon. The entire complexion of The Chase had changed again.
Not all that separation was Larson’s doing. His rivals endured tire failures, pit-road mistakes and damaging crashes; all 15 other Chase drivers encountered some kind of trouble at Talladega. But the No. 5 had put itself in position to capitalize, collecting stage points, surviving the wrecks and making the decisive move when the chance came.
Martinsville Speedway offered one final reminder that nothing was guaranteed.
Larson went a lap down after an unsuccessful opening-stage strategy and left the first two stages without a single point. A caution following contact that sent Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Hamlin spinning gave him the free pass, and Larson recovered to finish ninth with 28 points.
His championship lead slipped slightly, but the damage was minimal. Larson entered Homestead 67 points ahead of Bell and 70 clear of Hamlin, needing only nine points — or a 28th-place finish without stage points — to guarantee another title.
Larson’s three championship runs could hardly look more different.
In 2021, he won 10 races and led 2,581 laps, capping a dominant first season with Daniels by winning the Phoenix finale. In 2025, he never led a lap at Phoenix, yet Daniels’ two-tire strategy following a late caution helped Larson finish third and claim the championship while Hamlin’s dominant race slipped away.
This time, there was no single restart or late strategic gamble to define the championship. There was a sustained Chase run that managed to accommodate dominant victories, remarkable recoveries and even the occasional miserable afternoon.
The result is another chapter in Hendrick Motorsports history. Larson delivers the organization’s record 16th Cup championship, following four with Jeff Gordon, seven with Johnson, one each with Terry Labonte and Chase Elliott, and now three with Larson.
Daniels was a race engineer on Johnson’s 2016 championship team before becoming Larson’s crew chief, directly linking two generations of prolific Hendrick title winners. And the No. 5 carries a history of its own, dating to Geoff Bodine’s April 1984 Martinsville victory that helped keep Rick Hendrick’s fledgling operation alive.
Forty-two years later, the same car number has delivered another championship, this time at Homestead — a track where Larson also won the previous Cup race in March 2025.
Perhaps the most telling part of this latest title is how different it looked from the first two. In 2021, Larson overwhelmed the competition. In 2025, he survived the moment that mattered most.
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