HOMESTEAD, Fla. Kyle Larson has added another championship to his resume, securing his third NASCAR Cup Series crown in six seasons on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 34-year-old clinched the title early in the 400-mile finale, making him the first driver to win consecutive championships since Jimmie Johnson, who captured five straight starting in 2006 and finishing in 2010.
Larson is now the 11th driver in NASCAR history to own three Cup titles. That group features seven-time champions Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Johnson, while Jeff Gordon sits at four. Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano each have three.
The outcome was all but decided before the race even started. Larson arrived at the weekend holding a 67-point advantage over Christopher Bell and required just nine points to seal the championship. He picked up one point simply by taking the green flag, then collected seven more with a fourth-place finish in the opening stage. When Bell failed to win that stage, he had no mathematical path to catch Larson the rest of the afternoon.
Larson set up his latest title run with a remarkable postseason. He snapped a 51-race winless drought by winning three of the nine playoff races leading into the finale and landed in the top 10 in eight of those events.
His first championship came in 2021 during his debut season with powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports, when he won four of the final five races, including the finale at Phoenix Raceway, even as questions lingered about the end of his tenure at Chip Ganassi Racing. His second title arrived last year at Phoenix in dramatic fashion, when a late caution and a two-tire call by his crew allowed him to jump sentimental favorite Denny Hamlin on pit road with two laps remaining. Hamlin ran out of time to respond.
This third championship came with far less suspense. Larson was such a heavy favorite that he was the only Cup driver invited to NASCAR's championship media day on Thursday, an arrangement he described as awkward. The main unknown was how he and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team would manage the pressure, and he answered that during qualifying on Saturday. "They were debating on if a hot dog is a sandwich and if cereal is a soup," Larson said. "So I would say they were pretty relaxed. I was surprised by all that." As for his own stance: "The hot dog is not a sandwich and absolutely cereal is not a soup."
The bigger debate now is where Larson ranks among the greatest drivers in motorsports history. Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and Tony Stewart are often cited as the standard bearers for winning across disciplines. Jones won in sprint cars and stock cars around the same period he captured the 1963 Indianapolis 500. Andretti claimed four IndyCar titles, the 1967 Daytona 500 and the 1969 Indianapolis 500. Foyt won four Indy 500s and the 1972 Daytona 500. Stewart took the 1997 IndyCar championship and three Cup Series titles and now races NHRA dragsters at the top level.
Larson has started the Indianapolis 500 twice and has won dirt racing events around the globe, placing him in elite company even before Sunday's result. "He wins in everything he does, and they're all completely different cars and tracks," said retired driver and current NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton. "And he's racing against the best in every discipline."
