Kyle Larson secured his third NASCAR Cup Series championship in six years on Sunday, clinching the title early in the 400-mile season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 34-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver became NASCAR's first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson in 2010, and the 11th driver in series history with three Cup titles.
Larson entered the weekend with a 67-point lead over Christopher Bell and needed only nine points to wrap up the championship. He earned one point for starting the race and seven more by finishing fourth in the opening stage. When Bell failed to win that stage, his path to catching Larson disappeared. Crew chief Cliff Daniels delivered the news over the radio, to which Larson replied, "That was anticlimactic."
Larson later scraped the wall in the second stage, cut a tire and never contended for the lead, finishing 12th. "Got the word that we had clinched it, and I started driving like an idiot," Larson said. "I'm more mad at myself."
Ryan Blaney won the race, which returned to South Florida for the first time since 2019, passing Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing with a little more than a lap to go as NBA legend Michael Jordan watched from pit road. Reddick finished second, followed by William Byron, Bell, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin. After a brief victory lane celebration, Blaney cleared the way for the new champion.
"Obviously he's incredibly talented," Blaney said of Larson. "His natural, God-given talent is off the charts. He is very deserving to win his third championship."
Larson celebrated with a smoky burnout near the start-finish line, then climbed atop his No. 5 Chevrolet with his wife and three children. Owen, 11, waved the championship flag, while Audrey, 8, threw confetti at her brothers and 3-year-old Cooper held up a single finger before sliding down the windshield into a pile of confetti.
The title capped a dominant postseason in which Larson won three of the 10 playoff events and finished in the top 10 in eight of them. "They deserve everything, the spoils of victory," Hamlin said. "They performed absolutely incredible during these last 10 races."
Larson now joins a list of three-time champions that includes Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano. Jeff Gordon has four titles, while Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Johnson each have seven. Johnson won five straight championships beginning in 2006, also with Hendrick Motorsports.
"He's going to pass me," said Gordon, now vice chairman at Hendrick. "I've already come to that conclusion. Kind of knew that when he was coming to Hendrick Motorsports. He's special."
The championship, the 16th Cup title for team owner Rick Hendrick, added to Larson's case as one of the most versatile drivers in motorsports. He has raced twice in the Indy 500 and has won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, three Chili Bowls and four Knoxville Nationals. "I think he's got to be looked at as one of the all-time greats," Hendrick said. Gordon added that Larson's ability to excel in IndyCars and sprint cars puts him in "rare air, very rare."
