By Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer
Kyle Larson went through a 26-race regular season without a win, but on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he still claimed his third NASCAR Cup Series championship. Meanwhile, Ryan Blaney took the race win from Tyler Reddick with just two laps to go. Larson finished 12th and never led a lap, while Blaney led seven. Still, both ended up with the top rewards.
Larson, driving the No. 5 car, secured the championship well before the race ended. He started Sunday 67 points ahead of Christopher Bell and 70 ahead of Denny Hamlin. After finishing fourth in Stage 1 and earning seven points, Bell finished third and Hamlin sixth, so neither could catch him. Larson clinched the title after just 80 of the 267 laps.
Larson had gone 51 races without a win and entered the Chase as the seventh seed, 55 points behind Hamlin. Then things changed. He won at Gateway, dominated Kansas for a full 76 points, and pulled off a win at Talladega after dropping to 11th on the last lap. His first five Chase finishes were fifth, first, second, first, and second.
Larson credited the turnaround to the people around him. “We absolutely could not have done what we did in the Chase without the teamwork that it took.”
The party has just begun and it’s not stopping. https://t.co/NveRXfzULy
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 9, 2026
Hendrick Motorsports didn’t start 2026 at their best. Larson even said it was one of the team’s worst seasons by the numbers, and Chevrolet’s new car caused early trouble. Still, Cliff Daniels and the No. 5 crew kept adapting. Larson became NASCAR’s first back-to-back Cup champion since Jimmie Johnson’s five-title run in 2010, joining the select group of three-time champions.
Homestead Gave the Championship and the Race to Different Men – Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney
At first, it looked like Toyota would have the advantage, and neither Larson nor Blaney seemed likely to win. Chase Briscoe led practice and took the pole. Hamlin qualified second, Reddick third, Larson fourth, and Bell sixth. Blaney started ninth. In practice, Larson was 10th and Blaney was fifth.
Briscoe led the first 34 laps, but a slow 16-second pit stop set him back. Bell took the lead, then Reddick took over on Lap 54, while Larson focused on getting the points he needed. Briscoe’s engine failed with three laps left in Stage 1. Reddick won the stage, Blaney was second, and Larson finished fourth. The championship was decided, but the race was still on.
After Larson bagged the championship, his day got tougher instead of easier. He had contact on pit road after Stage 2, which damaged his car’s nose and dropped him out of the top 10. Hamlin won Stage 2 and led a race-high 87 laps. Bell led 46, Reddick 53, and Briscoe 33 before his engine failed. Toyota drivers led 222 of the 267 laps, about 83 percent of the race.
Still, despite all that dominance, Toyota didn’t win the trophy.
William Byron took the lead after the last green-flag pit stops and pulled ahead of Reddick as Blaney moved up. Byron led 38 laps and seemed on track for his second win in a row after winning at Martinsville the week before.
But on Lap 253, Noah Gragson changed everything.
Gragson hit a seam while racing Daniel Suárez, lost grip, and made contact, which spun Suárez out. Gragson later took full responsibility. The caution wiped out Byron’s lead with 15 laps to go and sent the leaders to pit road for a final reset.
After the restart, Reddick took the lead. Hamlin pushed so hard he brushed the wall. Byron stayed close, and Bell was nearby. Meanwhile, Blaney started passing them one by one.
Blaney passed Bell, got by Byron, and caught up to Reddick with two laps left. Reddick defended the inside through Turns 3 and 4, but the No. 12 Team Penske driver had enough speed to get alongside and pass him. Blaney won by 0.314 seconds and set the fastest lap of the race at 32.62 seconds.
What’s interesting is how Blaney found that speed. An earlier problem forced him to work through traffic and try out different lanes he hadn’t planned on using. That challenge ended up giving him the information he needed for the final laps.
“Sometimes things might hurt initially; they might help you down the road,” Blaney said.
The finish at Homestead also brought a bit of payback. In 2024, Reddick took the win from Blaney with a last-lap pass on the outside. Two years later, Blaney returned the favor at the same track.
Behind the leaders, Bell finished fourth and Hamlin was sixth. Neither seemed to question the championship result. Hamlin even compared Larson’s postseason instincts to Johnson’s.
“I mean just an exceptional talent. I went through this generation’s Jimmie, I think that’s the only way you can describe it. When it comes to playoff time, they perform their best. That’s something that Jimmie used to do. Jimmie was a guy that could get tons of speed out of the car.”
“Kyle is the same, you could argue even more speed. There’s a little more variance in the results because of how hard he pushes it, but he reaps the benefit because he gets lots of wins. That’s something where he’s going to be winning championships and races long after I’m gone.”
He gave it all he had at @HomesteadMiami and throughout the 2026 season.
@dennyhamlin finishes sixth today and third in the overall standings. https://t.co/8f1aLEDwsm
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 9, 2026
Bell had a similar take on the HMS driver’s win. “He earned it. I think if you ask anyone in the crowd, anyone in the industry who the champion should have been, it’s him. I love how [The Chase] went. I’m obviously disappointed in myself, but I thought The Chase was amazing. It delivered high-intensity moments throughout the entire 10 races – not just in the big shebang at the end,” Bell said.
Larson didn’t win in the regular season, never led at Homestead, and didn’t even finish in the top 10 in the final race.
But once the Chase started, Larson won three races, made it through Phoenix, pulled off a win at Talladega, bounced back at Martinsville, and built such a big lead that the championship at Homestead was decided after just one stage.