Larson Wins Third NASCAR Cup Title Before the Finale Is Decided
Kyle Larson clinched his third NASCAR Cup Series championship on Sunday, and he did it before the race was over. The title was settled after the first stage of the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, according to NASCAR.
NASCAR's Cup Series is its top national series, and its season ends with a playoff, a run of elimination-style races that decides the champion. Each race is split into stages. Drivers who finish near the front at the end of a stage earn stage points, and those points add to a driver's season total. Larson needed nine points to secure the title. He picked up points for starting the race and more for finishing fourth in the opening stage.
Larson came into the weekend with a 67-point lead over Christopher Bell, so the title was close to his hands before the green flag. He still had to make the points count. He did, and the race itself went to Ryan Blaney, who won the 400-mile finale for Team Penske. Tyler Reddick finished second, followed by William Byron, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin. Larson finished 12th.
The title is a big step in a long career. It is Larson's third Cup championship in six years. He becomes the 11th driver in NASCAR history to win three. Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson each won seven, and Jeff Gordon won four. Larson is also the first back-to-back champion since Johnson in 2010, when Johnson was chasing the run of five straight titles he began in 2006.
Hendrick Motorsports, Larson's team, takes the owners' trophy for the season as well, its 16th Cup championship. Larson's season had a rocky stretch on the way. He went 51 races without a win before the playoffs, then won three of the nine playoff races that came before the finale. That late run is what kept his title hopes alive into November.
Larson was also in the mix during practice on Friday. He was 10th in single-lap speed, the fastest he went over one lap of the track, and he was the highest-placed Hendrick driver in that session. Practice times don't decide championships, but they show a car that was competitive from the start of the weekend.
For fans new to NASCAR, the simplest way to read this season is a driver who was consistent over ten months and then held his nerve at the end. The finish order on Sunday mattered less to the title than the points gathered earlier in the race. Larson's season ends with a trophy, and a place in the record books alongside some of the sport's biggest names.
