Kyle Larson did his part Sunday in adding to Hendrick Motorsports’ trophy case, while Ryan Blaney settled a score in South Florida.
Larson earned his third NASCAR Cup Series championship by the end of Stage 1, and Ryan Blaney claimed his fourth win of the year in the Cup Series Championship Race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday in Homestead, Fla.
Blaney passed Tyler Reddick, seeking his seventh victory, off Turn 4 coming to the white flag in an eight-lap dash to win the season finale by 0.314 seconds with William Byron, Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace completing the top five.
Two years ago, Reddick got by Blaney late to deny the Ford driver of his first Homestead victory.
“It does (feel like it),” Blaney replied when asked if he had achieved redemption. “Every time I come here, that race haunts me. I gave that one away and didn’t do a very good job at the end of that race. I learned from it and was able to apply some stuff we learned in that situation tonight.”
In repeating as the series champ, Larson discarded a 51-race winless streak, carried over from May 2025, and won three of the first nine races in the Chase playoffs to enter Sunday with a 67-point lead over Bell and 70 over Denny Hamlin, who ended up sixth on the 1.5-mile track.
Larson finished the race 12th.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver, who won the season titles in 2021 and 2025, tied the likes of Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Lee Petty with three titles. It was Hendrick’s 16th Cup championship in 32 years.
“I’m just so proud of my team, first and foremost,” said Larson. “Statistically, this was one of our worst years, and to still come away with a championship shows how resilient everybody at the race shop is, everybody on my 5 team and my teammates. GM, too, and all the key partners.”
In his final ride in the No. 6 Ford for RFK Racing, Brad Keselowski was 28th, while Josh Berry was 13th in his last run with the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.
Justin Haley gridded 21st in the No. 77 Chevrolet usually driven by Carson Hocevar, who was fined by NASCAR and suspended for one race by his Spire Motorsports team for multiple brake-checking incidents at Martinsville last Sunday.
Casey Mears came home 37th in the No. 62 Chevrolet in his 500th career start.
Polesitter Chase Briscoe led the first 34 laps but had a disastrous 16-second-plus pit stop after problems on the left rear. Reddick paced the field near the end of Stage 1, but seventh-place Briscoe had his No. 19 Toyota lose an engine near the close of the 80-lap segment.
Larson’s No. 5 clinched the championship with the stage points from a fourth-place finish, while Bell was third and Hamlin sixth. Reddick hung on to win the stage.
Bell, Reddick and Hamlin positioned themselves in the top three as Stage 2 opened, and Larson soon had to make an unscheduled pit stop after cutting the right-rear tire.
Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota led teammate Bell’s No. 20 throughout Stage 2, and the Joe Gibbs Racing pilots finished in that order with Reddick in third, followed by Team Penske teammates Austin Cindric and Blaney.
Byron led Hamlin and Reddick over the last 50 circuits in the 267-lap race, but Noah Gragson spun Daniel Suarez on Lap 253 to set up the shootout.
–Field Level Media
