For the second year in a row, Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series finale at the same time that Kyle Larson won the championship.
Larson cement himself as the winner to grab a championship at the end of one era and the beginning of another. Lesson's impressive playoff run after a slow start for all Chevrolet drivers brought him to the top of the charts and the table of conversation of champions. Entering Homestead, all Larson needed was to finish fourth or better in the first stage, as Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe, Stafford, and an engine failure in stage one while Larson was running fourth ended the stage for him.
The 2024 Homestead-Miami race, while it was not the finale, created a haunting narrative for both Larson and Blaney entering this weekend. In the O'Reilly series, Saturday's race decided the title, which ultimately went to Justin Alegier for a second consecutive year; a driver ran into sand, barrels, red-flagging the final stage in a similar way that Larson did and the Cup race two years ago. Blaney lost that same race in the final laps, but found redemption by bringing home the 2026 trophy.
"I'm going to be honest with you,” Blaney said. “Every time I come here, that race (2024 Homestead loss) haunts me," said Blaney in Victory Lane. "I kind of gave that one away. I didn't do a very good job at the end of that race. Learned from it. Was able to apply some stuff we learned a couple years ago in that situation to tonight.”
Tyler Reddick, the hottest driver to start the season, finished second ahead of William Byron, third ahead of Christopher Bell, and fourth ahead of Bubba Wallace in fifth.
Larson took his championship win by finishing 12th but clenching enough points in stage one to earn the number five Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and his fifth ever title.
He became just the seventh racer to win three championships at the Cup level, joining names like Tony Stewart, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, and Lee Petty, among others.
Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.
