NASCAR
Kyle Larson Earns Second Cup Title after Chaotic Sprint
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Much of Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway belonged to Denny Hamlin. The Progressive No. 11 Toyota led over 200 laps, but lost control of the race and championship in overtime. A four-tire pit stop combined with two-tire stops and other cars staying out put the 11 back to ninth on the two-lap dash restart. By virtue of changing only two tires, Kyle Larson held ground over Hamlin and was able to maintain over the final laps. Kyle Larson is now a two-time Cup Series champion after the No. 5 took the Phoenix checkers in third.
Denny Hamlin looked very strong early from the pole, but faded late in Stage 1. Championship rival William Byron got by the 11 for the opening Stage win, but Hamlin stormed back by for a dominant Stage 2. Despite being the strongest car across the first half, Hamlin faced adversity in the form of a fading clutch pedal. Other title contender Chase Briscoe suffered a cut tire early in the second Stage, setting his title bid back.
A long pit stop after the second Stage put Hamlin back in traffic, and gave the championship lead to William Byron. Not long into this run, near-successive tire failures afflicted both Briscoe and Larson, putting both teams on their back foot. A few elite pit stops and restarts soon gave Hamlin the lead once again over Byron, with the 11 driving off into the sunset. This would only change with three laps to go, when Byron also suffered a cut tire and pounded the turn four wall.
There’s chaos in Phoenix! @KyleLarsonRacin and @chasebriscoe have issues! #Championship4 pic.twitter.com/0GgjdRpfjT
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 2, 2025
Byron is in the wall!
This may change everything! #Championship4 pic.twitter.com/4AgbfEa8V7
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 2, 2025
Thanks to a jumbled running order up front caused by two-tire pit stops aplenty, championship leader Larson took the overtime green flag in sixth, just ahead of Hamlin in ninth. Larson’s pit stop saw the 5 put on right side scuff tires, while Hamlin had four stickers. Try as hard as he could to regain lost ground, Hamlin only rebounded to sixth–behind Larson’s third-place run that gave the 5 the Bill France Cup.
“We did the best job we could,” Larson said. “That’s the bracelet Owen made me. Honestly, I can’t believe it. Like, we didn’t lead a lap today. Somehow won the championship.”
“I mean, really, I’m just speechless. I can’t believe it. We had an average car at best. We had the right front go down, lost a lap. Got saved by the caution. Did the wave-around. Was really bad that run. We took two tires. I was like, Oh, God, here we go. We’re going to go to the back now.”
“It had a lot more grip than I anticipated. We got lucky with the final caution. I was really hoping we were going to take two again. I felt like I learned a lot on that restart, bombing [turns] one and two really hard. Thought I could do the same thing if we got another one. Just unbelievable. What a year by this Hendrick Motorsports team. Cliff Daniels, everybody, his leadership, his complete leadership just showed that whole race. Keeping us all motivated. Always having a plan. All of that. That’s just the story of our season. Again, just unbelievable. I cannot believe it. This is insane.”
Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski were the two cars that crossed the line ahead of Larson. For Blaney, this marked a maiden Phoenix win and a career-best fourth win of 2025. Team Penske sends out the Phoenix finale era with another win on the desert mile.
Lap 284 saw the Championship 4 drivers restart in the top four spots, but they certainly did not finish there. Briscoe backslid to 18th on his old tires, while William Byron’s issues led to a 33rd-place result. The Phoenix top-five were rounded out by past champions Joey Logano and Kyle Busch, both can be heard below in addition to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chris Gabehart.
“Guys were 4-wide at the line, what more could you want?” @joeylogano says in defense of the #NASCARPlayoffs format, the 22 was 4th when the @phoenixraceway checkers fell. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/mpIewuj1Jx
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) November 3, 2025
.@KyleBusch says it’s a positive note to end 2025 with a top-5, the @RCRracing 8 was 5th after overtime from @phoenixraceway. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/0leTwkr16I
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) November 3, 2025
“We almost won the sport’s biggest race…can’t believe I’m saying that over the Daytona 500”@CG1751 is still scratching his head over how many cars stayed out on old tires into overtime, but says he’s still very proud of @dennyhamlin and the entire @JoeGibbsRacing 11 team after… pic.twitter.com/hRAPGdWL5u
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) November 3, 2025
Denny Hamlin remains seemingly cursed out of winning a NASCAR title, now going 0-20 across his career at the Cup. It will be very fascinating to see how well Hamlin performs amidst his age 45 season in 2026. Hamlin’s friendly rival Larson celebrates another career-defining high point, though, and will be reigning champ once again for the next year.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
