In this winner-takes-all battle for the NASCAR Cup Series title, Kyle Larson was the highest-running of the Championship 4 for a total of seven laps in Sunday’s 319-lap Championship Race from Phoenix Raceway. That ended up being enough to clinch the championship for the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Larson came across the start-finish line in third, losing out to both Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski in the race’s final rundown. The two Ford Racing drivers battled hard in the final set of corners, and at the line, were separated by only 0.097 seconds, awarding Blaney his fourth victory of 2025.
All of this late-race drama was set up by NASCAR Overtime, when Championship 4 driver William Byron suffered a right-front tire issue and got into the wall in Turn 4, drawing the caution. Setting up for a two-lap sprint to the finish, Blaney elected to take just two tires, as three drivers ahead stayed on the racetrack in hopes of stealing a victory in the season finale.
RACE RESULTS: 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix
“I came off first on two tires. There was a handful of guys on two before the guys on four. Three guys stayed out. The tires wore a lot today. I knew those guys were going to be struggling, the guys who stayed out [Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, and Alex Bowman],” Blaney said. “I didn’t go as low as Heim did in the Truck race in [Turns] one and two. Tried to shortcut on the apron, trying to get away as much as I could. It was just a matter of hitting the bottom, making sure I left room for the couple of guys I was racing.”
Larson’s triumph was ultimately captured similarly to Blaney earning the victory in the NASCAR Cup Series championship Race, with crew chief Cliff Daniels bringing the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet down pit road for two tires, which allowed him to restart sixth for the final two-lap dash of the season.
Leading at the time of the final caution flag and having led a race-high 208 of 319 laps on the afternoon, Denny Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gayle decided to make a different call, putting the 44-year-old driver on offense with four fresh tires, putting him ninth to take the green flag in NASCAR Overtime.
“Yeah, nothing I can do differently. Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car. Just didn’t work out. I was just praying that no caution. Had one there. What can you do? Just not meant to be,” Hamlin said post-race.
It wasn’t enough, though, as Larson was able to make quick work of some of the drivers stationed in front of him and advance to third, while Hamlin, in his 20th season of full-time competition for Joe Gibbs Racing, was only able to advance to sixth.
“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,” said Larson. “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.”
Larson, with his second championship triumph on Sunday, becomes the 18th multi-time champion in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series, and joins a club of two-time champions that has seven other members, including Kyle Busch and Terry Labonte.
Joey Logano finished the season off with a fourth-place run at Phoenix Raceway, with Kyle Busch rounding out the top-five — his first top-five finish on an oval since the Southern 500 in 2024.
Hamlin, as previously mentioned, finished sixth to take the runner-up position in the final NASCAR Cup Series point standings. Josh Berry, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top-10.
After a disaster of an afternoon, there looked to be a point in time where Chase Briscoe was going to contend against Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin to win the NASCAR Cup Series title, but he ran out of sticker Goodyear tires and faded to 18th at the finish.
William Byron will take home the fourth position in NASCAR Cup Series point standings after a dismal 33rd-place result. Byron had a fast No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, but suffered a tire issue with three laps remaining, ending his shot at having a lead-lap finish.
The top-10 drivers in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series point standings finish as follows: Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, and Ross Chastain.
