Kyle Larson got hot at the right time in the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, put together three victories and five more top 10s, including a second-place effort at Bristol Motor Speedway, to charge through the 10-race Postseason run and score his second series championship in a row and third overall (also 2021) for Hendrick Motorsports.

Larson becomes the first repeat champ in the Cup Series since seven-time champ Jimmie Johnson won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.

Larson and his Team Chevy teammates across the board had a rough go of it in the regular season, winning only seven races among all drivers in the group and the defending champ Larson was shut out of victory lane during that stretch.

The California native put all that behind and came alive at the beginning of the 10-race Chase, however, starting off with a fifth-place finish at Darlington. He stormed through the first six races of the post-season, including grabbing his first win of the year at Gateway in St Louis, then scoring the runner-up to Joey Logano at the Bristol Night Race, where Larson also won the pole. He then posted another win at Kansas, a second-place effort at Las Vegas and a six-place finish at Charlotte.

The points were piling up while he was off and running to grab the championship trophy and the rest of his challengers were simply caught in his wake.

He officially clinched the Cup Series crown following Stage 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway where he posted a fourth-place finish. Larson scored seven points in the opening stage, ensuring that his closest rivals had no path mathematically to pass him in the standings.

His laid-back California personality shined through when he was told on the radio that he was the champ following the outcome of Stage 1.

“Cool,” Larson said. “That was a little anticlimactic. Good job guys.”

When speaking to the media later after the race, Larson was more reflective.

“I’m just so proud of my team, first and foremost, Hendrick Motorsports,” Larson said. “This was statistically probably one of our worst years. To still come away with the championship shows how resilient everybody at the race shop is, everybody on my 5 team, all my teammates.

“We absolutely could not have done what we did in the Chase without the teamwork that it took. That’s what this championship is, makes it so meaningful, just the teamwork. This one more than any of them took teamwork.”

The Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who performed so well in the Regular Season – Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin -- finished second and third, respectively, in the final points order. Ryan Blaney, who won the final race yesterday in his Team Penske Ford, finished fourth in the standings, while the season’s leader in total race victories (6), Tyler Reddick, posted a fifth-place finish in his 23XI Racing Toyota.

Blaney, who won the championship in 2023, says Larsons’ mastery of finding the edge and being able to manage it well makes him a “dangerous” opponent for the rest of the garage moving forward.

“Obviously, he’s incredibly talented, his natural God-given talent is off the charts," Blaney told the media Sunday. “He is very deserving, I think, to win his third championship. That group makes it hard on everyone in the garage, for sure. They are a very good team and everyone has their work cut out for them to try and contending with that group and specifically that pairing of Kyle and Cliff (Daniels, crew chief)."

The two Bristol Motor Speedway winners this season, Ty Gibbs from the Food City 500 in April and Joey Logano from the Bass Pro Shops Night Race in September, finished ninth and seventh, respectively in the Cup Series championship standings.

Larson posted a third-place finish and contended in the Food City 500 before Gibbs ultimately took the checkered flag, the first of his career. Larson led a race-best 284 laps of that race and seemed in position to add to his three Cup Series titles at Bristol on that afternoon.

Larson led 45 laps at the Night Race and ran out of laps to track down Logano in his No. 22 Team Penske machine, ultimately claiming the second place and keeping the mojo going in the Postseason.

O'REILLY SERIES: JR Motorsports veteran Justin Allgaier used a seventh-place finish at the controls of his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet to earn the 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship trophy. It is his second title in the last three years, which makes him the first driver in the storied JRM history to claim multiple championships.

Five drivers came into South Florida mathematically eligible to decide the title and Allgaier’s four closest contenders kept him honest. All but one of those drivers (Hendrick Motorsports’ Corey Day) led laps. Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed led a race best 99 of the 200 laps, the most laps he’s ever led in a single race.

But the 40-year-old Allgaier did exactly what he needed to, if not pacing the field at least keeping the leaders in sight. A career best six-win season and just enough of a points advantage at the drop of the green flag kept him tops at the wave of the checkered flag too.

“Means more than you'll ever know," said Allgaier. “It's obviously not the finish we wanted tonight. Wanted to be in Victory Lane. But this team never quits.”

Allgaier won the title without winning a race in the Chase. He scored six victories in the regular season aboard his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy and the proved to be enough to take the title by 14 points over Jesse Love. Carson Kvapil finished third in the points in front of Creed and they were followed by Corey Day of Hendrick Motorsports rounding out fifth.

Allgaier, a two-time winner at Bristol Motor Speedway in his career, posted a pair of fourth place finishes at Bristol this season, the first during the Suburban Propane 300 in April and the second during the O'Reilly Chase postseason, which helped his bid for the title.

Creed, who finished fourth in the O'Reilly championship standings, won the Food City 300 at Bristol in September. The spring O'Reilly race at BMS was won by Cup full-timer Connor Zilisch, driving the No. 1 Chevy for JR Motorsports.

CRAFSMAN TRUCK SERIES: Rising NASCAR Superstar Kaden Honeycutt won the race at Homestead to give him the points needed to also win the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship. Honeycutt was emotional after pulling off the sweep inside his No. 11 Tricon Garage pickup on Nov 6. 

Honeycutt had a strong season, winning five times, including three during the Chase Postseason.

“Man, this is amazing,” a thrilled Honeycutt said after the race. “I've worked so damn hard to be here. Thank you to every owner, thank you everybody that's let me drive the race car for them, whether it was dirt, asphalt, road course, doesn't matter. That is because of you guys I'm sitting right here with this group behind me as champions. I'm so out of breath, I wish I could talk harder. Thank you, fans, for showing up. We just won Homestead and the damn championship."

Top challenger Layne Riggs, a multi-time winner at Bristol Motor Speedway in his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports machine, wasn't able to have the consistency needed to stay up front and challenge for the series title and finished second overall in the standings. Riggs was followed by his Front Row teammate Chandler Smith, also a multi-time Bristol winner, who finished third in the Chase with his No. 38 truck. 

Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes finished fourth and fifth in the championship standings. Neither of Bristol's CRAFTSMAN Truck winners advanced to the Chase Postseason. Cup regular Christopher Bell won the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 in April driving the No. 62 Truck for Stewart Friesen. Jake Garcia won the UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics in September during the truck race Chase opener. In fact, oddly, the top-five finishers in the UNOH 250 were not Chase participants. 

The 2027 NASCAR Cup Series season opens with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 21. Bristol Motor Speedway’s two Cup Series weekends next season will be held during the regular season, the first one, the tradition-rich Food City 500, on the weekend of April 9-11. The Bass Pro Shops Night Race moves back to its longtime home in August during the weekend of Aug. 12-14.

To purchase tickets to either Bristol race, please visit the BMS website by clicking here, or call the BMS Ticket Sales Center at (866) 415-4158.