By David Morgan, Associate Editor
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Just call him Two Time.
Kyle Larson got it done Sunday to Phoenix Raceway, persevering on an overtime restart to complete the comeback and clinch his second NASCAR Cup Series championship over Denny Hamlin.
The day was not at all going the way the No. 5 team had expected with things seemingly going downhill after the first two stages were completed.
After running inside the top-five for the entirety of the first 187 laps, a slow pit stop on lap 188 dropped him to 18th in the running order. Though he would rebound up to eighth place, a flat tire on lap 214 would make the day go from bad to worse.
Though they were down, the No. 5 team never gave up and when the next to last caution flag flew, a two-tire call from crew chief Cliff Daniels came down to boost Larson back up the running order for the final sprint to the finish.
Just like that they were back in the game.
As the laps wound down, Larson would find himself as the third-best of the championship contenders behind Hamlin and his Hendrick teammate William Byron and appeared destined to finish there.
But with two laps to go in regulation, an issue for Byron brought out the yellow flag and gave the No. 5 team one more shot at it.
Reminiscent of his 2021 championship win, it was a another two-tire call that flipped the script yet again and got Larson out front with a shot to secure his second title in overtime.
Restarting fifth ahead of Hamlin in 10th, Larson had just enough of a buffer to keep his championship rivals in the rear-view, finishing the race in third-place and joining the club of drivers that have two Cup Series championships to their name.
Chase Briscoe would finish the race in 18th place to secure a third-place championship finish, with Byron credited with a 33rd place result after his late race caution.
THE TIRE STRATEGY PAYS OFF!
KYLE LARSON IS THE 2025 NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPION! pic.twitter.com/O3eNtB7IrL
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 3, 2025
“I can’t believe it. Like, we didn’t lead a lap today. Somehow won the championship,” said Larson.
“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 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. 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.”
In his post-race press conference, Larson double down on the comments about the insanity of how he won his second title with the way everything transpired over the course of the day.
“I mean, did anybody in here think that we had a shot? Like, I definitely — like Cliff was saying, we weren’t dead but we were pretty close,” Larson said with a laugh.
“… I don’t think any of us foresaw us getting a second championship in the fashion that we did today. That probably makes it seem even different.
“Nonetheless, we’re on the list two times. That’s something to be proud of.”
While the end result of the season is a championship, Daniels and others among the Hendrick leadership admitted it was a rollercoaster of a season with early success to a lull over the summer following Larson’s second attempt at the Indy 500/Coke 600 double to a late season rebound into the Playoffs and on to the title.
“This has been a very tough season for the 5 team on a lot of fronts. We had some really strong wins early in the year, a lot of strength. The summer was tough. We were down and sideways. Never quite down and out,” said Daniels.
“A lot of our team guys have just been through a lot this year. We’ve had things going on away from the racetrack where we’ve had to overcome obstacles, sometimes even tragedy, and work through a lot of things together, which to me there’s just a lot of beauty in that, of a team banding together the way that we have this season.”
Daniels added that the way Sunday played out was seemingly a microcosm of the way their season had gone, they may have been down, but they were never out of it.
“That was really showcased today. I have to acknowledge that it was a pretty ugly day for us,” said Daniels. “At times we were up front, kind of in the top three, a little bit in the mix. Certainly the 11 was better than us. I think we were beat on raw pace today. After we had the flat tire, there wasn’t a lot of good things coming our way at the time.
“We knew we would have more shots for pit stops and for restarts and maybe mix it up a bit. The way that the team stuck together and continued to believe in each other, Kyle continued to believe that if we just had a shot, we could close it out. That was what was put on display today.”
