Kyle Larson Was Brilliant at Atlanta. Then He Turned Left
After leading a career-best 48 laps on a drafting track, the defending champ tried to shortcut Stage 2—and instead short-circuited his afternoon.
After leading a career-best 48 laps on a drafting track, the defending champ tried to shortcut Stage 2—and instead short-circuited his afternoon.
Hendrick Motorsports looked at Kyle Larson’s numbers, blinked once, and signed the paperwork through 2031.
Whether it’s Phoenix glory or Australian dirt, Kyle Larson keeps proving his reach stretches far beyond the NASCAR garage.
Under the chandeliers of the JW Marriott in Scottsdale, Kyle Larson and NASCAR’s best traded helmets for tuxedos, delivering speeches, laughs, and a few tears as the 2025 season came to an emotional close.
It was the strangest kind of joy. Kyle Larson won the Cup, Denny Hamlin lost his dream, and both men handled it like champions.
He wasn’t the fastest, flashiest, or even in the frame—then somehow won it all.
Third in qualifying, steady in practice, and backed by a team that’s been here before—Larson’s playing the long game for title No. 2.
Kyle Larson’s offhand comment about his motor had Hamlin stunned, Briscoe laughing, and everyone else wondering how he even knew.
Kyle Larson isn’t buying into the ‘favorite’ talk ahead of Phoenix. The 2021 champ says all four contenders are too good for any one driver to claim an edge.
Throughout the country, as the NASCAR season draws to a close, the weather is getting colder and the off-season is coming. Not in Phoenix.