By Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – It’s exactly the kind of laidback style that seems so contrary for a superstar athlete who makes his living driving a stock car 200 mph wheel-to-wheel, door-to-door.
When Kyle Larson was told on the radio by his Hendrick Motorsports team that he had officially clinched the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Championship early in Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the 34-year-old Californian calmly responded, “Okay, that’s cool. Good job guys.”
“Cool,” and also history-making. Larson becomes only the 11th driver in all NASCAR history to win at least three titles – matching his work in 2021 and 2025. And he is the first since NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson (2006-10) to claim back-to-back championships in the premier level of stock car racing.
So, after a fittingly championship-caliber burnout following a title-winning 12th-place finish – Larson left no doubt as to the joy and satisfaction the South Florida night meant. His whole extended family – wife Kaitlyn, son Owen, 11, daughter Audrey, 8, and youngest, son Cooper, 3, his in-laws, sister and his mom and dad – who have so faithfully documented, supported and celebrated this once-a-generation success story – joined him on the track for the hard-earned, well-earned celebration.
The kiddos stood on the roof of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Owen waving the flag, Audrey ringing a winner’s bell and Cooper jumping up and down, playing in all the confetti. It was one happy night for the Larson family.
The biggest challenge that Larson seemed to face on the night was hoisting the heavy, three-feet tall silver Bill France Cup championship trophy, but Larson smiled and lifted it above his head. Success. It’s something he knows about.
“I’ve been in the gym so I could make sure I could lift it this year,” Larson said grinning.
Despite his famously easygoing nature, Larson knows how to mash the gas, out-maneuver and out-smart his competition in nearly anything with a motor and wheels. He is one of the most decorated race car drivers of his generation blessed with the kind of massive natural talent that has positioned him as a standard-bearer in his sport.
He’s won in or been competitive in such a wide variety of racing cars – with a 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona sports car win, multiple titles driving a sprint car in the Knoxville Nationals and a midget in the Chili Bowl. He competed in the Indianapolis 500 twice and was crowned Rookie of the Race there in 2024.
And Larson answered his 2025 Cup Series title in a convincing, workmanlike way that could serve as a lesson in perseverance and belief in yourself. He snapped a nagging 51-race winless streak by claiming three victories in this season’s 10 Chase races – having gone into the title run, ranked seventh among the 16 drivers that settled the trophy.
One of his chief rivals on-track, veteran Denny Hamlin, offered Larson a huge compliment declaring after the race that Larson is “this generation’s Jimmie Johnson” – a nod to the former Hendrick Motorsports driver and record-tying seven-time champion.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, the 2023 series champ who won Sunday’s Homestead race, was equally as effusive about Larson’s talent.
“I think he’s really good at finding the edge and he used to step over it a lot in his early days,” Blaney said. “He’d always be at the edge and sometimes take himself out of contention. But as he’s gotten older and more experienced and things like that, he’s really refined that skill. He’s still on the edge but doesn’t go over it a lot and,” he added with a smile, “that’s really dangerous for the rest of us.
“Obviously, he’s incredibly talented, his natural God-given talent is off the charts,” Blaney continued. “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.”
Hendrick Motorsports’ executive – a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champ and also a NASCAR Hall of Famer – Jeff Gordon went so far as to compare Larson with some of the most epic and versatile racers of all-time – legends such as A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
“It’s hard to pick the most impressive thing that he does because he gets in an IndyCar and goes fast and in a sprint car he’ll fly overnight and go win Knoxville and come back and win the Brickyard, that’s rare air, just so few guys that are capable of that,” Gordon said.
NASCAR Hall of Famer, team owner Rick Hendrick agreed.
“I think when you look at how versatile he is, and he’s fast and wins in anything he gets in,” Hendrick said. “You can’t run against A.J. and Mario in the same time so hard to determine that but in my eyes, a guy that can get in anything and win, show up with no practice in a sprint car or even when he went to Indy, I think he has to be looked at as one of the all-time greats.”
A couple hours after Sunday night’s checkered flag, Larson – and his family – was still smiling. Fans waited long after the victory burnouts cheering him on through media interviews, the traditional “hat dances” in Victory Lane, congratulatory hugs and high-fives and photos upon photos.
“What a year,” a grinning Larson said, in marvelous understatement.
And indeed, it has been.
Interview: NCS Champion Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
