Kyle Larson wins second NASCAR
championship, denying Denny Hamlin in overtime
[November 03, 2025]
By JENNA FRYER
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyle Larson knew he wasn’t going to catch
Denny Hamlin in the final laps on Sunday, not without the sort of
help that only a caution flag can bring.
Larson got his lucky break.
Hamlin only got heartbreak.
Larson is now a two-time NASCAR champion after denying Hamlin what
would have been his first career title when a late caution at
Phoenix Raceway sent the championship-deciding finale into overtime.
Without that caution, which came with three laps to run, Hamlin had
it locked up and was ready to finally shed the label of greatest
NASCAR driver to never win a championship. But fellow title
contender William Byron got a flat tire and hit the wall to bring
out the caution, and a few minutes later, it was over.
“Just unbelievable,” Larson said. “I cannot believe it.”
Neither could Hamlin.
“I really don’t have much for emotion right now. Just numb about it
’cause just in shock,” Hamlin said after consoling his crying
daughters on pit road. “We were 40 seconds away from a championship.
This sport can drive you absolutely crazy because sometimes speed,
talent, none of that matters.”
When the caution for Byron came out, Hamlin led the field down pit
road and got four new tires on his Toyota; Larson only took two
tires on his Chevrolet. It meant Larson was fifth for the two-lap
sprint to the finish, with Hamlin back in 10th.
With so little time to run down Larson, Hamlin came up short with a
sixth-place finish as Larson finished third. Ryan Blaney, who was
eliminated from title contention last week, won the race.
“You do have to feel for that group and Denny. Doing a good job all
day, it not playing out for him. But that is racing. It sucks
sometimes,” Blaney said. “They can hang their head about it, but
they should be very proud about the effort. They had the fastest
race car here. Just one of those things where it doesn’t work out.
Looked like it was going into his favor, unfortunately for him, it
didn’t.”
It is the second championship for Larson, who won his first title in
2021 when he joined Hendrick Motorsports. It is the 15th Cup title
for the organization and came on the 30th anniversary of Jeff Gordon
giving Hendrick its first championship in 1995.
As Larson celebrated, Hamlin sat in his car motionless for several
seconds, then wiped his face with a white towel, never showing any
emotion.
Larson, who has been in a slump since his disastrous Memorial Day
attempt to race both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the
same day, was also in shock.
“We didn’t lead a lap and won the championship," Larson said. “We
had an average car at best and had the right front (tire) go down,
lost a lap and got the wave around, saved by the caution with the
wave around. It’s just unbelievable. What a year by this motorsports
team.”
Team owner Rick Hendrick, Gordon and Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels
all said they did not believe Larson still had a chance at the
championship after so many problems during the race.
“I have to acknowledge that it was a pretty ugly day for us,”
Daniels said. “I think we were beat on raw pace, and after we had
the flat tire, there wasn't a lot of good things coming our way. The
way the team stuck together and continued to believe in each other,
Kyle continued to believe if we just had a shot we could close it
out.”
When Hamlin finally got out of his car he embraced his crew members
but it was a scene of disbelief among the Joe Gibbs Racing crowd.
Team members were crying, some sitting in shock on the pavement,
Gibbs himself stood silent, one hand on his hip and a look of
disbelief on his face.
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Kyle Larson celebrates with family and teammates after winning the
NASCAR Cup Series championship Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025, in Avondale,
Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
It is the sixth shot at a title to slip away from
Hamlin in his 20 years driving for Gibbs. He led 208 of the 319 laps
and started from the pole.
“Nothing I could do different. I mean, prepared as good as I could
coming into the weekend and my team gave me a fantastic car,” Hamlin
said. “Just didn’t work out. I was just praying ‘no caution’ and we
had one there. What can you do? It’s just not meant to be.”
He said crew chief Chris Gayle made the correct call with four
tires, but too many others only took two, which created too big of a
gap for Hamlin to close on Larson in so little time.
The 44-year-old Virginia native had been extremely jinxed in five
previous championship finales, with bad luck, bad strategy and bad
cars breaking his heart in 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Sunday
marked his first time eligible in the winner-take-all race in four
seasons.
Hamlin was remarkably loose and calm all week, rented three houses
in Scottsdale for 30 friends and family, won the pole and then
dominated Sunday’s race.
He was the sympathetic favorite, the betting favorite, and who most
of the industry was pulling for — largely based on how much
heartbreak he has faced. Hamlin burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2006,
winning rookie of the year and finishing third in the championship.
On many levels, that promise has been fulfilled with 60 victories,
three of them Daytona 500 wins. On the championship level, it still
has not.
He had a 15-point lead over Jimmie Johnson going into the 2010
finale but was in a terrible mental space, struggled the entire
weekend and spun in that race. Johnson wound up winning his fifth
straight title, and Hamlin settled for second.
He had a bad pit stop in 2014, overheated because the team put too
much tape on the front grille in 2019, and a caution late in the
2021 finale doomed his chances that year. Ross Chastain’s infamous
wall ride in 2022 bumped Hamlin from the Championship 4 by mere
inches at the finish, and now, this.
“Man, if you can’t win that one, I don’t know which one you can
win,” Hamlin said of his latest defeat.
Larson was OK during the race, but hasn't won since early May, a
slump that has now extended to 24 consecutive races.
Hamlin teammate Chase Briscoe finished 18th in his debut in the
championship finale, while Larson teammate Byron was 33rd after his
late issue. He felt awful for ruining Hamlin's chance even though
his Hendrick Motorsports teammate won the championship.
“I’m just super bummed that it was a caution obviously. I hate that.
Hate it for Denny. I hate it for the 11 team,” Byron said. “I mean,
Denny was on his way to it. I hate that. There’s a lot of respect
there. I obviously do not want to cause a caution. If I had known
what tire it was, known that a tire was going down before I got to
the corner, I would have done something different.”
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