By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri
Kyle Larson is the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion. It’s Larson’s second championship of his career. He previously won it all in 2021. Larson defeated Denny Hamlin to capture the title at Phoenix Raceway.
Larson becomes the 18th driver in NASCAR history to win multiple championships. He drives for Hendrick Motorsports, one of the most prestigious and accomplished teams in NASCAR. What makes this victory especially sweet is that it marks the 15th Cup title for the organization and comes on the 30th anniversary of Jeff Gordon giving Hendrick its first championship in 1995. And Gordon works for Motorsports as one of the top leaders of the organization.
Aside from being a two-time champion, Larson is also the 2014 Rookie of the Year.
It hasn’t been the best season of Larson’s career. He has faced many adversities. Larson hasn’t won a race since May. The victory takes off a massive load from his shoulders. What a fantastic finish to Larson’s season. It was nice for Hamlin to share the win with his kids at victory lane.
“I honestly can’t believe it,” Larson said after the race. “We didn’t lead a lap today and somehow won the championship. I’m just speechless. I can’t believe it. We had an average car at best. We got saved by caution. What a year by this Hendrick Motorsports team. Cliff Daniels’ leadership just showed the whole race. Keeping us all motivated, always have a plan. That’s just the story of our season.”
On the other hand, it’s daunting for Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing team, as many felt that this was his best chance to win a championship finally. Hamlin has been racing for 20 years for JGR. He led 208 of the 319 laps. Hamlin couldn’t get the last hurrah. It was emotional to see the crew members and Hamlin suffering the defeat.
It’s Hamlin’s second championship runner-up finish. The last one came in 2010. It was a heartbreaking end to a successful season.
“Prepared as good as I could coming into this weekend,” Hamlin said. “My team gave a fantastic car. It just didn’t work out. I was praying that no caution was needed and had one there. What can you do? It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Hamlin teammate Chase Briscoe finished 18th in his debut in the championship finale.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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