Kyle Larson’s third-place finish in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway on November 2, 2025, propelled the 33-year-old Elk Grove, California, native to his second career NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Larson also became the third active driver to become a multi-time champion in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Larson capitalized on both race strategy and in overtime to snatch his second Cup Series championship with the gutsy call from crew chief Cliff Daniels, who rolled the dice with a strategic two-tire pit stop, enabling Larson to gain track position on the final pit stop. Through an overtime shootout, Larson used his two fresh tires to remain ahead of Hamlin and snatch the championship by being the highest-finishing championship 4 contender.
“Honestly, I can’t believe it,” Larson said. “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, and then, we had the right front [tire] go down, lost a lap, got saved by the caution, did the wave around, and 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.’ The car had a lot more grip than I anticipated. So, we got lucky with that final caution. I was really hoping that we were going to take two again because I felt like I learned a lot on that restart, bombing 1 and 2 really hard, and thought I could do the same thing if we got another one.”
“What a year by this Hendrick Motorsports team,” Larson added. “Cliff Daniels, everybody, 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. Just unbelievable. I cannot believe it. This is insane.”
Kyle Larson’s 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Season Statistics
| Rank | Points | # Races | Wins | Top-10 | Top-5 | Poles | DNF | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5034 | 36 | 3 | 22 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 1106 | 11.389 | 13.194 |
Although he might not have been making the headlines each week, Kyle Larson had a great season. After winning in Kansas, Larson might have been winless for the rest of the season, but he was still on the track, battling it out each race for a total of three wins, fifteen top fives, twenty-two top tens, and 1106 laps led.
Kyle Larson’s 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Wins
| Date | Track | Start | Finish | Points | Playoff Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/23/25 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | 14 | 1 | 56 | 5 |
| 4/13/25 | Bristol Motor Speedway | 3 | 1 | 60 | 7 |
| 5/11/25 | Kansas Speedway | 1 | 1 | 61 | 7 |
Larson’s win at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Larson cruised to a NASCAR Cup Series win in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, March 23, 2025. Larson qualified 14th, finished in the top-5 in the first stage, second in the second stage, and led six times for 19 of the 267 laps. Despite sustaining minimal left-side damage to his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet during a pit road incident with Josh Berry and Joey Logano, Larson was in second place with 11 laps remaining. Teammate Alex Bowman scrubbed the outside wall entering the frontstretch with seven laps remaining, and Larson passed Bowman to lead with six laps remaining in the race. Larson cruised around the Homestead for six final laps and claimed his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the 2025 season and his second at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Larson captured his 30th Cup Series career victory in his 372nd series start and became the 30th competitor overall to reach 30 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series. Larson also captured his second Cup Series victory at Homestead in four seasons and his 24th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
“My last run was far from perfect,” Kyle Larson said. “I gave up a spot and a half, almost two spots there by getting the wall too many times. I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart there.” Larson continued, “I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs and just thought if I could hold off Hamlin and Reddick behind me, I could get ringing the top, and Briscoe too.”
“And then, I got in the wall and let him by, but just had to keep plugging away what I know and what’s good for me. Proud of myself, proud of the team. A lot of gritty hard work there today between the damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restart, all that stuff. Just super pumped. One of the coolest wins I think in my Cup career, just because of all the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday, and to just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.” Larson said.
Larson’s win at Bristol Motor Speedway
Larson dominated, along with an emotional NASCAR Cup Series win for the Hendrick Motorsports organization in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 13, 2025. Larson started in third place, swept the event’s first two stage periods, leading twice for a race-high 411 of the 500 laps, and finished ahead of Denny Hamlin by more than two seconds and notched his second NASCAR Cup Series win of the 2025 season, his 31st NASCAR Cup Series career win, and the 14th at Bristol for Hendrick Motorsports. The emotional win was dedicated to a communications/public relations veteran behind the NASCAR spotlight, the late Jon Edwards.
“This is definitely for Jon,” Larson said. “He’s just a great guy. We’re gonna miss him, but successful weekend here. Wish he was going to be here with us to celebrate, but I know he’s celebrating with us in spirit. Just a flawless race once again here at Bristol for the No. 5 team. Really, really good car. However many laps of green we ran there was a lot of fun.”
“I was pretty comfortable with things and then Denny came on really strong there before the pit cycle,” Larson added, “I just kept the pressure on from there, so I knew I had to make some good moves in traffic..Felt like I did a pretty good job there in traffic. Split the middle sometimes when I needed to, so yeah, just a lot of fun. The pit crew, this is their first win with the No. 5 team, so it’s gonna be fun celebrating with them and yeah, just good to be back in Victory Lane.”
Larson’s win at Kansas Speedway
Polesitter Kyle Larson had another dominant win at Kansas Speedway in the AdventHealth 400 on Sunday, May 11, 2025. Larson swept the event’s first two stages, led a dominant race-high 221 of the 267 laps, from the pole position. Larson remained in the lead by more than a second, but his large advantage was erased due to falling off the pace. He claimed the win by seven-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Christopher Bell. This was his third win at Kansas, notching his 32nd career win in the NASCAR Cup Series, tying him with NASCAR’s Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett on the all-time wins list.
“I was trying really hard to pace myself because I believe that was our longest run of the day,” Larson said. “I’d been struggling a little bit at the end of the runs. Chase was really good, so I felt like I just needed to try to be better on my end. I don’t know if it was paying off or not at the end. He continued, saying, “I was still struggling. I don’t know if the right front [tire] was starting to wear a lot or what, but I was starting to lose a lot of grip, and then, I was vibrating really bad. I was afraid a right rear or something would let go. Great car, great execution today, too, for our team. Glad to not win by an inch right here this time [compared to last year] and [have] a little bit safer gap. It’s cool to win here at Kansas and now, we’ll try to execute two good weeks at Indy.”
Larson’s Season
Along with the first-place finishes at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Kansas Speedway, Larson finished third at Atlanta Motor Speedway, third in the spring race at Phoenix Raceway, fifth at the spring Martinsville Speedway race, second at Talladega Superspeedway, fourth at Texas Motor Speedway, fifth at Michigan International Speedway, fourth at Dover Motor Speedway, second at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, second at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, second at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, fifth at the second Martinsville Speedway, and third in final race at Phoenix Raceway.
Congratulations to Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, and the entire No. 5 Team!
