Ryan Blaney passed Kyle Larson for second on lap 292 and held the position to claim the championship as Ross Chastain took the win at Phoenix. It is Blaney's first Cup championship.
The 29-year-old, third-generation Blaney from High Point, North Carolina, outdueled title rivals Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell to become the 36th different competitor to win a Cup Series title following a runner-up result in the 2023 finale at Phoenix.
The 2014 Cup Series champion from Bakersfield, California, led 23 laps en route to earning a top-10 result in his 826th and final career start as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor.
The 21-year-old Gibbs from Charlotte, North Carolina, recorded four top-five results, 10 top-10 results, 112 laps led and an average-finishing result of 18.4 en route to becoming the fourth different competitor to win a Cup rookie title for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Heading into the championship finale weekend for NASCAR's three main touring series at Phoenix Raceway, Bell is looking to win his first career Cup Series Championship.
The 25-year-old Custer from Ladera Ranch, California, led a race-high 96 of 202 over-scheduled laps and capitalized on an overtime shootout to win the finale in the desert state and become the 33rd different competitor to win an Xfinity Series championship.
The 19-year-old Smith from Johnston, Iowa, notched his first career victory at Phoenix in March, made the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs and finished sixth in the final standings during his first full-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit with Joe Gibbs Racing.
The 2021 Truck Series champion from Louisville, Kentucky, withstood four overtime shootouts and avoided a series of late carnages to claim his second series' title with a top-five finish in the desert state, one spot ahead of title rival Grant Enfinger.
The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, led a race-high 31 of 65 laps and went from sixth to first during a five-lap shootout to record his first O'Reilly victory of 2026 in Austin.
For the second straight and the third time in five years, Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet will start the season-opening race, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, from the pole position.
NASCAR Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen takes JR Motorsports to Victory Lane for his fifth career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win and first at NASCAR at COTA.
Scott McLaughlin helped Team Penske put memories of a tough 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season into the rearview mirror Saturday by starting 2026 with the NTT P1 Award for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
