Kyle Larson reacts to wild overtime restart at Phoenix, winning 2nd NASCAR Cup Series championship

For the second time in his NASCAR career, Kyle Larson is a champion. Larson finished third in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race, best among the Championship 4 field.

Larson did not have the fastest car. He did not lead a single lap. But in overtime, which came about after William Byron blew a tire, Larson put together his best couple laps of the race. Now, Larson can call himself a two-time champion.

“We did the best job we could,” Larson told Marty Snider of NBC Sports. “… Honestly, I can’t believe it. Like, 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 go down, lost a lap. Got saved by the caution, did the wave around and was really bad that run. We took two tires and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, here we go. We’re gonna go to the back now.’ We had a lot more grip than I anticipated.

“We got lucky with that final caution there, I was really hoping we were gonna take two again because I felt like I learned a lot on that restart. I bombed into [Turns] 1 and 2 really hard and thought I could do the same thing if we got another one. Just unbelievable. What a year by this Hendrick Motorsports team. Cliff Daniels, his 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. Again, unbelievable. I cannot believe it. This is insane.”

Kyle Larson overcomes ‘average car’ to win 2025 championship

Larson had to battle for 319 laps. At one point, it looked as if his championship run was over after he blew a tire and went a lap down. But from there, Larson did what championship drivers do best: he just kept digging.

No. 5 team crew chief Cliff Daniels went with the two-tire strategy multiple times late in the race, the only way for them to regain the necessary track position to compete. On that final pit stop before overtime, Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team went with four tires. Hamlin restarted 10th, Larson fifth. The gap proved to be too much for Hamlin. Larson took off on the restart, while Hamlin found it difficult to pass the cars in front of him.

When Larson won his first championship in 2021, he dominated the season, winning 10 races. This season was a little different. Larson won his third race on May 11 at Kansas Speedway. That would be his final victory of 2025. From May 25 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to Aug. 10 at Watkins Glen International — a span of 12 races — Larson tallied just five top 10 finishes. Larson had as many finishes of 28th or worse.

He found his form in the postseason, however, and of course, that’s when performance matters the most. Phoenix wasn’t his best performance of the season, but it sure was a performance good enough to win him a championship.