This November, the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race returned to Homestead-Miami Speedway after a six-year hiatus, and although there wasn’t much of a championship battle to be had – with Kyle Larson clinching the title after Stage 1 – the racetrack still put on a phenomenal race.
In what felt like the spiritual successor to their 2024 battle at the 1.5-mile racetrack in Miami, Florida, Ryan Blaney made the pass for the victory on Tyler Reddick coming to the white flag in Sunday’s 367-lap contest, snagging his fourth win of the year and the 21st of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
“It does [feel like redemption for 2024]. I’m going to be honest with you, every time I come here, that race haunts me,” Blaney told Marty Snider post-race. “I kind of gave that one away. I didn’t do a very good job at the end of the race. Learned from it. Was able to apply some stuff we learned a couple years ago in that situation to tonight.”
Blaney was able to battle back from a slew of issues on pit road Sunday to get himself in position to fight for the victory in the closing laps and did just that, achieving goals that he and crew chief Jonathan Hassler had for the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse team this weekend, despite not being in the title fight.
It’s early enough. It was end of the first stage. Knew we had time. Knew it was going to be difficult, but our car was really fast. Just hoped we could make our way through there. Then we got to really see a big strength in our car, was able to be versatile,” Blaney explained. “Honestly, I think that helped me coming through the field like that, is I knew what my car needed all around the racetrack. I had to run around these lanes I wasn’t running before that. I think that helped us prepare for the last run of the race.”
“Sometimes things might hurt initially, they might help you down the road.”
Finishing the race in the 12th position, Kyle Larson clinched his third NASCAR Cup Series title — collecting the points necessary to sign, seal, and deliver the championship trophy to Hendrick Motorsports with a fourth-place finish in the race’s opening stage.
“Ten weeks ago, I didn’t know if my fans had a clue. I definitely didn’t,” Larson said. “We just didn’t have the speed. Our execution was so-so at the time. I felt like we had glimpses all throughout really our career where we could turn it on when everything was right. That’s what we did.”
“We made no mistakes really until tonight, all of them behind the wheel. I got the word that we had clinched it. I started driving like an idiot. I’m more mad at myself.”
Tyler Reddick fell just three-tenths of a second short of a seventh win on the year, while William Byron, who was very much in control of the race until a caution with 15 laps to go for a spinning Daniel Suarez, had to settle for a third-place result.
Christopher Bell brought his No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE home in fourth-place, clinching second-place in NASCAR Cup Series point standings, while Bubba Wallace surged in the closing laps to finish inside the top-five, in fifth. Denny Hamlin lost out to Wallace at the start-finish line on the final lap after making some late-race wall contact from the top-three.
Austin Cindric came home in seventh, with Daniel Suarez eighth, Noah Gragson ninth, and Michael McDowell rounding out the top-10.
With the checkered flag displayed on the season, Kyle Larson wins the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series title by 49 points over Christopher Bell. Denny Hamlin ends up third (-56), with Ryan Blaney (-94), and Tyler Reddick (-104) rounding out the top-five. After an engine issue in the early stages of Sunday’s event, Chase Briscoe drops to sixth in points (-115). Joey Logano, William Byron, Ty Gibbs, and Austin Cindric complete the top-10.
The 2027 DAYTONA 500 will take place Sunday, February 21st on FOX.
