Surprise NASCAR rival joins Kyle Larson joins – Sports News
Kyle Larson formally turned the eighth NASCAR Cup Series driver to win two titles on Sunday, narrowly clinching the title over Denny Hamlin in dramatic fashion.
With 4 laps remaining, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin was comfortably within the lead, having led 208 laps total at Phoenix Raceway as he closed in on what would have been his first championship on the twentieth time of making an attempt.
However, a flat tire for Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron in second noticed him slam into the wall, bringing out a late warning and sending most of the pack onto pit highway. Amidst the following melee, Hamlin’s crew opted to change all 4 tires, dropping him to tenth, behind Hendricks’ Larson in fifth for the restart.
Ultimately, as Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney went on to overtake RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski on the ultimate lap to take the win, Larson wound up crossing the road in third, three spots forward of Hamlin to win the championship.
After the race, a clearly emotional Hamlin was consoled by his fiancée, Jordan Fish, and their daughters, Taylor and Molly, whereas Byron later apologized to him for the late warning. Even Larson, who was understandably excited to have received the crown, admitted to being unhappy for his rival and pal, saying he merely wished “to give him a hug.”
Once the interviews and press conferences had been lastly over and the lights went out at Phoenix Raceway, it was lastly time for Larson and Co. to rejoice, one thing his spouse Katelyn Sweet had already begun earlier that night, as she shotgunned a beer on the rostrum.
Larson, nonetheless, opted to not take part, telling Kevin Harvick on his podcast, “No, I can’t even sip a beer, dude. I struggle. I don’t like beer at all.”
As for the remaining of the night, Larson stated all of them “had a good time,” jokingly including that his crew chief, Cliff Daniels, “Stayed out of the ER this year, so that was good.”
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“By the time we got out of there, I think it was like and got to the house we’re staying in and showered, got some In-N-Out Burger, and headed straight for Oldtown Scottsdale,” he went on to recall. “So, it was good. It was more than just the five team that was out there. All the champions actually ended up being out.
“So (Xfinity Series champion) Jesse Love was out there. (Craftsman Truck Series champion) Corey Heim, even Connor Zilisch, even Denny, Denny came out too. So that was really cool. And yeah, some people from NASCAR. So it was a good group and everybody had a good time.”
In all, this appeared tame when in comparison with Harvick’s 2014 championship celebration, with the 49-year-old explaining, “I remember pieces of my NASCAR Cup celebration, and I had a Budweiser sponsorship at that time. So there were 80 cases of beer in Victory Lane. So, as you can imagine, that was definitely a different celebration.”
Now the wait begins for the 2026 Cup Series season, which is set to kick off at Bowman Gray Stadium for the non-points scoring Cook Out Clash on February 1 earlier than the common season actually begins with the Daytona 500 two weeks later.
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