Larson Wins at Phoenix, Caps Off Dominant Year with Championship

Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race from Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his 10th victory of the season and win his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Larson was dominant all season and ran up front for most of the race at Phoenix.  Throughout the race, Larson and his teammate Chase Elliott seemed to have the strongest short-run cars, and the race came down to a late restart with just over 20 laps to go.

Larson pitted under the final caution as the fourth of the championship drivers, but his pit crew got him off pit road first and he was able to control the final restart from the lead.

On the final restart, Larson pulled out to the lead and held off a challenge from Martin Truex Jr.  Larson was able to hold off the other championship drivers and picked up his first NASCAR championship.

Larson said his team made the difference on the final pit stop.

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“Without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing here,” Larson said.  “They’re the true winners of this race; they’re the true champions.  I’m blessed to be a part of this group.”

Larson missed most of the 2020 season after uttering a racial slur during an iRacing event, and teamed up with Hendrick Motorsports for the first time this year.

Larson said during his time away from the sport last year, he wasn’t sure if he would ever drive a Cup Series car again.

“I didn’t even think I’d be racing a Cup car a year and half ago, and to win a championship is crazy,” Larson said.  “Thank you so much to Rick Hendrick…and every single person at Hendrick Motorsports, this win is for all of us.”

“This event was crazy and this format’s wild.  I’m glad we were able to get it done.”

Truex challenged Larson on the restart for the win, but could not hang with Larson over the final 20 laps.

Regardless of how fast he was the run before, Truex said the clean air ultimately won out at the end of the race.

“Clean air seemed to be a good bit of an advantage there; whoever got out front was good for 20, 30, 40 laps, and then the long-run cars would start coming around,” Truex said.  “Ultimately we needed to beat him off pit road.”

“We win and lose as a team, and I’m really proud of our efforts this year.  [Larson] had a hell of a season and congratulations to them.  Second sucks; I hate it.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Larson

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Chase Elliott

6. Aric Almirola

7. Kyle Busch

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Christopher Bell

10. Brad Keselowski

11. Joey Logano

12. Matt DiBenedetto

13. Cole Custer

14. Ross Chastain

15. Austin Dillon

16. Kurt Busch

17. William Byron

18. Alex Bowman

19. Tyler Reddick

20. Ryan Preece

21. Daniel Suarez

22. Erik Jones

23. Ryan Newman

24. Michael McDowell

25. Chris Buescher

26. Justin Haley

27. BJ McLeod

28. Cody Ware

29. Joey Gase

30. Josh Bilicki

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Corey LaJoie

33. David Starr

34. Anthony Alfredo

35. Chase Briscoe

36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

37. Quin Houff

38. Timmy Hill

39. Bubba Wallace

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