NASCAR season all comes right down to 2025 championship race at Phoenix
The blokes evaluation William Byron’s Martinsville domination and preview the NASCAR Cup Collection championship race at Phoenix. Which driver will win?
Kyle Larson gained his second NASCAR Cup Collection championship regardless of not main a lap within the closing race.A late-race warning flag spoiled Denny Hamlin’s commanding lead, costing him his first profession title.
Even Kyle Larson couldn’t imagine it.
Within the closing laps of the 2025 NASCAR title race Sunday, Nov. 2, Denny Hamlin was authoring a Hollywood film script.
The 44-year-old attempting to win his first championship in his twentieth Cup Collection season, a person hoping to attain one for his dying father whereas additionally within the midst of suing NASCAR as a staff proprietor, sat three seconds in entrance of the sphere with three laps to go at Phoenix Raceway.
However then the one factor Hamlin didn’t need to occur did.
William Byron blew a tire. The ninth warning flag of the day flew.
After an additional time restart, Ryan Blaney took the checkers and Larson sped to 3rd, finest among the many championship 4 drivers, clinching his second crown. Hamlin positioned sixth, Chase Briscoe 18th and Byron thirty third.
“Actually, I actually can’t imagine it,” Larson mentioned on the NBC broadcast. “We didn’t lead a lap at this time and by some means gained the championship. Actually, I’m simply speechless.”
Let’s break it down.
1. Kyle Larson claims 2nd NASCAR championship
Not solely did Larson not lead a lap at Phoenix, his final victory occurred practically six months in the past, Might 11 at Kansas.
However Larson hung round, doing what he wanted to do to advance to the ultimate 4. Even Sunday, he rebounded from a tire difficulty earlier within the race.
Total, the 33-year-old driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet gained 3 times in 2025. He rattled off 15 top-five finishes and 22 top-10s.
“What a 12 months by this Hendrick Motorsports staff,” Larson mentioned. “That is insane.”
Including this trophy to the one he secured in 2021, Larson turned simply the 18th multi-time champion in Cup Collection historical past. He’s the third racer to lock down a number of titles for Hendrick Motorsports, becoming a member of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
2. Will Denny Hamlin ever win NASCAR championship?
Hamlin wore a clean stare after the race. This damage will linger for some time.
“Nothing I can do completely different,” he mentioned. “Ready nearly as good as I might coming into the weekend, and my staff gave me a improbable automobile. Simply didn’t work out. I used to be simply praying that no warning (got here out), and had one there. What are you able to do? It’s simply not meant to be.”
Nobody has ever led extra laps in a championship race than Hamlin’s 208. Byron was the subsequent closest Sunday with 52.
Hamlin had jumped in entrance of Briscoe and Byron with 27 laps to go. He remained forward till the ultimate warning.
Throughout that yellow, he modified 4 tires on pit street whereas most groups changed solely two.
“I believed that was positively the best name,” he mentioned. “Simply so many automobiles took two there, and it clearly put us again.”
Hamlin closed the marketing campaign with a series-leading six journeys to Victory Lane. He posted 14 top-fives and 18 top-10s.
However the apparent query looms: Will he ever snatch that elusive title?
“I’ll attempt,” he mentioned. “I’ve received a pair extra photographs at it. However man, in the event you can’t win that one, I don’t know which one you may win.”
3. NASCAR offseason lasts till 2026 Daytona 500 — type of
It is 105 days.
From Sunday to Feb. 15 — the date of the 2025 championship race to the date of the 2026 Daytona 500 — it is a span of 105 days. That is the NASCAR offseason.
However not all will go fully quiet throughout that point.
On Nov. 4, the annual NASCAR Awards ceremony will happen in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The federal antitrust case with 23XI Racing and Entrance Row Motorsports suing NASCAR can be nonetheless ongoing and is bound to make headlines within the coming weeks.
Plus, 14 days earlier than drivers flip the ignition at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, they’re going to head to the preseason Prepare dinner Out Conflict at Bowman Grey Stadium.
