Kyle Larson steals NASCAR Cup title in overtime; Blaney wins wild Phoenix finale

A dramatic NASCAR Cup finale at Phoenix Raceway ended in a wild overtime restart. Denny Hamlin had dominated the event, but he was deep in the pack after a four-tire call on the final pit stop. 

Title rival Kyle Larson opted for two, and the track position difference was enough for the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who captured his second his second NASCAR Cup title with  a third-place finish.

“We did the best job we could,” smiled Larson. “That’s the bracelet Owen made me. Honestly, I can’t believe it. Like, we didn’t lead a lap today. Somehow won the championship.

“I mean, really, I’m just speechless. I can’t believe it. We had an average car at best. We had the right front go down, lost a lap. Got saved by the caution. Did the wave-around. Was really bad that run. We took two tires. I was like, Oh, God, here we go. We’re going to go to the back now.

“It had a lot more grip than I anticipated. We got lucky with the final caution. I was really hoping we were going to take two again. I felt like I learned a lot on that restart, bombing one and two really hard. Thought I could do the same thing if we got another one.

“Just unbelievable. What a year by this Hendrick Motorsports. Cliff Daniels, everybody, his leadership, his complete 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, just unbelievable. I cannot believe it. This is insane.

Hamlin finished sixth, and will end the year as the championship runner-up. Chase Briscoe finished 18th, taking third in the final standings, and Byron will be relegated to fourth after a late-race tire issue.

“Yeah, nothing I can do different,” said a dejected Hamlin. “Prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend. My team gave me a fantastic car. Just didn’t work out. I was just praying that no caution. Had one there.”

What can you do? Just not meant to be.

In the battle for the win, Ryan Blaney passed Brad Keselowski in the final corner to claim victory for Team Penske, joining Ross Chastain in 2023 as the only non-title contender to win the finale in this format. Blaney was eliminated from championship contention last race in Martinsville.

Stage 1

Hamlin skipped away with the race lead early, but Byron remained within striking distance. Watching from the Hendrick pit box, Jeff Gordon got animated as Byron briefly struggled to get around fellow Chevy Ty Dillon, who Byron was lapping.

As Hamlin encountered heavier traffic, Byron made the pass for the lead to his outside, taking the lead with seven laps to go in the stage.

Blaney, who was also surging on the long run, snatched second away from Hamlin. Byron went on to win Stage 1 with Blaney second and Hamlin third. Larson was fifth and Briscoe tenth.

Stage 2

Hamlin started complaining about a long clutch, an issue that has plagued the No. 11 team throughout the 2025 season. 

Blaney won the race off pit road, and Briscoe also gained several spots. Hamlin jumped back ahead of Byron on the restart as the first natural caution flew for a spinning John Hunter Nemechek.

On the following restart, Hamlin then passed Blaney for the lead, and immediately checked out by several seconds. Larson also got around Byron for second on track, but he simply couldn’t keep pace with Hamlin.

Bubba Wallace abruptly slowed with a mechanical issue, growing frustrated on the radio as he limped his No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota back to the pits. Wallace entered the finale trying to hang onto 10th in the championship standings.

The caution flew 47 laps into the stage for Shane van Gisbergen spinning, but suddenly, there was drama for one of the title hopefuls. Briscoe suffered a flat right rear tire while running fifth. He also had a tire issue during practice on Friday.

Hamlin maintained the lead off pit road (and still talking about clutch issues), while Briscoe rejoined the field at the back of the lead lap cars. Unfortunately, he radioed that something was possibly bent and struggled to keep up with the rest of the pack.

Kyle Busch had to pit under green with a flat right rear tire. Soon after, AJ Allmendinger slammed the outside wall with a cut tire. This was his backup car, as he also wrecked in practice due to a flat tire in the same corner.

The No. 19 seemed to come back to life around this points, gaining lots of ground on pit road before Briscoe charged back inside the top ten on the restart.

Hamlin had to fend off a fast Blaney in the closing laps of the stage, but their battle was interrupted for a stage-ending caution. Ty Dillon cut a tire and spun into the wall, just a couple of laps after his brother Austin pitted with a flat right-side tire.

Hamlin won Stage 2 under caution, followed by Blaney and Byron. Larson was fourth and Briscoe had worked his way back up to seventh.

Stage 3

The entire complexion of the race on pit road. Hamlin radioed that he may have a tire down, resulting in a slower stop that dropped him to eleventh on track.  Larson had an even worse stop as they struggled to get a wheel tight, falling back to 18th. 

Byron snatched the lead away on the restart, followed by Chastain. The Trackhouse driver faded as the run progressed, and Briscoe muscled him out of the way for second before chasing after Byron for the top spot.

However, chaos unfolded soon after as Larson cut down a tire and pitted under green. Soon after, the same fate befell Briscoe. Both title challengers fell a lap down as the caution flew for a blown tire by Hocevar as well, who actually hit the wall.

With many lead drivers choosing to pit, Elliott won the race off pit road, with Blaney directly behind him. Byron and Hamlin were set to line up on Row 2 side-by-side.

Elliott continued to lead as Hamlin stalked Byron. Back in the pack, Bowman pitted under green with a flat tire, followed by Gragson.

Byron snatched the lead away from his teammate with 60 laps to go. Hamlin quickly passed Elliott as well, and right before the caution flew for a crash involving Austin Cindric.

Byron won the race off pit road, followed by Elliott and Hamlin. However, Elliott got a speeding penalty, which put Hamlin on the front row with Byron.

On the restart, Byron doored Hamlin, but could not stop him from taking the lead away.

The eighth caution of the race flew for JJ Yeley, who had a flat tire as well. Wanting to preserve a set, Larson and Briscoe both opted for two-tire calls, putting them out front for the restart.

The Championship 4 drivers were now running 1-2-3-4 for a restart with 28 laps remaining. It was pure chaos as Hamlin went three-wide for lead, passing both Briscoe and Larson as they made contact.

Byron then managed to pass them all, but Hamlin cut back under him to grab the lead away. Hamlin drove off, and appeared set to win it all before yet another caution.

This time, it was Byron, who slammed the wall with a cut tire. While Hamlin pitted for four fresh tires, Larson opted for two right sides. A trio of cars stayed out, and Hamlin was stuck back in tenth.

Unfortunately for Hamlin, he could not make up the lost ground as Blaney won the race and Larson secured the title.

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– The Motorsport.com Team

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