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The Cup title fight at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday will not have much drama. Kyle Larson leads Christopher Bell by 67 points and Denny Hamlin by 70, and needs only nine points, the equivalent of a 28th-place finish without stage points, to win his third championship.
But a lopsided finish may be a fitting end to a season that felt like a throwback.
Larson’s Chase run
Larson started the 10-race Chase as the No. 7 seed, 55 points behind No. 1 seed Hamlin. He has won three of the nine Chase races, at World Wide Technology Raceway, Kansas and Talladega. His only finish worse than sixth was a 34th at Phoenix after a flat tire.
If he clinches Sunday, he will become the 11th driver in Cup history with three or more championships.
A more natural ending
From 2014 through 2025, the title went to the best finisher among four drivers in the last race. Last year, Larson won his second title at Phoenix after crew chief Cliff Daniels called for two tires on the final pit stop while Hamlin took four.
NASCAR returned to a points-based Chase with no eliminations this season. A driver has to be close to perfect for 10 weeks, and Larson has been.
A season of giants
Tyler Reddick won five of the season’s first nine races and has six wins. Hamlin dominated the summer. Chase Briscoe won back-to-back races at Las Vegas and Charlotte in October. Ryan Blaney has been a steady contender for Team Penske, and Bell has been in the mix all year.
Chase Elliott won twice in the spring, and Ty Gibbs won for the first time in his Cup career.
Before Larson’s Talladega win and his rivals’ bad luck there, the top seven drivers in the standings were within 56 points of each other.
Work left to do
NASCAR still has problems to fix. The Next Gen car still struggles on some tracks, and Martinsville showed how the softer short-track bumpers could be used to wreck other drivers. But with the charter lawsuit settled, Dodge coming back in 2027 and a deserving champion about to be crowned, the sport heads into the offseason with momentum.
The Straight Talk Wireless 400 starts at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC.
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