Larson takes the NASCAR Cup Championship at Homestead. Blaney takes the race.

David J. Neal, Miami Herald on Nov 8, 2026

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MIAMI — Sunday’s Kyle Coronation 400, otherwise known as the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race, at Homestead-Miami Speedway gave fans what they expected early — Kyle Larson as NASCAR Cup Series Championship — and what they wanted later: a race with a thrilling finish.

Ryan Blaney took that with a penultimate lap pass for the lead.

A dominating run through the first eight races of the Chase for the Cup sent Larson into last week’s Martinsville race with a 75-point lead. He entered Sunday’s race with a mountainous 67-point lead on Christopher Bell and 70 on Denny Hamlin. By Lap 78 Sunday, he had his second consecutive season title and third in the last six seasons.

What fans wanted for their ticket money and schlepp to Homestead was a race with more excitement than the Chase. William Byron held a 1.5-second lead on Tyler Reddick with 14 laps left when Noah Gragson slid up into Daniel Suarez, spinning Suarez and bringing out the yellow flag.

Almost everyone pitted for new tires. Byron retained his lead with the pits. Hamlin zoomed out of his space in second just ahead of Tyler Reddick. One lap into the restart, with eight laps to go, Reddick got by Hamlin and by Byron. As Bell and Ryan Blaney joined the party, Hamlin caught the outside wall, perhaps epitomizing his chase.

With two to go, the order was Reddick, Blaney, Byron and Bell. Blaney went low to get around Reddick and Reddick either blocked him or just made a strong defensive move. Either way, Blaney slid up and rode the fence to shoot by Reddick as they took the white flag.

So, the return of NASCAR’s Championship Weekend to Homestead-Miami Speedway provided race excitement and championship predictability.

Craftsman Truck Series champion Kaden Honeycutt won Friday’s race with a late stop for new tires, but his championship fight with Layne Riggs ended on Lap 2 when Riggs’ and Miami’s Nick Sanchez bumped each other. Riggs right rear tire damage got worse and he was laps down by Lap 20.

Justin Allgaier, who didn’t win a race during the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase, didn’t win Saturday’s back-and-forth among five championship contenders, winner Brandon Jones and Sam Mayer, either. But, Allgaier’s 22-point lead gave him enough cushion that a seventh place brought him home 14 points to the good over Jesse Love.

And, there’s Larson who spent the last two weeks living in the media noise tunnel discussing his championship as an inevitability in a sport where someone else’s boo boo can end your race before it starts.

Even NASCAR’s broadcast partner, USA Sports on NBC, ditched any pretense that the championship wasn’t Larson’s. During a pre-race nod to Larson’s versatility — he runs and wins in sprint cars, endurance racing, has done the Indianapolis 500-Charlotte 600 double — the piece ended with Indianapolis 500-Formula 1 world title-Daytona 500 winner Mario Andretti saying Larson’s passion for any form of racing matches his own.

“I hope the wind will be at your back because I’ll be on your shoulder,” Andretti said.

As it turned out, the closest Larson came to not doing what everyone expected he would was Lap 19, when he smooched the wall coming off Turn 4 while running fourth. On Lap 76, Larson passed Hamlin and began challenging Bell for third place, which would give him a stage clinching nine points.

Instead, Larson got it when polesitter Chase Briscoe’s car began smoking and burning, ending Stage 1 three laps early. Larson picked up seven stage points for running in fourth and one point for starting. Once Briscoe joined Corey Heim as DNF’s, Larson couldn’t not get the final point he needed to clinch the title.

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