Kyle Larson closes in on NASCAR
championship as Hendrick teammate William Byron wins at Martinsville
[November 02, 2026]
By NATE RYAN
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Kyle Larson is on the verge of his second
consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship, but he was more relieved
than happy after salvaging a nearly disastrous Sunday at
Martinsville Speedway.
“It was a difficult race,” he said. “It was just a bummer day. It
all could have been a lot worse.”
It nearly was worse for his closest Chase rivals, who missed some
prime opportunities to cut into Larson’s points lead heading into
the Nov. 8 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
By rallying from a backfiring strategy for a ninth-place finish at
Martinsville, Larson lost only six points off his massive lead in
the standings. He leads by 67 points over Christopher Bell (who
finished 10th) and needs only nine points at Homestead, which is
among his best tracks (with two wins in the past four races) to
capture the title. Bell and Denny Hamlin, who is 70 points behind
after a sixth at Martinsville, are the only other drivers still in
title contention through nine races in the Chase, the 10-race
championship run that concludes the season.
“I think we know,” Bell said with a smile when asked about his title
outlook.
While Larson had to fight for a top-10 finish Sunday, his Hendrick
Motorsports teammates were cruising at the 0.526-mile track.
William Byron won for the first time since a year ago at
Martinsville, and Chase Elliott made it a sweep of the top two spots
for Hendrick, the winningest team in Martinsville history with 32
victories. Ty Gibbs finished third.
“It’s always a really unique and important opportunity when you
drive for Hendrick Motorsports to come here and try to do well,”
said Byron, who led 362 of 500 laps for his 17th career victory and
fourth at Martinsville.
Larson started best among the Hendrick drivers in third, but his No.
5 Chevrolet plummeted early because of faulty tactics.
While most of the field pitted for fresh tires after 75 laps,
Larson’s team gambled by keeping him on track in hopes of an early
yellow flag. But the stage stayed green until the caution that ended
the first stage on the 130th lap with Larson in 23rd place and a lap
down.
“We were just on the wrong side of the strategy,” he said.
But so was Hamlin, who started on the pole and led 40 laps but ended
the first stage in 17th after electing to stay on track instead of
pitting.
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Kyle Larson (5) steers through Turn 3 during a NASCAR Cup Series
auto race, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Martinsville, Va. (AP Photo/Matt
Kelley)
He then was involved in an incident with Bell, who
spun from contact with Joey Logano after a speeding penalty in the
pits.
“Just really came down to us running the no-stop
strategy,” said Hamlin, who scored no points in the first two
stages. “We just lost our track position. Once we lost our track
position, it’s hard to drive back to the front. Nobody else did. The
first stage was the killer for us.”
Hamlin gained three points on Larson but dropped behind Bell in the
standings and essentially conceded his shot at the championship.
“This weekend, it was about everything to gain, nothing to lose. We
just didn’t gain enough to make it realistic.”
Though he failed to become the first to clinch a Chase championship
before the season finale, Larson will be a heavy favorite to deliver
a record 16th championship for Hendrick — and a third Cup Series
title in his career — ranking third in team history behind NASCAR
Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (four titles) and Jimmie Johnson (seven).
By scoring points during the first two stages at Homestead, Larson
could lock up the title well before the checkered flag, which seems
his plan.
“We’d love to get a couple good first stages, then pound it in the
third stage,” Larson said.
Up next
The NASCAR Cup Series will conclude its season at Homestead-Miami
Speedway for the first time in seven years. The 1.5-mile oval in
South Florida was the season finale from 2002-19 before Phoenix
Raceway became the championship track for the past seven seasons.
Kyle Larson won the most recent Cup race at Homestead on March 23,
2025.
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