BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson is a back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series champion, and the stretch that carried him there included a strong night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Larson locked up the title after the first stage of the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla., on Nov. 8, finishing that stage fourth and banking seven points that left his nearest challengers no mathematical route past him. It is the third Cup championship of his career, after 2021, and the second in a row for Hendrick Motorsports with the No. 5 team. Nobody had repeated as Cup champion since Jimmie Johnson in 2009 and 2010.
His regular season was winless. The 10-race Chase changed that. Larson opened with a fifth at Darlington, won at Gateway near St. Louis, then came to Bristol for the September Night Race, where he started from the pole, led 45 laps and finished second to Joey Logano. He added a win at Kansas, a runner-up run at Las Vegas and a sixth at Charlotte.
Bristol had nearly been a winning stop for him in the spring, too. In the Food City 500 in April, Larson led 284 laps, more than anyone, before settling for third as Ty Gibbs earned the first win of his career.
Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing finished second and third in the final standings. Ryan Blaney, who won the last race, ended fourth, and Tyler Reddick, the leader in race wins with six, was fifth. Logano wound up seventh and Gibbs ninth.
Over in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports took his second title in three years. He placed fourth in both Bristol races this season and is a two-time winner at the track.
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