Brilliant Larson crowned NASCAR Cup Series champion after Phoenix victory

Kyle Larson brought down the curtain on a sensational NASCAR Cup Series campaign by winning the final round of racing in Phoenix, and with it a first championship title.

The Californian racer has enjoyed a dominant campaign, going into the final round with an amazing nine season victories already under his belt, thus already winning the regular season championship.

Yet in this most intense of series, where accident and incident are never far away, victories are as tough as they come. On this day, however, Larson yet again proved the class of the field, leading 107 laps en route to the checkered flag, thus underlining his superiority as the season’s outstanding driver.

“I cannot believe it,” Larson is quoted on the official Hendrick Motorsports website. “I didn’t even think I’d be racing a Cup car a year-and-a-half ago. To win a championship is crazy. I got to say, first of all, thank you so much to Rick Hendrick, HendrickCars.com, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, every single one of my supporters in the stands and watching at home. My family – I got so many of my friends and family here…”

With victory, Larson becomes the fifth driver to win a championship with Hendrick Motorsports and only the third driver in history to secure the regular season championship and the championship in the same year. Larson also has paced the field for 2,581 laps, a Hendrick Motorsports record.

It has been quite the season for Hendrick Motorsports, the organisation now having won 14 Cup Series titles and 52% of Cup championships since 1995.

“There were so many points in this race where I did not think we were going to win and without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing right here,” added the new champion. “They’re the true winners of this race. They’re the true champions. I’m just blessed to be a part of this group.

“I didn’t know that we would have a season like this. I thought — with Chase (Elliott) winning last year, I knew we would be strong, but I didn’t think that we would ever win double-digit races in the Cup Series.”

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