Kyle Larson, Justin Allgaier and Kaden Honeycutt won championships at Homestead-Miami, and each of their paths to the title were much, much different.
Larson started the Cup Series Chase in seventh after his first winless regular season since 2019 when he was at Chip Ganassi Racing.
And, starting out, he wasn’t even in conversations for the title. Instead, that went to Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell.
But after a top five finish at Darlington, and a win at Gateway, people started to notice the then two-time champion, who after two races, made his way to second in the standings.
Larson gained the championship lead at Bristol, before increasing it to 26 points after Kansas and 40 points after Las Vegas. Over those next three races, Larson finished in second, first and second, respectively, to complete his best five-race stretch of the season.
Larson then had his first non-top finish in the Chase after placing sixth at Charlotte before having his worst race of the chase in Phoenix where he finished 34th. But after that, he went back to winning ways, going from 10th to first in the final corner to win at Talladega, before finishing ninth at Martinsville.
Going into Homestead-Miami, Larson had a 67-point lead on Bell and 70-point lead on Hamlin, who were the other two drivers still in championship contention, meaning if he finished within a place of Bell and within four places of Hamlin in stage one, the title would be his.
And in stage one, he did just that, taking fourth place while Bell finished in third and Hamlin finished in sixth, giving Larson his third NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Larson was also the first back-to-back Cup Series Champion since Jimmie Johnson, when he won five back-to-back titles from 2006-2010.
Allgaier, on the other hand, came into the Chase in first after a dominant regular season. But at the start, Allgaier started to waver, finishing in 17th and 13th to open the O’Reilly Series Chase. Those two finishes put him in second place, below Sheldon Creed, who finished at least second in both races.
In Bristol, Allgaier got back on track, finishing in fourth, but Creed won again, putting him 11 points ahead of the 40-year-old. In Vegas, Allgaier had his worst finish of the year after a wreck in stage two which put him back to fourth and 31 points behind Creed.
But Allgaier found form again with four top five finishes in a row with the final one at Martinsville netting him enough points to regain the championship lead heading into Homestead-Miami.
In Miami, with a 22-point lead, Allgaier took four points in stage one, seven in stage two and 30 in the final stage to give him 41 points in the race. With Jesse Love failing to win, Allgaier finished the season with a 14-point lead over No. 2 to secure his second O’Reilly Series title.
Allgaier, who was contemplating retirement, re-signed with JR Motorsports for 2027 as he looks to make a title defense.
The final champion crowned this weekend was Kaden Honeycutt, who started the Chase in second but was still considered a long shot due to Layne Riggs being so dominant.
At Bristol, Riggs finished 32nd while Honeycutt finished in eighth to close the gap to just three points after the first race.
Honeycutt then went on a tear, recording a four-race stretch that included wins at Kansas and Phoenix and top five finishes at Charlotte at Talladega which gave him a 43-point lead over Riggs with just two races to go.
At Martinsville, Honeycutt had his lone dud in the Chase, finishing 14th while only netting nine stage points while Riggs finished in third with 20 stage points. That brought the gap down to just 20 points, meaning if Riggs and Honeycutt got equal stage points and Riggs won, he would win the title.
But things didn’t go Riggs’ way in Miami, making heavy contact with Nick Sanchez that ended his title hopes just two laps into the race. With Riggs dropping fast, Honeycutt was guaranteed the title anyways, but after a third-place stage one finish and a sixth-place stage two finish, Honeycutt was looking for the win.
And he got it, finishing the season strong after taking home the checkered flag in first place and winning his first NASCAR Truck Series Championship. This was also Honeycutt’s second ever full-time season in the Truck Series and his first on the same team the entire year.
Honeycutt was re-signed to Tricon Garage for the 2027 season as he looks to defend his title.
With all three titles crowned, NASCAR won’t be back until Feb. 13, 2027 for the NASCAR Cup Series Wheatley Vodka Clash. Meanwhile, the O’Reilly series will return on Feb. 20, 2027 for the United Rentals 300 and the Truck Series will return on Feb. 19 for the Fresh From Florida 250.