Groovy Hollow Recap
It has all come down to this. After 38 weeks, it is time to crown the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. It has been a great year with a lot of parity and historic late-career runs. We’ve gone from 16 championship hopefuls down to 12, then to 8, and now, we’ve simmered all that down to only four. Four to win it all and put that exclamation point at the end of a great year. Our four contenders are: 2021 Cup Champion, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, and Chase Briscoe, making his first Championship 4 appearance. In a winner-take-all battle, who came out on top?
Additionally, we have a number of drivers looking to spoil and win the race for themselves, just to end the year on a positive note. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, all were looking for one more win to cap off the year. So, with that in mind, let’s break all that down and more. Who won it all? And whose season ended in bitter disappointment? Here’s everything that happened in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Finale at Phoenix!
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Polesitter, Denny Hamlin, had a lot on his mind heading into the race today. His father has been sick and this likely would be his last shot to race for a championship title. Knowing that, Denny knew what he had to do–he had to go. He fired off strong in this stage, leading the first 28 laps of the race. However, as the run went on, Hamlin started to fall off slightly. Meanwhile, the driver of the No. 24, William Byron, got a little better on the long run. With 7 laps to go in the stage, the 24 made a move after running Hamlin down and snatched away the lead.
William Byron went on to win the first stage in Phoenix, proving to the doubters that he is a legitimate championship threat. Of his Championship rivals, Denny Hamlin was the closest, finishing right behind him in 3rd after being passed by Phoenix ace, Ryan Blaney. Kyle Larson faded to 5th after starting in the top 3. And Chase Briscoe just barely made it into the top 10 after starting deeper in the back. He crossed the line in 10th.
*x = Championship Leader
**y = Championship 4 Driver
We saw a little more drama in the second stage for our four Championship 4 drivers. Again, Denny Hamlin assumed the lead and separated himself from the rest of the pack. Meanwhile, the No. 5 leapfrogged his teammate William Byron to take over the second position in the Championship 4 battle. We got our first incident involving a Playoff driver. During a caution that saw John Hunter Nemechek go around, Denny Hamlin radioed his team, complaining of a clutch issue. He described the clutch as “long” and said that it was impossible to work the clutch in order to cool down the engine under caution. This was something to keep an eye on for the rest of the race.
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin’s teammate, Chase Briscoe, also had an issue just as the caution flew for a spin from Shane van Gisbergen. Briscoe had a right rear tire go down. He somehow managed to keep it off the wall and nurse it back to pit road under caution. The timing was lucky for that No. 19 bunch as he did not lose a lap. However, he did fall to the bottom half of the top 10 in the running order. Check it out.
Drivers continued to have tire issues as this stage started to draw to a close. Kyle Busch had a right rear tire go down. He made it to pit road and we stayed green. However, coming out of Turn 2, A. J. Allmendinger had a tire explode. Unable to turn his No. 16 Kaulig machine, he plowed hard into the outside retaining wall, ending his day. This caution allowed the leaders to come down pit road. Issues with the clutch made pitting very tricky for the No. 11 Progressive team. However, Hamlin managed to win the race off pit road and keep the lead.
After a great pit stop, Chase Briscoe made a charge to the front. He managed to break into the top 10 at long last. And just like that, he was back in it. Meanwhile, Hamlin jumped out and regained his lead. However, it looked like Ryan Blaney had the better car. The No. 12 of Blaney ran down the No. 11 of Hamlin but wasn’t able to get by him. The stage ended prematurely after the Dillon brothers had separate but significant issues. First, Austin Dillon had a right front tire go down. He was able to make it to pit road without causing a caution. Then, his younger brother Ty Dillon had an issue that did trigger a caution. Ty also had a tire go down, resulting in him spinning around and the caution came out.
With this, Denny Hamlin went on to win the stage. The Championship 4 finished the stage as follows: Hamlin (1st), Byron (3rd), Larson (4th), and Briscoe (7th).
Under caution, Hamlin radioed his team, reporting a tire going down. He caught a lucky break with that caution, just as his teammate Chase Briscoe had earlier in the race. Due to a slow stop, he lost a ton of track position, falling down to the 11th position to start the final stage.
*x = Championship Leader
**y = Championship 4 Driver
After an epic comeback, Chase Briscoe once again had a tire go down. This forced him to make an unscheduled green flag pit stop, which cost him a lap. Shortly after this incident, Kyle Larson also had a tire go down. Larson’s issue did trigger a caution as he was nowhere near pit entrance when it happened. Fortunately, he didn’t lose a lap but it did throw a wrench into his day.
The race went green and Denny Hamlin methodically worked his way back up to the front. Chase Elliott led with Byron behind him, leading the Championship 4 group. But Denny Hamlin was running him down. As they ran and we got down to just over 50 laps to go, Chase Briscoe radioed in, saying that he could feel his tire getting low. Fortunately, a caution came out before he was going to have to make a green flag pit stop. Unfortunately for Austin Cindric, that caution was because of him. He was the next driver to get bit by the tire issues that loomed over this race. He spun and plowed hard into the outside wall. With this, the field came down pit road for possibly the last time tonight.
The caution came out yet again when J. J. Yeley suffered a tire failure. The field pitted under caution and Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson threw a Hail Mary pass by only taking two tires. Coming off pit road, Briscoe led, Larson was second, Hamlin was third, and Byron was fourth. They restarted and it was insane. Heading to the dog leg after the restart, the Championship 4 were four wide! As they got more laps under them, though, Denny Hamlin prevailed with the race lead. Byron was in second, Joey Logano in 3rd, and Ryan Blaney in 5th as they took 20 laps to go.
As the cosmic gods of NASCAR frowned on Hamlin, we got a caution with 4 laps to go. The caution came from his Championship 4 rival, William Byron, who blew a tire and crashed into the wall. Denny Hamlin led them down pit road for this likely final pit stop. On pit road, Denny lost 6 positions and fell down to the 10th position. Three drivers stayed out, them being Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, and Alex Bowman. Meanwhile, Larson was second off pit road, now the leader among the Championship 4.
Issues on pit road mired Hamlin back in traffic. The race restarted and there was a race for the win up front. Nobody cared. Ryan Blaney went on to overtake Brad Keselowski to win the race. But the focus was zoned in on the Championship battle. As it turned out, the call for the 5 to just take two tires worked out. Larson soared up high, powering up to the 3rd position. Denny Hamlin couldn’t find traction on the bottom. He had to settle for a 6th-place finish and another heartbreaking close call. Kyle Larson is your 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Champion.
*x = Champion
**y = Championship 4 Driver
It has been an up-and-down year for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Kyle Larson. He started the year off strong, winning races at Bristol, Homestead, and Kansas. However, ever since his ill-fated month of May, Kyle Larson has been somewhat in a slump. But the beauty (or horror) of a winner-take-all championship finale is that it almost doesn’t matter. Kyle Larson played the game NASCAR created and hit the jackpot, against all odds. His late-race tire gamble worked out. What else can you say?
This marks Kyle Larson’s second Cup Series title, becoming the third driver in history (behind Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon) to become a multi-time champion for Hendrick Motorsports.
Gutted. Denny Hamlin feels gutted and I’m gutted for him. He led 208 laps of today’s race, did everything right. And it still wasn’t enough. When it comes to Denny Hamlin and the Championship, it seems as though it wasn’t meant to be. His quest for the title has played out more like a Shakespearean tragedy. He signed a two-year contract extension with JGR this year. He’ll get at least two more cracks at it. But will he ever come this agonizingly close again?
Chase Briscoe was just off today. He had a fast car and showed that he could contend with the likes of Byron and Hamlin. He worked his way through the pack I don’t know how many times. But he just didn’t have enough. Also, tire problems plagued the entire field throughout the race, none more so than Chase Briscoe. He exits Phoenix 3rd in the driver standings.
If Denny Hamlin was the dominant driver today, William Byron was the closest one who could contend toe-to-toe. He led a healthy number of laps in this race but, like so many others, tire problems dealt him a bad hand. He crashed with 4 laps remaining, triggering a caution and an overtime restart. The incident ended his Championship hopes. But, on the bright side, he’ll likely be in contention for many more for many years to come.
What did you think of this race? Did you pick Kyle Larson to win it all? How gutted are you for Denny Hamlin? Let us know! Join the discussion on Discord or X, and remember to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for more updates. Be sure to tune back in here tomorrow at DailyDownforce.com for our weekly Xfinity Series coverage!
