HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Kyle Larson has clinched the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship with a fourth-place result in the first stage Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Larson entered Sunday's race with a 67-point lead over Christopher Bell, who needed to beat him by at least three positions in the first stage to keep his title hopes alive. However, Bell beat him by just one position -- ending his hopes for his first Cup Series championship.

Larson told Roundtable in February that, "We're not done at two," and the champion for 2021, 2025 and now 2026 fulfilled that prophecy Sunday. He is the first driver since Joey Logano in 2024 to earn three Cup championships and the first back-to-back Cup champion since Jimmie Johnson from 2006 to 2010.

Larson came into the season finale with three wins, 15 top-five finishes and 22 top-10 finishes. He had earned an average finish of 14.5, an average of 9.3 and led 1,238 laps prior to Sunday. 

Coming into the Chase, Larson wasn't particularly a championship favorite. Before the season started, teams estimated you had to earn one of the top-six Chase seeds.

Larson started seventh but came out of the gates swinging. After nearly winning the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway but still finishing fifth, he won at World Wide Technology Raceway, finished second at Bristol Motor Speedway, won again at Kansas Speedway and finished second yet again at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

By this point, Larson had a 49-point lead over No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin after Hamlin started the Chase with a 55-point lead over Larson. Larson made up 104 points on Hamlin with perfect execution every step while his competition faltered. 

At Phoenix Raceway, Larson finished 34th with no stage points and only earned three points. That appeared to open the door for the championship field to pounce, particularly Hamlin. However, Hamlin had a tire issue late in the race and then caught a speeding penalty that trapped him a lap down in 28th and 31 points behind Larson.

Bell seemed to have a chance after exiting that race five points back. However, during the first pit stop of the race, he spun while braking and crashed, leaving him in 35th at the finish.

The white flag in the fight flew when the checkered flag flew over Larson at Talladega Superspeedway where he charged from 11th to first on the final lap, making up 30 points in one lap and leaving Hamlin 73 points back and Bell 74 points back.

The kiss of death, if it wasn't the first stage of the championship race, was when Hamlin and Bell collided and spun after Joey Logano bumped into them on lap 216 at Martinsville Speedway. 

Larson is only the 11th driver to win back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series championships. 

Larson is also just the 11th driver to win the Cup Series championship three or more times. 

STAT: More people have walked on the moon (12) than won a Cup championship (11).