Motorsport photo Matt Weaver · Motorsport Thu, November 5, 2026 at 7:37 PM UTC · 5 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For much of the past decade, NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race Media Day meant taking the remaining contenders and placing them on a stage together.
With the return of the Chase for the Championship, and a points battle that is all but wrapped up, that meant Kyle Larson sitting on a stage taking questions all by himself on Thursday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
As Denny Hamlin said on Sunday night at Martinsville Speedway, all that remains before crowing Larson is a 'dog and pony show' in which he would have to stand on stage and act like the one percent odds could actually happen. He said that on the same day where Christopher Bell also said, 'I think we know,' when asked, 'we technically don't know' how the championship will play out.
It appears that NASCAR agreed, as they allowed Bell and Hamlin to skip out on media day, entering the weekend with points deficits of 67 and 70 respectively. Larson could wrap up the championship by merely scoring eight points over the first two stages or finishing 28th or better without stage points.
In other words, barring the most outrageously unlikely scenario, Larson will score his third Bill France Trophy in six years. That is why he was the only contender invited to Media Day.
How Kyle Larson can lose the NASCAR Cup championship at Homestead
"Yeah, it's definitely been the most unique media day for me," Larson said. "In the past it's been the Final Four and you're there and you don't really know -- all you know is you just have to beat them on the track, where this you're still having points involved and all that, it's different, but then the gap that is there, yeah, I'm solo, which is a great thing.
"But yeah, I'll be honest, it's an awkward sort of media day for me but we've earned the right for it to be awkward. I like awkwardness, or I'm okay with it. It's alright."
Again, the mathematical probabilities suggest Larson will clinch before halfway, and two stages finishes inside the top five would be enough. In this scenario, Larson will feel a degree of excitement but also expects Cliff Daniels to keep him focused until the checkered flag.
Kyle Larson celebrates with team in Victory Lane, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
After all, they also would love to celebrate the championship by outright winning the race, having both items to celebrate.
"I hope I get to experience that at some point in the first two stages," Larson said. "I don't really know what it will all feel like or sound like and what Cliff might say. Knowing Cliff, I'm sure he'll be locked in, like, 'Hey, man, here's what just happened. Let's stay locked in, we're going to take four tires here,' and stuff like that.
"I hope we get robot Cliff on the radio telling me to stay locked in because I want to have a great day, win the race and win the championship, so we'll see."
The fact that Larson is even in this position is surreal because not even the driver himself felt like this was truly an achievable goal. Larson did not exactly mimic 2011 Tony Stewart in saying they did not even belong in the Chase but the internal vibes were not that far off.
Larson hadn't won all season to that point but has won three times, scoring the second most stage points, with an average finish of 6.78 only marred by a disaster of a race at Phoenix Raceway.
"I really had no confidence, zero, before the Chase," Larson said. "Hope, but no confidence."
Then Larson finished fifth in the Southern 500 with nine stage points.
"I remember leaving that race thinking, 'man, that's the first time it's felt like the 5 team in forever' because we were calling a race to win," Larson said. "We really, I didn't feel like, had been in that position for a long time.
"Then we got a good finish, and yeah, I was just like, 'Man, if we can hopefully have some close speed and continue that, strategy calls and execution, we'll see where it goes.'"
Where it went was a win at Gateway and the momentum just kept building. Larson expected the figurative shoe to drop at least once, which it did at Phoenix, but they were otherwise flawless.
Despite all the odds, or the mathematical probabilities and such, Larson still says he feels pressure. Why?
"Well, I think the pressure and where it comes from would be like, 'man, you've done such great work to this point to put yourself in position.' I would just hate for something crazy to happen, to eliminate all the work that we've gone to get ourselves in a great position to where you don't have to score a ton of points.
"I think that's the pressure, it's like 'man, don't fuck it up at this point.'"
With that said, he says that will go away when he puts his helmet on, because he gets singularly focused on the immediate task at hand -- start, restart, running the top, pit stops and tire management.
That doesn't leave a lot of time for worrying about 'pressure' or other intangibles.
And then, should he avoid a statistical anomaly, he will be a three-time champion putting him a similar modern statistical range as the likes of Tony Stewart and Joey Logano . He just turned 34-years-old and didn't even shy away from a question about him being the best driver in this discipline right now.
"I think we all have the belief -- all of us drivers, I'm saying, have the belief, if we're the fastest car in the field, there's going to be nobody better than us," Larson said. "Yeah, I feel that way, I'm sure Denny feels that way, I'm sure anybody feels that way. You should have that belief and confidence in yourself.
"So short answer, yes, I believe it. But I don't know."
Again, barring a statistical anomaly on Sunday, there will be very little to dispute that … just like there was no one else on stage on Thursday to dispute it either. This is what greatness looks like.
Watch: Larson shifts focus to locking up title at Homestead-Miami
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Source: Sports
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