Kyle Larson was the most dominant driver in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season and is now the undisputed Champion of the season.

The NASCAR Championship Race started at Phoenix Raceway with four drivers racing for the championship. Those four drivers knew the first of them that crossed the finish line would earn the 2021 season title.

Early in the race it appeared that Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott would be the cars to watch if there was a short run at the end of the race. Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin appeared to have the long run speed if that would be how the race came to the end.

Martin Truex Jr. managed to win Stage One while Kyle Larson was the winner of Stage two. However, among the Championship Four stage wins and points meant nothing. The only thing that did matter was finishing the race before the other three.

With laps winding down, it looked like Martin Treux Jr. and Denny Hamlin were going to race for the win and championship. Martin had the lead with Denny chasing him down after Martin got very lucky and took the lead after a stroke of luck with an early green-flag pit stop and caution. Martin was holding the lead at that point for 33 laps when debris on the track brought out the ninth and final caution. Kyle Larson’s pit crew moved him from fourth to first on the resulting pit stops of that caution period. Kyle was able to race out to the lead and hold it for the final 24 laps of the race winning the race and championship.

I called him the undisputed Champion of the season in the first sentence and here is why. Kyle won five races during the regular season (series lead). Kyle was the winner of the 2021 NASCAR All-Star Race. Kyle was the winner of the Regular Season Championship. Kyle won five of the ten NASCAR Playoff races (series lead). Among his ten point race wins was this week’s Championship Race winning his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship. I don’t know how you call that anything but undisputed.

See the complete race results for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway here.

See the complete NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings here.

The drivers and teams now get some time off and begin preparing for the 2022 Daytona 500 set for February 20, 2022.

By: Buck Stevens