Kyle Larson, freshly crowned as the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series champion, is determined to defend his title in 2026, setting his sights on becoming a repeat Kyle Larson Cup Series Champion. Alongside crew chief Cliff Daniels and their Hendrick Motorsports team, Larson is refocused and energized for the new season, eager to build on recent accomplishments while navigating the return of the high-stakes Chase format.
Anticipation Builds Ahead of the 2026 Season
After celebrating their hard-fought 2025 championship, Larson and Daniels wasted little time before directing their attention to the upcoming season. Both expressed a mixture of excitement and restlessness as the offseason drew to a close, emphasizing their drive to get back on track and compete once again. Speaking at Hendrick Motorsports, Larson highlighted the shift from downtime to season preparation.
“Offseasons are fun and all that to get refreshed,”
Larson said Thursday at Hendrick Motorsports,
“but then as it approaches the new season, I just get really antsy and ready to go and look forward to being around everybody again and getting into the meetings and preparation and race weekends and all of that that goes into it.”
– Kyle Larson, NASCAR Cup Series Driver
This year, the transition from celebrations to the start of the season felt longer for Larson due to the NASCAR Awards banquet following closely after the season finale, rather than weeks later. Despite a brief whirlwind of festivities, the extended break allowed additional time for the team to prepare for the new campaign.
“This year, it was crazy hectic for a week,”
Larson said,
“but then once that week was done, it was like, boom, you’re moved on to the next year. So it’s made the offseason feel longer, I think, for me, and that’s been something I’ve enjoyed.”
– Kyle Larson, NASCAR Cup Series Driver
Larson’s Offseason and Return to Racing
While away from the demands of the Cup Series, Larson stayed sharp by competing at the Chili Bowl and racing in Australia, building his skills and maintaining his competitive edge. Now, with the focus firmly on 2026, Larson aims to achieve a rare consecutive championship—a feat last accomplished by Jimmie Johnson, who earned five straight titles from 2006 to 2010.
The Legacy and Challenge of a Second Title
Cliff Daniels reflected with pride on the team’s resilience during their 2025 title run, which concluded with the receipt of the Goodyear gold car replica at Hendrick Motorsports on January 23. Compared to their dominant 2021 campaign, last season presented more obstacles, with fewer victories and a tougher road through the playoffs. Team members, Daniels stressed, are motivated not by past accomplishments, but by the new challenges that each season brings.
“That accomplishment is great to have, but at the same time, every year presents its own set of challenges and circumstances,”
Daniels said.
“And of course, with The Chase format this year, it’s all kind of a different look. So what we can take from one year to another is how we build our daily process, how we execute, how we perform, how we communicate, all of those things, and apply it to whatever comes our way this season.”
– Cliff Daniels, Crew Chief
Inside the Team’s Road to the 2025 Championship
The 2025 title journey looked different from previous years, with Larson notching all three of his victories before Memorial Day and finishing third in the regular-season standings. The team advanced through the elimination-style playoffs without a postseason win, ultimately capturing the Bill France Cup with a third-place finish at Phoenix Raceway. These challenges tested the group, reinforcing the importance of strategy, consistency, and resilience.
The Chase Format Returns for 2026
The 2026 season marks NASCAR’s return to The Chase, the 10-race format that determines the champion by points accumulated throughout a dedicated stretch of races. Daniels expressed optimism, citing how the team’s consistent performance and stage point collection in 2025 set them up for this new-old challenge.
“Even thinking back to our season in 2025, a lot of what kept us in the hunt for the regular-season title fight was the fact that we had some really good races going until a mechanical failure or a late crash, where we did score a lot of stage points, and that kind of kept us in the hunt,”
Daniels said. “So we’ve lived it a little bit. We’ve seen it. And now, of course, it’s going to be more of a highlight of that, where you’ve got to be there during the stages and put a whole race together.
“So again, I think it’s going to benefit our team, and we’ve just got to make sure that how we strategize our races, how we execute, that we’re getting those points along the way. And of course, now with extra points for the race winner, I think that’s a pretty big deal as well of just boosting what that points momentum can be.”
– Cliff Daniels, Crew Chief
Higher Rewards for Race Winners
The revised points structure in 2026 elevates the importance of winning, as race winners now earn 55 points, up from 40, in the Chase format. This adjustment places greater weight on victories while maintaining the value of consistent performance through stage points and strategic execution. Despite entering the new season with a 24-race winless streak—his longest since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021—Larson remains confident, fueled by the renewed format and his team’s drive.
Drivers and Teams React to the Format Change
The expanded sample size and shift away from winner-take-all championship races have garnered positive feedback from top contenders. Larson, in particular, believes the new format will better reflect the quality of championship-caliber teams across the full Chase.
“I think probably all of us were happy to hear of the format change,”
Larson said.
“I mean, I think your championship contenders in the playoff format are gonna be the same championship contenders in this format. It’s just a larger sample size is gonna be much nicer. A lot can happen in a three-race mini-series that can take you out of it. And then, yeah, from the championship to come down to Phoenix, it’s just there are some teams that are better equipped for that style track. So, yeah, just the larger sample size is gonna be better, and I think would suit Hendrick Motorsports better.”
– Kyle Larson, NASCAR Cup Series Driver
What Lies Ahead for Larson and His Team
As the Cup Series rolls into Bowman Gray Stadium for the season-opening Cook Out Clash, Larson, Daniels, and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports are primed for another challenging year. The team stands poised to navigate the evolving landscape of NASCAR, driven by their pursuit of a rare consecutive championship, the strategic demands of The Chase, and the motivation to etch their names further into racing history.
With lessons learned from both triumphant and turbulent seasons, and with the new points emphasis rewarding race winners, Kyle Larson and his team remain focused on executing each event to the fullest, keeping the dream of a historic repeat as Kyle Larson Cup Series Champion alive in 2026.
