Kyle Larson’s Historic Quest And How To Watch NASCAR Championship Race

If Kyle Larson wins the November 2 NASCAR Champion Race at Phoenix Raceway, the Hendrick Motorsports chauffeur will achieve something in racing that has actually never ever taken place.

He would be the very first chauffeur who contended in the Indianapolis 500 and won the NASCAR Cup Series Champion in the exact same season.

It’s a rarity when a NASCAR Cup Series chauffeur crosses over and contends in the Indianapolis 500. It’s the embodiment of open-wheel racing while NASCAR is the leading level for stock cars and truck racing on the planet.

Larson, nevertheless, is the most varied chauffeur in American racing. If he isn’t completing in a NASCAR Cup Series race, he can be discovered completing around the United States in High-Limit Sprint Cars, Late Design Racing and other kinds of racing throughout the week.

For the previous 2 years, Larson has actually contended in the Indianapolis 500, the world’s most popular race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He likewise contends at Indianapolis every summer season in the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Cup Series race. He won the Brickyard 400 in 2024 and completed second to Bubba Wallace at IMS in July.

Larson is likewise the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champ. He did not make the NASCAR Champion 4 in 2024 so he might not attain the uncommon difference of beginning in the Indy 500 and winning the NASCAR Cup Series Champion.

However Sunday at Phoenix, he has the chance to end up being the very first chauffeur in Indy’s “Field of 33” to the NASCAR Cup Series Champion in the exact same year.

Kyle Larson’s Calm Focus at Phoenix

In normal Larson style, nevertheless, he is unfazed.

” Possibly having a champion previously, you understand what it seems like,” Larson stated Thursday at the NASCAR Champion 4 Media Schedule. “That currently takes some ease or some pressure off of how huge this occasion is, what it might imply to your profession. I’m happy to have one. Clearly, I desire 2.

” I believe due to the fact that I do have one currently, I do not overthink the week and the minute and all that. I’m uncertain if they overthink it, too. I understand how I felt in 2021. I do feel most likely various now.”

This is the 4th time Larson has actually remained in the Champion 4, however his very first because 2023.

The other Champion 4 chauffeurs consist of Hendrick Motorsports colleague William Byron, and 2 chauffeurs from Joe Gibbs Racing consisting of Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.

Hamlin advanced to the Champion Race with a triumph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12. Briscoe won at Talladega Superspeedway on October 19, and Byron won the October 26 race at Martinsville Speedway.

Larson made the 4th and last position in the Champion 4 as the chauffeur greatest in the points that did not win a race in the Round of 8.

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Champ will be the greatest completing chauffeur in the NASCAR Champion 4.

Larson is the only chauffeur in the Champion 4 who has actually won a NASCAR Cup Series Champion. Hamlin, Briscoe and Byron are trying to win the title for the very first time in their professions.

Kyle Larson Does Not Think His Past Champion Experience Is A Benefit

Larson, nevertheless, does not think being a previous champ offers him an edge in the last NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2025 season.

” I do not believe it matters due to the fact that we’re all 4 actually excellent,” Larson stated. “Our groups are actually excellent. All of us have experience winning races. I can see how anyone can check out into that. As soon as you put your helmet on, you remain in the cars and truck, you forget all of that.”

When It Comes To the Indianapolis 500, Larson was the Novice of the Year in the 108 ^th Indy 500 in 2024. In the 109 ^th Indianapolis 500 on May 25, Larson began 19 ^th and completed 24 after crashing on a reboot in Turn 2 on Lap 91.

Larson does not plan to complete in the Indianapolis 500 in 2026, so this will be his finest possibility to finish an unmatched Indy 500 start and NASCAR Cup Series Champion in the exact same season.

How To Enjoy NASCAR Champion Race

NBC Sports will bring the NASCAR Cup Series Champion Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC and streaming on Peacock. Pre-race protection starts at 2 p.m. ET.

This weekend’s edition of Countdown to Green will consist of complete protection of the course to Phoenix for all 4 champion chauffeurs. Michael Phelps, the most embellished Olympian in history and Arizona resident, will tell the opening tease. Throughout his Olympic profession, Phelps won 28 medals, with 23 of them being gold, and held many swimming world records.

NBC Sports’ broadcast group of veteran motorsports play-by-play analyst Leigh Diffey, 21-time Cup Series race winner and “The Mayor” of NASCAR Jeff Burton, who won this race in 1997, and Daytona 500-winning team chief Steve Letarte will call the action. Marty Snider, Kim Coon, Dave Burns, and Parker Kligerman will act as pit press reporters.

Snider will anchor pre- and post-race studio protection with NASCAR Hall of Popularity chauffeur Dale Jarrett, and Hyak Motorsports co-owner Brad Daugherty from the Peacock Pit Box, with Letarte signing up with for pre-race protection.

Burton (2000, 2001) and Jarrett (1997) both own Cup Series success at Phoenix.

NBCSports.com’s Dustin Long will surround Champion Weekend with extensive protection on-site from Phoenix.

Live protection of practice and certifying will exist on truTV start this Friday at 5:35 p.m. ET.

Tune-In Details

Date, Protection, Platform, Time (ET)

Friday, October 31

NASCAR Cup Series Practice, truTV, 5:35 p.m.

Saturday, November 1

NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying, truTV, 5 p.m.

Sunday, November 2

Countdown to Green– NASCAR Cup Series, NBC, Peacock, 2 p.m.

NASCAR Cup Series Champion, NBC, Peacock, 3 p.m.

If Kyle Larson wins the NASCAR Cup Series Champion Race, it will definitely develop a fascinating story on the NBC telecast as the very first chauffeur to win a NASCAR Cup Series Champion who contended in the Indianapolis 500 in the exact same year.