Kyle Larson’s third NASCAR Cup Series championship was secured before the Homestead finale had even reached its halfway point. Chase Briscoe’s engine failure ended Stage 1 under caution, leaving Larson with enough points to put the title beyond Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin’s reach. The anticlimactic finish did little to diminish the achievement, but the road to another championship had tested the No. 5 team in unexpected ways. Crew chief Cliff Daniels believes those difficult moments were essential to building a team capable of winning again.

“This isn’t going to be popular to say, but sometimes it’s good to get knocked back. And when that happens, you’ve got to learn. You’ve got to show grace to yourself and to the world around you. You’ve got to find the resilience. This team has always been able to find resilience – great group of guys, great group of people behind us,” Cliff Daniels told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Daniels’ assessment of Hendrick Motorsports’ latest championship explains why Kyle Larson’s third title means more than another trophy for the No. 5 team. The 2026 season did not begin with the kind of dominance that defined Larson’s first championship campaign. In fact, he went through the entire regular season without a victory, carrying a 51-race winless streak into the Chase. The turnaround that followed made the championship possible.

The No. 5 team’s problems were not simply a lack of victories. Larson had speed, but the results did not consistently reflect it. He averaged just 27.85 points per race during the regular season, while Denny Hamlin entered the Chase as the top seed with four wins and a 55-point advantage over Larson. The championship picture looked even more difficult when the points reset left Larson seventh in the standings.

However, the No. 5 team found another gear once the postseason began. Larson opened the Chase with finishes of fifth, first, second, first and second, producing a remarkable 2.2 average finish across the first five races. He won at Gateway, then added victories at Kansas and Talladega. At Kansas, he swept both stages, led 235 laps and collected the maximum 76 points. The team had finally found a way to turn its speed into complete race-day performances.

That momentum made the setback at Phoenix even more damaging. Handling problems and a tire failure left Larson 34th, earning just three points. His championship lead, which had reached 49 points, collapsed to five. Suddenly, the title was no longer looking like a formality, and the No. 5 team had to respond under pressure.

Larson delivered one of the most important performances of his career at Talladega. He had never won a Cup race on a superspeedway, but a remarkable last-lap charge gave him his first victory at a drafting track. More importantly, the result earned him 71 points and transformed his five-point championship lead into a 73-point advantage. A ninth-place finish at Martinsville kept him comfortably ahead heading into Homestead.

Daniels’ comments also carry weight when viewed against Larson’s previous championship campaigns. In 2021, their first season together, Larson won 10 races and dominated much of the competition. That title came through outright speed and a season-long run of victories. The 2025 championship was different. Larson did not lead a lap in the Phoenix finale, but Daniels’ two-tire strategy during a late caution put him in position to finish third and secure the title. This time, the team had to recover from a winless regular season, build momentum in the Chase and withstand a late championship scare. Each title demanded a different kind of execution.

The Homestead result added another historic chapter. Larson became the first back-to-back Cup Series champion since Jimmie Johnson completed his fifth consecutive title in 2010. At 34, he also became the 11th driver in NASCAR history to win at least three Cup championships, joining Johnson, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and other legends. All three of Larson’s titles have come in the 2020s, with his first arriving in 2021 before consecutive championships in 2025 and 2026.

The achievement extends beyond Larson’s personal record. Hendrick Motorsports now owns 16 Cup Series championships, further strengthening its position as the most successful organization in the sport. For Daniels, who has guided Larson to all three titles, the latest one reinforces the value of a group that refused to lose confidence when the results went against it.

The crew chief knows there is little time to dwell on the celebrations. As he put it, “We’re gonna have to close the notebook on 2026 here in a couple of weeks and get back to work for 27. But for now, we’re going to enjoy it.”