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

NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 driver, Kyle Larson during NASCAR Championship Media Day at Phoenix Raceway on October 30, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

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If Kyle Larson wins the November 2 NASCAR Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, the Hendrick Motorsports driver will accomplish something in racing that has never happened.

He would be the first driver who competed in the Indianapolis 500 and won the NASCAR Cup Series Championship in the same season.

It’s a rarity when a NASCAR Cup Series driver crosses over and competes in the Indianapolis 500. It’s the epitome of open-wheel racing while NASCAR is the top level for stock car racing in the world.

Larson, however, is the most diverse driver in American racing. If he isn’t competing in a NASCAR Cup Series race, he can be found competing around the United States in High-Limit Sprint Cars, Late Model Racing and other forms of racing throughout the week.

For the past two years, Larson has competed in the Indianapolis 500, the world’s most famous race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He also competes at Indianapolis every summer in the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Cup Series race. He won the Brickyard 400 in 2024 and finished second to Bubba Wallace at IMS in July.

Larson is also the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion. He did not make the NASCAR Championship 4 in 2024 so he could not achieve the rare distinction of starting in the Indy 500 and winning the NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

But Sunday at Phoenix, he has the opportunity to become the first driver in Indy’s “Field of 33” to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship in the same year.

Kyle Larson’s Calm Focus at Phoenix

In typical Larson fashion, however, he is unfazed.

“Maybe having a championship before, you know what it feels like,” Larson said Thursday at the NASCAR Championship 4 Media Availability. “That already takes some ease or some pressure off of how big this event is, what it could mean to your career. I’m thankful to have one. Obviously, I want two.

“I think because I do have one already, I don’t overthink the week and the moment and all that. I’m not sure if they overthink it, too. I know how I felt in 2021. I do feel probably different now.”

This is the fourth time Larson has been in the Championship 4, but his first since 2023.

The other Championship 4 drivers include Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, and two drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing including Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.

Hamlin advanced to the Championship Race with a victory 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 earned the fourth and final position in the Championship 4 as the driver highest in the points that did not win a race in the Round of 8.

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Champion will be the highest finishing driver in the NASCAR Championship 4.

Larson is the only driver in the Championship 4 who has won a NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Hamlin, Briscoe and Byron are attempting to win the title for the first time in their careers.

Kyle Larson Doesn’t Believe His Past Championship Experience Is An Advantage

Larson, however, doesn’t believe being a past champion gives him an edge in the final NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2025 season.

“I don’t think it matters because we’re all four really good,” Larson said. “Our teams are really good. We all have experience winning races. I can see how anybody can read into that. Once you put your helmet on, you’re in the car, you forget all of that.”

As for the Indianapolis 500, Larson was the Rookie of the Year in the 108^thIndy 500 in 2024. In the 109^th Indianapolis 500 on May 25, Larson started 19^th and finished 24 after crashing on a restart in Turn 2 on Lap 91.

Larson does not intend to compete in the Indianapolis 500 in 2026, so this will be his best chance to complete an unprecedented Indy 500 start and NASCAR Cup Series Championship in the same season.

How To Watch NASCAR Championship Race

NBC Sports will carry the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC and streaming on Peacock. Pre-race coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET.

This weekend’s edition of Countdown to Green will include full coverage of the path to Phoenix for all four championship drivers. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history and Arizona resident, will narrate the opening tease. During his Olympic career, Phelps won 28 medals, with 23 of them being gold, and held numerous swimming world records.

NBC Sports’ broadcast team of veteran motorsports play-by-play commentator 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 crew chief Steve Letarte will call the action. Marty Snider, Kim Coon, Dave Burns, and Parker Kligerman will serve as pit reporters.

Snider will anchor pre- and post-race studio coverage with NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Jarrett, and Hyak Motorsports co-owner Brad Daugherty from the Peacock Pit Box, with Letarte joining for pre-race coverage.

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

NBCSports.com’s Dustin Long will surround Championship Weekend with comprehensive coverage on-site from Phoenix.

Live coverage of practice and qualifying will be presented on truTV beginning this Friday at 5:35 p.m. ET.

Tune-In Information

Date, Coverage, 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 Championship, NBC, Peacock, 3 p.m.

If Kyle Larson wins the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race, it will certainly create an interesting storyline on the NBC telecast as the first driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series Championship who competed in the Indianapolis 500 in the same year.