Kyle Larson won. Larson closed his comeback season in NASCAR with his first championship Sunday, as he capped his return from a nearly yearlong suspension with a title-winning victory at Phoenix Raceway.
Larson led seven times for a race-high 108 laps but was running fourth, last among the title contenders, as Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin controlled the championship late in a pair of Toyotas.
Then a caution reset everything.
Because he won the pole Saturday in the qualifying, Larson had the first stall on pit road and the shortest sprint back onto the track of the four title contenders.
Larson’s crew performed its second-fastest stop of the season — a span that stretches 38 races — and Larson went from last among the final four to first.
Larson controlled the restart with 25 laps remaining, quickly cleared Martin Truex Jr., then held off several of Truex’s challenges. There was no stopping Larson, just as he has been impossible to stop all season, and he drove off to his 10th Cup victory of the year.
Truex, the 2017 champion, finished second and was followed by Denny Hamlin, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.