While the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship has not been mathematically secured by Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson, you get the feeling that the season-ending Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway is a mere formality in him becoming a three-time champion and the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won five in a row from 2006 to 2010.
He owns a 67-point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell and a 70-point lead over Bell's teammate Denny Hamlin, and there are just 76 points up for grabs in the season finale.
The 2026 season is the first season since NASCAR went back to the old 10-race "Chase" postseason format that was used from 2004 to 2013, following a 12-year run of the Championship 4 knockout-style format that was criticized a lot more often than not.
But this new format has produced its fair share of criticism as well, and a lot of that has to do with the success that Larson has had over the course of the postseason's first nine races.
The format was designed to reward consistency to a far greater degree than it was rewarded under the "win and in" format, and based on the postseason alone, that has certainly been the case; a Larson championship would absolutely not be an "undeserved" championship.
But the full-season points enthusiasts will be quick to point out just how little the regular season truly mattered, under a format in which it was supposed to be more valuable.
Denny Hamlin clinches full-season NASCAR points lead
Despite being all but eliminated from title contention after Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway, Hamlin is guaranteed to finish the 2026 season as the leader in full-season points.
In his first 20 seasons in the Cup Series, Hamlin, who has also infamously never won a championship and remains the winningest driver in series history without one, was never even able to do that. But that changed this past weekend.
He entered the playoffs with an 89-point lead over Team Penske's Ryan Blaney. Blaney is still in second, and he's fallen to 127 points back. Larson, despite his surge, has only moved from 303 to 178 behind.
Here's a list of how many total points each playoff driver has scored in 2026 across the season's first 35 races.
NASCAR Cup Series full-season point standings
Rank | Driver | Points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1326 | 0 |
2 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford | 1199 | -127 |
3 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota | 1173 | -153 |
4 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 1148 | -178 |
5 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1141 | -185 |
6 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1110 | -216 |
7 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 1091 | -235 |
8 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford | 1040 | -286 |
9 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 954 | -372 |
10 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 951 | -375 |
11 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 912 | -414 |
12 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota | 898 | -428 |
13 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford | 889 | -437 |
14 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | 861 | -465 |
15 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford | 846 | -480 |
16 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford | 836 | -490 |
Hamlin's 89-point lead over Blaney was reset to 25 to start the postseason, and despite the fact that Blaney was the only driver within 130 points of Hamlin at the end of the regular season, all of the other playoff drivers began the 10-race postseason within 100 points of the driver of the No. 11 Toyota.
All in all, Hamlin's 15 playoff rivals gained over 3,000 combined points on him to begin the postseason. Larson notably gained 248, moving from 303 behind to 55 behind, so the fact that he's outscored him by 125 points through nine playoff races means he's 70 points ahead.
And of course, the elephant in the room: at the end of the day, the hypotheticals mean nothing, and we all know that the rules are the same for everybody. There are no consolation prizes for "full-season points champion" under a format in which excellence is required over the season's final 10 races more than it is during the regular season, and that's the reality for everybody.
It's also the reality that Larson has fully taken advantage of, and it's why he's in position to capture his third title in six years.
NBC's live coverage of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, November 8. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from Homestead-Miami Speedway to wrap up the 2026 season!
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