Kyle Larson enters the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season as a two-time champion following his third place finish at Phoenix Raceway in November. However, as one of only three active full-time drivers with multiple Cup titles, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano being the other two, Larson is far from finished with Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500 on the horizon.
After all, Larson already has 32 wins, three All-Star Race wins, and has won three of NASCAR's four crown jewel races, earning himself a spot on our list of the 10 greatest Cup Series drivers of all-time.
Sure, he should have plenty more races in front of him and a lot more to achieve, but it is hard to deny his talent behind the wheel of anything he drives. Something that is still missing from his resume, however, is a Daytona 500 win, which has eluded him in 12 starts so far.
Kyle Larson looking to join Hall of Famers with Daytona 500 win
If Larson finds himself in Victory Lane after 500 miles, he would join Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Jarrett on the short list of drivers to follow up a championship with a Daytona 500 win, per NASCAR Insights.
Five drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history have followed up a Championship with a Daytona 500 win: pic.twitter.com/FFsT05A54n
— NASCAR Insights (@NASCARInsights) February 2, 2026
Larson has a best finish of seventh in the "Great American Race", but he was sixth in the 2025 summer race and posted three top 10 finishes in the six drafting/superspeedway races in 2025.
His 197 points scored in the drafting races only trailed Tyler Reddick's 199 for the most in the series, so he is certainly closer to finally breaking through on these layouts than he was earlier in his career.
Of course, the Team Penske trio of Logano, Austin Cindric, Ryan Blaney are always stout on superspeedways, even when the results do not show it. You also have some former Daytona 500 winners in the field whom everybody is sleeping on going into Sunday's race.
Now that one of the other Daytona 500 favorites has finally been cleared to compete, the 45-car entry list has officially been set, with eight drivers set to battle for the final four spots in the 41-car field.
While those eight drivers will face the most pressure to claim one of those spots up for grabs, Larson is looking to lock up his third career Daytona 500 front row starting spot and second career Daytona 500 pole on Wednesday night before turning his attention to Sunday.
He may not be the first driver who comes to mind on a list of favorites to win the Daytona 500, but if his improved performance on drafting tracks carries over from last season, don't be surprised if Larson adds his name to the prestigious list of champions to win the Daytona 500 the following year and snaps an uncharacteristic winless streak dating back to his Kansas Speedway win in May.