KYLE LARSON

The long and unpredictable NASCAR season comes to an end Sunday with a championship race fitting for a year that saw unprecedented parity and never a clear title favorite.

Ross Chastain skyrocketed to motorsports infamy for wall-riding his way into NASCAR’s championship race with a video-game style move that has overshadowed the finale and his fellow title contenders.

Ross Chastain’s video game-inspired ride along the wall at Martinsville carried him across the finish line, into the NASCAR championship finale and around the world.

Bubba Wallace returned to the driver's seat at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday and was met with massive boos from race fans. Christopher Bell won the race.

Ross Chastain has been criticized all season by his rivals for being too aggressive on the track.

Ross Chastain took a page out of video games to sneak into the Championship Four at Martinsville on Sunday but not all of his NASCAR colleagues were pleased.

Christopher Bell worked his way into NASCAR’s championship round the only way he could, winning at Martinsville Speedway to claim a spot in the finale.

Bubba Wallace hated being sidelined, but said his one-race suspension for retaliatory driving was warranted.

Kyle Larson dominated the race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday and waved the checkered flag at the finish line one week after his incident with Bubba Wallace.

Kyle Larson found his way into NASCAR’s headlines for a second consecutive week.

Around the time that NASCAR drivers at Homestead-Miami Speedway were getting into their cars for Sunday's race, Bubba Wallace was having lunch. Wallace spent his Sunday at the 23XI team headquarters in North Carolina, serving his one-race suspension for deliberately spinning reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson at Las Vegas last weekend in what NASCAR called a “dangerous act” of retaliation before confronting him afterward. Denny Hamlin, one of the 23XI team owners along with Michael Jordan, said Saturday that Wallace would be spending the race “back at the shop, kind of monitoring, similar to what Kurt does."

Udonis Haslem thought he would be able to walk around unnoticed at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Bubba Wallace is missing Sunday’s NASCAR race, and that’s evidently not his only sanction after losing his cool in Las Vegas last weekend.

The focus in NASCAR has yet to shift to the actual playoff racing as only three events remain to crown a new Cup champion.

The focus in NASCAR has yet to shift to the actual playoff racing as only three events remain to crown a new Cup champion. Bubba Wallace has been suspended for Sunday’s race for intentionally wrecking reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson last week in a dangerous act of retaliation that NASCAR and most of Wallace's competitors found over the line. Retaliation has been an ongoing issue across all three of NASCAR's national series this season with drivers either seeking payback on the track or after in physical confrontations.

Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell shared a flight home from Las Vegas, and Wallace apologized during the trip to his fellow Toyota teammate for the incident that crippled Bell’s championship chances.

Wallace shoved reigning NASCAR champ Kyle Larson several times following a wreck at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

NASCAR has suspended driver Bubba Wallace for one race following his fracas at Las Vegas Motor Speedway over the weekend.

Bubba Wallace apologized for wrecking and then shoving Kyle Larson in an incident during the South Point 400 in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Bubba Wallace has been accused of anti-Asian hate for attacking Kyle Larson after they crashed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The confrontation began at Stage 2 of the South Point 400, where Wallace — who won Stage 1 — ended up racing side-by-side with Larson in Turn 4 of the track. Larson, who was driving the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, bumped Wallace’s #45 McDonald's Toyota into the wall while trying to make a three-wide pass.

Bubba Wallace had a tense exchange with NBC Sports reporter Marty Snider following his crash and altercation with Kyle Larson in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Joey Logano became the first driver to qualify for NASCAR’s championship finale by using fresh tires to chase down Ross Chastain and win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Bubba Wallace tried to fight reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson after a crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that also collected title contender Christopher Bell.

Bubba Wallace was raging at Kyle Larson for bumping him into the wall. Wallace retaliated and then started to shove him after both crashed out.

NASCAR hit Stewart-Haas Racing with an additional $200,000 in fines after ruling Cole Custer and the No. 41 team manipulated the final lap of the playoff elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Christopher Bell scored a walk-off victory at the Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday. He needed the win to lock in a position in the Round of 8.

Christopher Bell saved his title chances with an overtime win Sunday on the road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a stunning finish that knocked reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson from the playoffs.

Chase Elliott raced his way into the next round of the playoffs with a victory Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in the first clean race yet of this year’s postseason.

Chris Buescher's win at Bristol last week marked the first time in this version of NASCAR's playoffs that drivers who are not racing for the championship swept the three races of the first round.

Ross Chastain heads into the first elimination race of NASCAR’s playoffs in a pretty comfortable position above the cutline.

NASCAR champion Kyle Larson has signed a three-year contract extension through 2026 with Hendrick Motorsports.

Kyle Busch will move to Richard Childress Racing next season, ending a 15-year career with Joe Gibbs Racing because the team could not come to terms with NASCAR’s only active multiple Cup champion.

Bubba Wallace won his second career NASCAR Cup Series race and denied the playoff field of an automatic spot in the next round for the second straight week when he held off championship contenders Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell to win at Kansas Speedway.

Erik Jones took the lead when Kyle Busch’s engine blew up, then pulled away from Denny Hamlin after a final restart 20 laps from the end to win the opening NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Darlington Raceway on Sunday night.

Austin Dillon avoided a massive wreck in the rain to win at Daytona International Speedway and snag a playoff spot in the Cup Series’ regular-season finale.

Brad Keselowski likes his chances at Daytona International Speedway.

Kyle Larson has just two wins this season and both came at the expense of teammate Chase Elliott.

Kyle Larson beat Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go and won the weather-delayed NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen International on Sunday.

Chase Elliott has won the NASCAR Cup pole at Watkins Glen International, edging Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the top spot.

Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup pole on Saturday at Watkins Glen International, edging Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson for the top spot. Elliott, a two-time winner at The Glen, turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 10.477 seconds around the 2.45-mile natural terrain road course. Larson, who won last year's race at The Glen, finished in 1:10.516, just ahead of Michael McDowell.

NASCAR has a record seven different countries represented in Sunday's race at Watkins Glen International, and the headliner is 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen.

Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. are the favorites as they battle for position to make NASCAR’s playoffs.

Tyler Reddick closed the best month of his NASCAR career with a victory in overtime on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Kyle Larson was the start of a Grand Prix in Philadelphia run by the Urban Youth Racing School.

Tyler Reddick isn’t about to let up now that he finally has produced his first Cup Series victory and put himself in position for NASCAR’s playoffs.

Tyler Reddick raced to his first NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday, continuing the season-long trend of first-time winners on road courses.

Chase Elliott won the pole at Road America and will lead the field to green Sunday in his title defense on the Wisconsin road course.

Chase Elliott salvaged a crummy day for Hendrick Motorsports and interrupted a potential Toyota rout by winning the rain-drenched race at Nashville Superspeedway on Sunday night.

Denny Hamlin was awarded the pole at Nashville Superspeedway when a surprise rain shower washed out the second round of qualifying.

Alex Bowman felt he underperformed last year when NASCAR brought the Cup Series back to the Nashville area for the first time in 37 years.

Daniel Suárez became the first Mexican-born driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday on Sonoma Raceway.

The NASCAR Cup Series drivers are facing challenges a whole lot tougher than a right turn Sunday in their final race before the brief midseason break.

NASCAR is bringing its top series to World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis for the first time this weekend.

NASCAR is bringing its top series to World Wide Technology Raceway for the first time, and that means for many drivers a first look at the egg-shaped oval east of downtown St. Louis.

NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 was many things.

Denny Hamlin held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch in overtime to win the longest — and perhaps wildest — Coca-Cola 600 in history.

Kyle Larson is hoping a return to victory lane at the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday might propel him to a second straight NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Ryan Blaney had to go two extra laps after thinking he had already won NASCAR's All-Star race and $1 million.

The All-Stars during qualifying Saturday night were the pit crew members for Kyle Busch.

Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin founded 23XI Racing with a vision that extended far beyond the race track.

Kurt Busch pinched his way past Kyle Larson for the lead with eight laps to go, then drove his gaudy Jordan Brand-styled car away from the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion to win Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway.

Joey Logano bumped leader William Byron from behind and into the wall on the next to last lap to win at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

Denny Hamlin said someone sent him a crass anti-Asian meme that poked fun at Kyle Larson's driving and out it went without a care — from his mobile phone to Twitter. “I thought it was hilarious," Hamlin said. NASCAR and scores of fans and casual observers who lashed out at Hamlin for linking Larson's ancestry — he's half Japanese — with an offensive stereotype linked to Asian drivers certainly didn't find the meme funny.

Martin Truex Jr. left Richmond Raceway a winner in his last visit to the Virginia short track, a playofff victory last September that helped him get into NASCAR's championship round and showed the veteran has plenty left in his tank. The 41-year-old Truex is in the final year of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing and hasn't decided how long he wants to continue his career. There is no wait-and-see going on with Truex, who in his 17th full Cup Series season is grappling with NASCAR's new Next Gen car.

William Byron had a freight train in his rearview mirror. While Byron cruised to the checkered flag for the third victory of his NASCAR Cup career, one last crash unfolded behind him Sunday in an appropriate finish to a chaotic, thrilling race at remodeled Atlanta Motor Speedway. “Pretty wild,” the 24-year-old Byron said.

Tyler Reddick is enjoying his status among NASCAR's fastest drivers through the season's first three races, adapting quickly to the sport's Next Gen car that has provided solid racing and a new degree of difficulty for many drivers. The only issue is Reddick can't seem to get comfortable in his Chevrolet's seat, leading to numbness in his legs. “You know, I just think I was in a really good place in that old car for such a long time and didn’t realize how easy or how bad you could end up missing it, the comfort side of things,” Reddick said.

Rick Hendrick spoke and his drivers heard the boss loud and clear. Hendrick intervened on a competition matter for the first time since Kyle Larson joined the team when he squashed any potential beef between his stars following their run-in last week in California. Larson, the reigning Cup champion, caused Chase Elliott, NASCAR's most popular driver, to wreck last week as the two raced for the win.

Michelle and Anthony Martin co-founded Philadelphia's Urban Youth Racing School, an organization that connects young people of color with the racing industry.

NASCAR champion Kyle Larson's first Formula One race was the season finale and he is as conflicted as anyone over the controversial ending of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Funny, Larson was wondering how he could get into Formula One.

The Urban Youth Racing School, the Philadelphia-based program that creates opportunities in racing for minorities, had founders Anthony and Michelle Martin and two students at the track -- and they all got swept up in the championship bash. “I feel like at this point Kyle can’t be denied, on or off the track,” Michelle Martin said.

Kyle Larson won at Bristol Motor Speedway — not really a big surprise or even the most interesting part of NASCAR's first playoff elimination race. The post-race feud between reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick stole the show Saturday night, especially when Harvick angrily told the energized crowd: “I’m ready to freakin' rip somebody’s head off." The fickle crowd struggled to pick a side before settling firmly behind Elliott, NASCAR's most popular driver.

Mackenzie Salmon 'overreacts' to the biggest storylines from the NFL's Week One action in the AFC.

Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick made their opinions perfectly clear Saturday. Now, after one short practice session, Cup drivers will spend Saturday night plotting their strategical twists and turns for Sunday's reconfigured and renamed Brickyard 200. Larson is this season's points leader after adding his series-high fifth victory last week on the road course at Watkins Glen.

Las Vegas — Kyle Larson wasn't sure he'd ever race again in NASCAR, and if he could, he didn't know who would even hire him. It was Rick Hendrick who took the chance on a driver many believed was radioactive for sponsors. On Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced to his first NASCAR victory since he was reinstated from a nearly yearlong suspension. "Thanks Mr. H. for believing in me," Larson radioed to boss Rick Hendrick after crossing the finish line. Bubba Wallace, left, congratulates Kyle Larson after Larson won the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube NASCAR Cup Series race on March 7, 2021 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.