Kyle Larson caps 10-win season with first NASCAR Cup Series championship - USA TODAY

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson has been the best driver all season, and he proved it Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Larson won his first NASCAR Cup Series championship, capping a 10-win season with a victory in the season finale.

Larson's momentous season comes just one year after the Hendrick Motorsports driver was suspended by NASCAR and fired by his former team for using a racist slur during a live-streamed iRacing event in April 2020.

“I can’t believe it,” Larson said, his voice quivering. “I didn’t even think I’d be a racing a car a year-and-a-half ago. To win a championship? Crazy!

"This is unbelievable. I'm speechless.”

Larson held off Martin Truex Jr. by 0.398 seconds, as the 2017 Cup champion closed in on Larson in the final laps.

"Second hurts, I’m not going to lie, especially with the car we had and the job the guys did," Truex said. "That’s racing as they say, and sometimes you’re just not on the right side of things. ... But (Larson and the No. 5 team) had a hell of a season, congrats to them."