Who were the real stars of NASCAR 2025?

The 2025 NASCAR Cup season has reached its conclusion, and what an ending it was. Kyle Larson came out of seemingly nowhere to win the championship, becoming the first under the current format to win the title without leading any laps in the championship race.

More interestingly, Larson’s last win of the year came back in May before his Indianapolis 500/Coke 600 double attempt. That’s something we haven’t seen from a Cup champion since before the playoffs existed, back in 2003 with Matt Kenseth and a full-season championship.

There’s no questioning that Larson has been one of the most consistent drivers this year, tied for the most top-fives and top-10s, but this title left many (including Larson himself) in disbelief. He lagged behind Denny Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports team-mate William Byron for most of the race, but capitalised on a late yellow, using a two-tyre call to grab some track position for a two-lap dash to the flag.

Larson was the only driver to ‘point’ his way into the championship round, as the other three title combatants all punched their ticket to the finale with big wins in the Round of 8. Larson almost seemed like a non-story throughout the playoffs, quietly working his way through each round.

And while Larson is certainly worthy of the crown, his title run is still an outlier in a format that is all about winning. And it was a bitter defeat for Hamlin, who led 208 of 319 laps, but buried himself deep in the pack after deciding to sacrifice track position for four fresh tyres during the final pitstop.

Hamlin was truly the story of 2025, once again falling short of the crown in his 20th season. He started the year by wrecking out of the Daytona 500 while leading on the final lap, has been embroiled in a contentious lawsuit between the team he co-owns and NASCAR, and seemed to be involved in every bit of drama during the playoffs.

He had a run-in with team-mate Ty Gibbs (grandson of Joe Gibbs Racing’s owner), walled his own driver out of playoff contention while attempting to get a historic 60th win that ultimately came a few weeks later, was on the receiving end of Ross Chastain’s banzai move in a failed attempt to avoid elimination in the Round of 12, and of course dominated the entire Phoenix weekend… until the final restart.

Hamlin’s heartbreaking loss and 10-time 2025 winner Connor Zilisch’s defeat in the NASCAR Xfinity Series title race have only intensified the debate around the championship format, which is expected to be altered for 2026 with a move away from a one-race format.

Hamlin celebrates his 60th race win – but his season was to end in title heartbreak

Photo by: Chris Graythen / Getty Images

And while Hamlin was ‘the’ star of 2025, he wasn’t the only one. His new team-mate in the #19 came so close to becoming a champion in his first year with JGR, with Chase Briscoe ending the year third in the standings. That included a big crown jewel win for Briscoe, who went back-to-back in the Southern 500 at Darlington with two different teams.

Each crown jewel had quite the story to go along with it, in fact. Chastain drove from last to first in a back-up car to win the Coca-Cola 600, which had never been done before. Bubba Wallace ended a lengthy winless streak by besting Larson for the Brickyard 400 win at Indianapolis, and Byron went back-to-back in the Daytona 500 when the entire top five crashed together right in front of him.

But a true standout in 2025 was Shane van Gisbergen. The Supercars star has rattled the NASCAR world, especially for those who didn’t know the name before his arrival. He won five consecutive road/street course races in the most wins ever achieved by a rookie in their first full-time season. Only Hamlin won more races in 2025.

SVG also made noticeable improvements on ovals throughout the year, recently scoring his first oval top-10. As Larson pointed out, with his road course dominance, a season where van Gisbergen can run consistently in the top 10 on ovals would be problematic for the rest of the field. NASCAR’s newest Rookie of the Year ended the season 12th in the standings, two spots behind his Trackhouse team-mate, Chastain.

While the action on track was thrilling, the anti-trust lawsuit still hangs over the sport like a dark cloud

One of the big positives for NASCAR has been the improved on-track product at certain tracks where passing was once near-impossible with the current generation of car. Goodyear produced a tyre that has allowed drivers to control their destiny a bit more.

However, as we saw at Phoenix, that also resulted in a plethora of tyre failures. Now, that’s not the fault of Goodyear, but the teams going well below the recommended air pressures on these softer compounds in an effort to gain a speed advantage.

While the action on track was thrilling, the anti-trust lawsuit still hangs over the sport like a dark cloud. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are accusing NASCAR of being an unlawful monopoly and, unless a settlement can be reached soon, it will go to trial in December.  

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the December 2025 issue and subscribe today. 

Kiwi sensation Shane Van Gisbergen (here en route to victory at Watkins Glen) was the season’s standout star

Photo by: David Hahn / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images