And there you go. No more drama.

Call in the dogs and put out the fire, this one is over.

What’s that? Kyle Larson’s inevitable crowning this coming weekend? 

No, no. Not that.

I’m talking about the manhunt for William Byron — the APB, BOLO, and damn near a Seal Team 6 effort to find and secure Billy the Kid, who went into full wallflower mode from the get-go of 2026. 

Only natural that we found him at Martinsville, site of his last trek into the public eye, back a year ago when he bagged his 16th career Cup Series win before developing an allergy to champagne and confetti. Nearly a fourth of his career wins have come there, after all. 

But if you’re gonna venture back into the spotlight after such a long hiatus, maybe it’s best to low-key it a bit. Avoid the brightest stages and do it in a little piece of Southern Virginia you may have passed on your way from Fancy Gap to Danville. Or maybe you haven’t. 

And yes, if in a low-key mood, it’s best to do it on a day when a teammate put his paw on the championship trophy. Byron got the Martinsville grandfather clock, but Larson got all the attaboys for basically securing the 2026 championship.

What could go wrong?

Well …

First Gear: Denny Hamlin needs to work hard to barely lose a title at Homestead

Only two drivers go to Homestead with a mathematical chance of catching Kyle Larson. Christopher Bell is 67 points back and Denny Hamlin is 70. 

(Detour time: If you still prefer the told Winston Cup points race, Denny is your champ!).

First things first, either Bell or Hamlin needs to practically run the table Sunday — win the race, win the first two stages (or come very close) and — why not? — throw in the one bonus point for posting the day’s fastest lap. 

“Who can do all that?” you might ask.

Well, quite a few guys can and, over the past nine weeks of the Chase, quite a few have. Or nearly-'bout.

Byron hoarded all 76 points at Martinsville and was the third Chase driver to take home at least 75 points. And through the nine Chase races, the winner has averaged a haul of 72 points. That’s 55 for the win (35 for the runner-up) plus a combined 17 points from the first two stages, where the top 10 earn points on a 10-9-8-7, etc. basis.

Bell or Hamlin has to do that. And frankly, that might be the easy part. The hard part is that stuff they can’t control — namely, Kyle finding trouble.

If that’s gonna happen, it might happen early, as in Friday. Kyle has to survive that hellish Miami-to-Homestead leg of the Florida Turnpike. He might still be peeling his fingernails out of the rental car’s steering wheel by the time of Sunday’s green flag. 

That stretch of DOT hellscape makes Talladega look like a hayride.

Second Gear: How soon can Kyle Larson win the NASCAR championship?

The Boys in Math tell us Kyle only needs eight points at Homestead to secure the championship. That equates to a 28th-place finish or ...

… He could become the first NASCAR racer to clinch a championship during a race. That’s right, a finish of third or better in Stage 1 would bag those eight points and turn the rest of Kyle’s Sunday into a parade of sorts, though we doubt he’d slow down and start tossing candy to the fence-dwellers.

So it’s over, right? Yeah, probably, but you should always suggest weirder things have happened, even when they haven’t. 

Here’s where you miracle seekers can cling to a sliver of hope. In Kyle’s last six Homestead starts, he’s won twice.

Oops, that one is for the Kyle fans.

For you others: He’s also finished 34th and 40th on two other occasions. Kyle tends to suffer more complete clankers than your average championship contender, so he’ll keep both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road when the green drops.

But along with the math, he also seems to have some history rolling with him these days.

Third Gear: That time Jimmie Johnson made a late comeback

Once during Jimmie Johnson’s run of seven championships, he overcame a points deficit on the final Sunday — in 2010, when he trailed by 15 points but finished second at Homestead to overcome — who else? — Denny Hamlin. 

But that was under an old points system that started with 175 points for the winner and decreased incrementally down the finishing order. Big final-race comebacks were basically nonexistent with the 2004-2013 format, which is the same as this year's other than race-day points numbers. 

Tony Stewart erased a minuscule deficit (three points) to overtake Carl Edwards in 2011, and that’s easily the most comparable championship to Kyle’s current effort. That was the third of Stewart’s three championships, just as Kyle can win his third this week.

Also, like Kyle this year, Tony entered the postseason as a borderline afterthought. He’d been winless through the first 26 races. Kyle had been winless for well over a calendar year. 

While Kyle has three Chase wins and two runner-up finishes, Tony won half of the 10 Chase races, including three of the last four.

Fourth Gear: Meanwhile, in the Truck and O'Reilly Series

While Layne Riggs is the only driver within reach of Kaden Honeycutt in the Truck Series (20 points back), four drivers are within 42 points of Justin Allgaier for the O-O-O-O’Reilly championship. 

Those are certainly closer to the point spreads NASCAR was hoping to see in the Cup Series entering Homestead. So in case you’ve been neglecting your civic duty lately, it’s time to tune in on Friday and Saturday to see some potential fireworks of the on-track variety.