NASCAR's most turbulent season in decades ends with a familiar champ, Sophie Cunningham and more storm clouds
Monday Morning Pit-Stop is a weekly NASCAR column that runs on OutKick.com and Fox News Digital. If you're looking for a normal NASCAR recap, go check out insufferable ESPN ... assuming they still know NASCAR exists.
And now, we rest.
Just like that, the 2026 NASCAR season is in the rear-view. It's done. Kaput. Finished. One minute you're taking the green flag in Daytona, and the next Kyle Larson is taking the checkered flag in Miami as a three-time Cup champion.
Well, technically, Ryan Blaney took the checkers yesterday, but you know what I mean.
Congrats to Larson, by the way. He's a worthy champion. Today, though, we're going to debrief. Not fully, because it was a long season, but we do need to address a few things. So does NASCAR.
This was, in my estimation, the most turbulent season since 2001 ... for obvious reasons.
Steve O'Donnell spoke over the weekend in his first real State of the Sport since taking over for Steve Phelps in January, and then Jim France in April. He hit on a lot of topics. Some good. Some bad.
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NASCAR has a lot of issues right now, folks. A lot. O'Donnell addressed some of it. There's a lot more meat on the bone, though, so we'll get into it.
What else? I've got a genuine question about yesterday's Championship race, and — yes — more TV ratings talk.
I took last week off, but fair is fair, and I simply have to step in after the Martinsville numbers. They were not great. I fear Miami won't be much better.
Lord knows I hope I'm wrong, but I'm queasy, folks.
Four tires, enough fuel to get us through this offseason, and maybe a bigger trophy case for Kyle Larson after yesterday ... Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the 'If The Championship Is Decided Before The Championship, Is The Championship Still Worth Watching?' edition — is LIVE!
"They've declared it. We got it."
"Like, it's done? OK. That was a little anticlimactic, but that's cool."
That's how Kyle Larson won his third Cup championship yesterday at Homestead. It came at the end of the first stage, where Larson's fourth-place finish was enough to clinch the title.
Serious question, folks. And I'm being 100% genuine here ...
Do y'all like that? I know that was a major topic last offseason. The playoffs. NASCAR needed to ditch the playoffs and the elimination races and the drama because it was a "gimmick" and created illegitimate champions.
So, NASCAR went back to the old Chase format. The win-and-in stuff was done. The elimination races were done. The four-driver championship race was done.
Instead, we got a championship weekend where Kyle Larson had it pretty much wrapped up before the race even began, and then officially clinched it 45 minutes into the event.
Larson himself called it anticlimactic, and that's what yesterday was. Anticlimactic. Those aren't my words! That came from the champ himself.
Everyone complained last year about the playoff. Everyone wanted this.
So, I'm genuinely asking ... was that better? Or, does NASCAR need to get back in the workshop?
Personally, I'd like to see some sort of middle ground. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I don't care. I'm not saying we need the old format, but I'd like to see some tweaks.
Here's my issue ...
Why would anyone have tuned into that race yesterday? Why? NASCAR had a CHAMPIONSHIP race, and I can't think of a reason for anyone to have flipped over from NFL to watch it. Not one.
There was no drama. There were no stakes. The winner was decided before the green even dropped, and it became official 50 laps later. This would be like the NFL spotting a team a 35-0 lead going into the Super Bowl.
Why would folks watch?
"But Zach, this is how they did it back in the good old days, and it worked!"
Correct. It did work ... in 1996. But a lot has changed in 30 years. A LOT has changed.
The media landscape has changed. NASCAR's popularity has changed. The personalities within the sport have changed. The car has changed.
We, the consumer, have changed. We're the biggest change, if I'm being honest. Us. Humans.
Thirty years ago, there were four channels, and NASCAR was always on the big one on Sundays. There were one or two football games to watch every Sunday. There was no RedZone. There was no NFL Ticket. There was no fantasy football or legal sports gambling.
There was Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and NASCAR. So, yes, folks were going to watch no matter what. That's not the case anymore.
You HAVE to give folks a reason to watch, especially when you're going up against the NFL. That's a battle NASCAR won 30 years ago. Nobody is winning that battle in 2026.
You've got to give folks a reason to turn the channel to your championship race. You at least have to give them a reason to watch your version of the playoffs.
There was no reason yesterday — and it was good race! The final few laps were excellent. Homestead delivered.
The hardcore NASCAR fan watched, of course. Duh. But the casual sports fan who follows NASCAR but also has a five-player parlay going in the 1 p.m. slate of NFL games?
He ain't turning the channel. That's what NASCAR has to figure out this offseason.
And by "NASCAR," I mean Steve O'Donnell. He spoke to the media over the weekend to A) wrap up the season, and B) look ahead to next year.
He spoke for a while. He answered a lot of questions. I bought some of it. I didn't buy all of it.
Here's a quick snapshot:
Obviously, Steve spoke for a while. We don't have time to dive into everything today because we're running short on time, but those are three things that really stood out to me.
I still maintain that NASCAR's TV audience is in big trouble. That's just my opinion. The numbers back that up. Last week's race at Martinsville (1.9 million) was the lowest-rated Cup race on broadcast TV ... ever.
Ever.
That's a problem. I know NASCAR has said that Nielsen's way of reporting numbers has changed, and I get that. There is some truth to it.
But the number is still the number, and the number was not good.
O'Donnell did say they're going to "look" into going up against the NFL in the fall. Not sure what that means, but that's a great starting point.
As for the car ... I'm not sure O'Donnell did himself any favors with fans by saying the short-track product was "at its highest level possibly from positivity from our fans." That's just simply not true. I know NASCAR fans are generally negative people, but he's getting obliterated online over that one.
That's a tough sell, especially coming off Martinsville.
The big positive for NASCAR heading into the offseason? Track attendance was up 5% in total this year, and 12% amongst kids (12 and under). Social media impressions, according to O'Donnell, were up 34%.
Those are good signs. Those are important metrics, and good ones to have in the green.
See? It's not all bad! I promise.
OK, I want to hear from you now. I know — I'll probably regret it, but I'm nothing if not a man of the people.
What do YOU want to see addressed over these next three months? Let me know! Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.
Congrats to Kyle Larson on another title. Congrats to NASCAR on navigating what was, easily, the toughest season since 2001. It was no small feat.
The shortest offseason in all of sports has begun, folks. We've got 104 days until Daytona.
Take us into winter, Sophie Cunningham!