Kyle Larson’s place among the sport’s elite became official Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. With his second Cup Series championship secured, the Hendrick Motorsports driver joined Joey Logano and Kyle Busch as the only active two-time title holders in NASCAR’s top level.

For many insiders, the accomplishment felt inevitable. It’s another milestone in what could become a generational career: “Ultimately, Kyle Larson is a two-time champion,” Jeff Gluck said on The Teardown. “He joins Joey Logano and Kyle Busch as the active two-time champions. No surprise that Kyle Larson was going to be a multi-time champion in the sport.

“I certainly think, you know, it’s only really a matter of how many can he win rather than like, is he going to win anymore? Can he get to Tony Stewart? Can he get to Jeff Gordon? I think you could see Larson, depending on what the format is, you could see Larson end up as a five-time champ or something.”

Alas, Larson’s combination of raw speed and consistency has made him one of the most formidable talents of the modern era. But his team’s ability to adapt, led by crew chief Cliff Daniels, might be what pushes him even higher in NASCAR history.

Daniels has been instrumental in developing strategies that allow Larson to balance aggression with patience, a skill that could define his next championship runs: “We saw the No. 5 go to Homestead a year ago, you know, they kind of sometimes have mistakes — self-inflicted mistakes,” Jordan Bianchi added.

“They can maybe dial it back a little bit. Where Larson is very eager to go for a win, for example, and sometimes that can be to their detriment. If you’re going to a format where there’s a little bit longer of a runway, it might be more, ‘Kyle, we don’t need you to go for the win. You can just run P5 tonight and that’s okay.’

“I think it sets up well for them. When you have a crew chief like Cliff Daniels, who is one of, if not the best in the garage, you know he’s going to have a championship-winning formula of what they need to do. I think it sets up really, really well for him. I think he’s one of the big winners out of this, honestly.”

With two titles since joining Hendrick Motorsports, Larson has already built a résumé worthy of Hall of Fame consideration. But as Gluck noted, the real question now is how far he can climb, and whether the No. 5 team’s dominance is just getting started in the Cup Series.