October 23, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Kyle Larson dominates in first Homestead-Miami win

Kyle Larson can’t win the war but on Sunday he won the battle at Homestead Miami Speedway.

Although the 2021 NASCAR Cup champ was eliminated from the driver’s title, after a rough day at the Charlotte Roval, his victory in the Dixie Vodka 400 advanced the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team in the owner’s championship 4 Round at Phoenix Raceway.

Crew chief Cliff Daniels described the crew’s effort as “resilient” as Larson not only won his third race of the 2022 season but won all stages and led 199 laps in the process.

“Definitely the best run we've had all year long,” Larson said. “We've been capable of it I feel like many weekends, we just haven't quite put it all together.

“Cliff gave a great speech this morning and got us all ready to go and focused and did my best to keep it out of the wall. I got in the wall a few times but I could still make speed doing that.”

Ross Chastain finished second after a dogfight with AJ Allmendinger over the final 12 laps and finished 0.101-second ahead of the No. 16 Chevy. Austin Dillon, who started 32nd, finished fourth followed by Brad Keselowski.

Larson seized the lead on Lap 27. The only driver to truly challenge the No. 5 Chevy was Martin Truex Jr. in the third stage. Truex grabbed the lead in the pits during the fourth caution—after Ryan Blaney spun in Turn 1 on Lap 211. Although Denny Hamlin battled the point from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Truex regained the lead four laps later.

After Tyler Reddick’s spin triggered the fifth and final caution on Lap 245, Truex was blinded by the sun coming to the pits. As he slowed, Larson ran into the rear of the No. 19 Toyota and sent Truex spinning ass-backward into his pit.

“It's really hard to see through these windshields right now with the sun like that and all the stuff covering it,” Truex said. “I did see my box late for sure, so I slowed down before I turned out of the way of the 5 (Larson) there.

“Obviously, partly on me. I didn't expect to get turned around. I'm glad nobody got hurt there. But overall it's just disappointing.To have a good day going like that and have a shot at winning and couldn't close the deal. I hate it for my team. It's been one of those years.”

Truex salvaged a sixth-place result but remains winless in 2022. Hamlin finished seventh followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Daniel Suarez.

John Hunter Nemechek, who was subbing for Bubba Wallace as the driver of the No. 45 serving a one-race suspension following his incident with Larson at Las Vegas, ignited the first caution after spinning on the backstretch on Lap 30. He finished 27th.

Chase Briscoe experienced the greatest faux pas among the remaining Playoff drivers. After Larson lapped the No. 14 Ford on Lap 150, Briscoe, who was running 21st, tagged the wall 10 laps later ending his day. He finished last.

“The driver just made a mistake,” said Briscoe, who dropped to eighth on the Playoff grid, 44 points below the cutline. “I was really, really loose that run. We were really tight every other run. That green-flag run we tried to get really free on the other side of it and just started taking really hard. I was hanging on with everything I had. It felt like I was on ice. Honestly, I wasn’t even running hard. I was trying to just get to the caution.

“We kept getting freer. I got sideways and had the wheel all the way to the right and ended up head-on into the wall. It is really frustrating to have it be something of my own doing. I am better than to be crashing by myself. It is really unfortunate. It makes our job easier next week I guess. We don't have to worry about points. We gotta go to Martinsville and win.”

Larson won the second stage under the Briscoe caution. Blaney was the next Playoff driver to suffer a miscue. He was running third behind Larson and Truex when he pitted for service. Blaney spun exiting pit road on Lap 211, and dropped to 16th.

“Downshifted like a dumb ass,” Blaney said. “We were in a decent spot running third on the green flag stop and then I just made a mistake. That is two weeks in a row I made a mistake and it cost us a good run. I couldn’t get back up through the field after that. It was an unfortunate end of the day again, due to a driver mistake again.”

Blaney, the only driver in the Round of 8 not to win this season, finished 17th and fell to sixth in the standings, 18 points below the cutline.

Following Truex’s misfortune in the pits, Larson grabbed the lead for the fifth and final time on Lap 246. With Chastain and Allmendinger scrapping for second, Larson extended his advantage to 1.261-seconds at the finish.

“Amazing No. 5 Valvoline Chevy,” said Larson after his first win at the 1.5-mile track and the 19th of his Cup career. “I knew that that last run was going to be short enough where I was going to be in some sort of trouble there, but thankfully AJ and Ross were racing hard behind me.

“What a fun day. I've always wanted to race here during the day at Homestead where we could rip the wall. Finally, have a car tough enough for me to be able to run the wall and finish the race. A lot of fun today. Hope you fans enjoyed it, and hope we can do it again in a couple of weeks.”