Kyle Larson gets first Cup win of the season at Homestead-Miami
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Larson, proved himself the weekend’s most dominant driver at Homestead-Miami Speedway winning two of the three national series races, capping off the extraordinary three-day performance with a victory in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 NASCAR Cup Series race.
Larson was able to seize upon a miscue by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, who put his pole-winning No. 48 Chevrolet in the outside retaining wall with six laps remaining Sunday. That contact allowed Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to pass him for the race lead and jet off to a 1.205-second win – the 32-year-old Californian’s first series trophy of the year.
“I knew me coming towards those guys they were going to start moving around and making mistakes and I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex [Bowman], he may make a mistake and he caught the wall there and I got around him easier than I expected to,” the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson said. “Still had to work hard though. My balance in clean air was really loose just like those guys were. Hats off to the whole team.”
Bowman, who started from pole position, led 43 laps and was obviously disappointed even in a second-place outcome, coming so close to his first victory of the year.
“Guess I choked that one away for sure,” Bowman said, revealing he actually hit the wall harder the lap before he got passed. “Just kind of burned myself up. Saw the 5 [Larson] coming, so I moved around a little bit.
“Man, I hate that for this Ally 48 group they deserve better than that. Just a couple mistakes there. Felt like we were okay all day there.”
23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace finished third, leading a season high 56 laps in the No. 23 Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe finished fourth in the No. 19 Toyota – the afternoon proving to be season best finishes for Larson, Bowman, Wallace and Briscoe.
JGR’s Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five finishing order and won Stage 2 – his 15 laps out front are most on the year for him.
The day’s most dominant driver was Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, whose No. 12 Ford led a race best 124 laps, only to suffer an engine failure with 60 laps remaining. A huge blast of smoke burst out of the car as it slowed abruptly onto the frontstretch from a top-five position.
He ended up 36th of the 37 cars, the 2023 season champion suffering his third straight DNF of the year.
“I didn’t have any warning,” said Blaney, a runner-up in the previous two Homestead races. “When I got back to wide open down the front, that was all she wrote. Just stinks. Really fast Ford Mustang, led a lot of laps, lost a little bit of track position with stuff on pit road, but got back to third and it was a great race between me, Bubba and Larson. I’m sure Denny [Hamlin] was going to get back into it, it was going to be quite a battle in the last 60 laps or so.
“Just didn’t really work out for us. We’ll continue to keep fighting. I appreciate the 12 guys for giving me just a hot rod today, an incredibly, incredibly fast race car today. We’ll keep our head up. Just one of those things where it isn’t really going our way right now. But the good news is we’re bringing fast cars and that’s all you can ask for.”
Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher rallied to a sixth-place finish, followed by Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, RFK’s Ryan Preece and Spire Motorsports’ Justin Haley.
With the win Larson moved into second place in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, 36 points behind Hendrick teammate, Daytona 500 winner William Byron. Bowman is now third in the championship, 39 points back. The fourth member of the team, Chase Elliott finished 18th and is sixth in the standings
The promising start to the season a strong confidence-builder for all the drivers.
“Had to keep plugging away, proud of myself, proud of the team, just a lot of gritty hard work there today between damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restarts all that stuff,” said Larson, whose 30 career wins are now second only to NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (93) and Jimmie Johnson (83) among Hendrick drivers.
“Just super pumped,” Larson said. “One of the coolest wins I think of my Cup career just because of all the heartbreak here, the heartbreak yesterday. Just kept my head down and kept digging.”
The heartbreak Larson referred to was his 2-for-3 showing in his three-peat attempt. He won Friday’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race and suffered a gut-wrenching near-miss in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race – an afternoon where he led the most laps only to get tapped from behind in an overtime restart and finish fourth.
Larson will attempt the three-race sweep at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in April, hoping to equal the work of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch who is the only driver in history to win all three national series races on the same weekend – and he did it twice, ironically accomplishing the feat at Bristol in 2010 and 2017.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the first short track race of the season, the Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Byron is the defending race winner.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 6
Race Results for the Straight Talk Wireless 400 - Sunday, March 23, 2025
Homestead-Miami Speedway - Homestead, FL - 1.5 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 267 Laps - 400.5 Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 3/23/2025 @ 06:24 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 14 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 267 4 2 56 Running 6 19 5
2 1 48 Alex Bowman Ally Unrivaled League Chevrolet 267 2 6 49 Running 6 43
3 9 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 267 5 41 Running 3 56
4 4 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Spring Fishing Classic Toyota 267 3 41 Running
5 23 11 Denny Hamlin Progressive Toyota 267 1 42 Running 3 15 1
6 11 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Farm Rich Ford 267 31 Running
7 10 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 267 7 34 Running
8 20 45 Tyler Reddick Jordan Brand Toyota 267 10 30 Running
9 31 60 Ryan Preece BuildSubmarines.com Ford 267 28 Running
10 21 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Chevrolet 267 27 Running
11 17 38 Zane Smith Aaron's Rent To Own Ford 267 26 Running 1 3
12 5 24 William Byron Valvoline Chevrolet 267 6 4 37 Running 1 1
13 30 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet 267 24 Running
14 12 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 267 10 24 Running
15 28 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 267 22 Running
16 3 4 Noah Gragson Beef A Roo Ford 267 9 23 Running
17 2 21 Josh Berry DEX Imaging Ford 267 8 23 Running 2 2
18 18 9 Chase Elliott UniFirst Chevrolet 267 8 22 Running
19 8 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Duracell Ford 267 5 7 28 Running
20 26 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 267 17 Running
21 22 8 Kyle Busch Bank OZK Chevrolet 267 16 Running
22 33 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 267 15 Running
23 7 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 267 14 Running
24 27 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. betr March Madness Chevrolet 267 13 Running
25 13 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 267 12 Running
26 32 6 Brad Keselowski Nexlizet Ford 266 11 Running
27 34 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 266 10 Running
28 24 41 Cole Custer Autodesk/Haas Tooling Ford 266 9 Running
29 16 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 266 8 Running
30 29 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 266 7 Running
31 25 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Chevrolet 266 6 Running
32 35 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Jockey Chevrolet 266 5 Running
33 19 35 Riley Herbst # Chumba Casino Toyota 265 4 Running
34 36 51 Cody Ware Jacob Construction Ford 265 3 Running
35 37 44 * JJ Yeley PCNY Chevrolet 263 2 Running
36 6 12 Ryan Blaney Dent Wizard Ford 207 1 3 19 Engine 5 124 1
37 15 77 Carson Hocevar Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 184 9 3 Engine 1 4
Fastest Lap Bonus: # lap 218 / 32.335
23
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 2 Mins, 13 Secs. Average Speed: 131.876 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.205 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 12, 48, 19, 5, 2, 24, 16, 21, 4, 22
Stage 2 Top 10: 11, 5, 12, 24, 23, 48, 2, 9, 77, 45
Race Comments: Kyle Larson has won the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, his 30th victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. Prior to the start of the race, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: No. 43 (Unapproved Adjustments).
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 4 for 27 laps; Laps: 71-75 (#20 Spin Frontstretch [43]); 82-88 (Stage 1 Conclusion [20]); 167-173 (Stage 2 Conclusion [22]); 209-216 (Possible Fluid On Track [8]).
Lead Changes: 27 among 9 drivers; A. Bowman 1-8; R. Blaney 9-32; J. Berry 33; Z. Smith 34-36; K. Larson 37-40; R. Blaney 41-71; A. Bowman 72; R. Blaney 73-83; A. Bowman 84; C. Hocevar 85-88; A. Bowman 89-94; R. Blaney 95-117; D. Hamlin 118-124; K. Larson 125; J. Berry 126; R. Blaney 127-161; D. Hamlin 162-168; W. Byron 169; K. Larson 170-172; D. Hamlin 173; K. Larson 174-176; B. Wallace 177-212; A. Bowman 213; B. Wallace 214-215; K. Larson 216; B. Wallace 217-234; A. Bowman 235-260; K. Larson 261-267.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: March 30, 2025 - Martinsville Speedway
NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875
NASCAR Cup Series Points Report
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Straight Talk Wireless 400
UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 3/23/2025 @ 06:42 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. William Byron 24 6 0 244 0 0 1 1 6
2. Kyle Larson 5 6 -4 208 -36 36 1 2 7
3. Alex Bowman 48 6 -2 205 -39 3 0 0 0
4. Tyler Reddick 45 6 1 189 -55 16 0 0 0
5. Christopher Bell 20 6 3 186 -58 3 3 1 16
6. Chase Elliott 9 6 2 181 -63 5 0 0 0
7. Bubba Wallace 23 6 -4 166 -78 15 0 1 1
8. Denny Hamlin 11 6 -4 164 -80 2 0 1 1
9. Chris Buescher 17 6 0 164 -80 0 0 0 0
10. Ryan Blaney 12 6 3 162 -82 2 0 2 2
11. Joey Logano 22 6 3 160 -84 2 0 1 1
12. Josh Berry 21 6 -1 142 -102 18 1 1 6
13. Chase Briscoe 19 6 -7 135 -109 7 0 0 0
14. Ross Chastain 1 6 4 134 -110 1 0 0 0
15. Michael McDowell 71 6 1 134 -110 0 0 0 0
16. Ryan Preece 60 6 -2 130 -114 4 0 1 1
17. Kyle Busch 8 6 0 130 -114 0 0 0 0
18. John Hunter Nemechek 42 6 3 130 -114 0 0 0 0
19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 6 3 129 -115 1 0 0 0
20. AJ Allmendinger 16 6 -3 126 -118 3 0 0 0
21. Austin Cindric 2 6 0 121 -123 5 0 1 1
22. Daniel Suarez 99 6 3 109 -135 12 0 0 0
23. Erik Jones 43 6 -2 107 -137 2 0 0 0
24. Justin Haley 7 6 -4 105 -139 2 0 0 0
25. Zane Smith 38 6 -4 103 -141 2 0 0 0
26. Todd Gilliland 34 6 2 98 -146 5 0 0 0
27. Carson Hocevar 77 6 5 95 -149 3 0 0 0
28. Austin Dillon 3 6 -4 95 -149 0 0 0 0
29. Ty Dillon 10 6 3 95 -149 0 0 0 0
30. Brad Keselowski 6 6 0 84 -160 11 0 0 0
31. Riley Herbst # 35 6 4 83 -161 1 0 0 0
32. Noah Gragson 4 6 -1 82 -162 1 0 0 0
33. Shane Van Gisbergen # 88 6 2 77 -167 5 0 0 0
34. Ty Gibbs 54 6 0 68 -176 9 0 0 0
35. Cole Custer 41 6 0 56 -188 12 0 0 0
36. Jimmie Johnson 1 0 34 -210 22 0 0 0
37. Cody Ware 51 6 0 27 -217 7 0 0 0
38. Corey Lajoie 2 0 21 -223 6 0 0 0
39. Katherine Legge 1 0 7 -237 14 0 0 0
40. * JJ Yeley 44 2 0 3 -241 4 0 0 0
41. Martin Truex, Jr. 1 0 1 -243 2 0 0 0
42. Justin Allgaier(i) 1 0 0 -244 1 0 0 0
43. Bj Mcleod(i) 1 0 0 -244 0 0 0 0
44. Connor Zilisch(i) 1 0 0 -244 0 0 0 0
45. Chandler Smith(i) 0 2 0 -244 0 0 0 0
46. Anthony Alfredo(i) 0 0 0 -244 0 0 0 0
47. Helio Castroneves 1 -2 0 -244 0 0 0 0
-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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