Kyle Larson won today’s Straight-Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway from Hendrick team-mate Alex Bowman after ripping the fence numerous times.
He won just hours after his Truck Series victory as he attempted to earn a “triple sweep” by winning in all three NASCAR series on the same weekend.
He broke through as Hendrick’s third most successful driver (by wins) with a composed and decisive victory starting from 14th position. Although Ryan Blaney dominated the day, his race was cut short by a spectacular engine failure in stage three.
Round six of the NASCAR Cup Series took place at Homestead-Miami Speedway – a track which has not seen a repeat winner in over nine races here. The wide track surface, progressive banking and abrasive asphalt provides variables for drivers to exploit and create overtaking opportunities.
Tyler reddick made a clutch pass around the outside of Ryan Blaney on the final lap to win here last October to advance to the championship four.
At the head of the 37-car field was Hendrick Chevrolet driver Alex Bowman. Leading is advantageous, but adapting to the dynamic racing surface is just as important. When asked about the difficulties of Homestead-Miami, Bowman said: “This is a tricky place, you can make a lot of speed through the middle early in the run, but we’ve all seen at the end of the run you gotta run the fence.”
Kyle Larson has led over 600 laps at Homestead-Miami in his Cup Series career and compared running the wall between the current and old Cup cars: “I think it’s a lot easier to run the wall with this new car – it’s tougher so you can actually rub the wall and be just fine. Whereas the old-style cars if you barely scrape the wall you’ll probably get a flat tyre.”
Blaney slid past Bowman in the early stages to take the lead on lap nine. Kyle Larson found the wall twice in the first 15 laps, although no major damage was done.
The first round of pit stops initiated on lap 32, where William Byron and Penske drivers Austin Cindric and Joey Logano pitted. Race leader Blaney gave up his five-second lead to pit the following lap with Bowman.
Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Ty Gibbs were noticeable for staying out longer than most other drivers before pitting. This gave them an advantage later in the stage as they took advantage of newer tyres. When the pit cycled completed, Ryan Blaney emerged in the lead once again with an eight-second advantage over Bowman and Byron.
With just ten laps to go in stage one, Christopher Bell spun down the start-finish straight and a caution was called. Decisively, almost all leaders pit for new tyres in preparation for a short sprint for stage points.
They returned to green flag racing with five laps to go, Gragson spun his rear tyres trying to get up to speed and stacked the field up behind him. Meanwhile, Blaney barely cleared Bowman for the lead while Chase Briscoe, Larson and Byron fought hard for third place. But it was Blaney who won stage one from Bowman, Briscoe, Larson and Austin Cindric after he restarted 13th.
Drama on pit road saw Berry and Logano spun backwards after Berry doored Larson on the way out of his pit stall and took a left-rear hook from Logano. Carson Hocevar elected not to pit during the stage caution and lined up on the inside of the front row from 34th place.
On the restart, Blaney inherited the lead from Bowman while Hocevar fell back to sixth.
On lap 118 Bowman, Byron and Bubba Wallace pitted for new tyres followed by Hocevar and Reddick. Race leader Blaney peeled in the following lap. Just like the previous stage, Larson and Hamlin stayed out to split the stage directly down the middle.
After pitting, Hamlin and Larson were up to fourth and fifth respectively, chasing down Wallace for third by 150. Meanwhile, Blaney was under pressure from Byron behind. With lapped traffic stacking up the leaders, Hamlin and Larson used their younger tyres to pass Wallace, Byron and Blaney.
With only two turns left in the stage, Larson dived to the inside of Hamlin, but the run to the finish line was not quite long enough to complete the move as Hamlin’s momentum propelled him to win stage two.
Blaney lost six places on pit road with a slow pit stop and being pinballed around as cars exited their pit stalls on one of the narrowest pit roads on the calendar. Larson inherited the race lead over Hamlin, Byron, Wallace and Bowman.
They restarted on lap 174 bouncing off each other with three and four-wide battles as the intensity dials up. Last year’s winner Tyler Reddick, after being absent most of the race so far, found himself in fourth. Meanwhile Wallace’s Columbia Sportswear 23XI Toyota had great pace and took the lead from Larson.
On lap 207, Blaney’s engine blew up. As smoke poured from the no. 12 Dent Wizard Ford, the fourth caution of the day came out. After leading 124 laps, Blaney lost a second engine in three races, raising questions over the reliability of the Fords.
The whole field pitted under caution, led to green by Wallace, Larson, Hamlin, Bowman and Reddick with 50 to go. Heavy hitters Byron and Cindric ended up being penalised for speeding on pit road.
Bowman fought past Larson and Wallace following the restart. Larson passed Wallace with 10 to go as the no. 5 car rolled up towards the leader – scraping the wall numerous times in the process.
Suddenly, it was Bowman’s no. 48 in the wall and Larson drove past at the earliest opportunity. With only six laps to go, the lead is in Larson’s hands.
After only winning one race in 11 appearances at Homestead-Miami, Kyle Larson took the chequered flag after 400 miles of high-speed wall-riding. Although not dominant, it was an impressive drive showing huge confidence and ability to earn his 30th Cup Series career win.
It was heartbreak for Alex Bowman after a great race – starting with a pole position, and Bubba Wallace who led 56 laps – the second most of all drivers today.
The 32-year-old said in his post-race interview: “It was far from perfect, I gave up a spot and a half by getting in the wall too many times
“Just had to keep plugging away at what I know, and what’s good for me. [I’m] proud of myself, proud of the team, just a lot of gritty hard work today.”
It was a great day for the likes of Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe after slow starts to the year, as well as Ryan Preece who keeps a streak of strong results in his new RFK Ford. Justin Haley was also happy to finish with a top-10 appearance.
The NASCAR Cup Series looks towards a staple in the schedule with Martinsville next Sunday to find out who will earn a grandfather clock this year.
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