Kyle Larson sneaks past his teammate to steal one in South Florida

This past weekend’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway is a race that the NASCAR world will be talking about for a very long time, as Kyle Larson collected his second-career victory at the South Florida Speedway.

Alex Bowman was the fastest on Saturday, securing the pole with a blistering lap of 31.982 seconds in qualifying. Last week’s winner, Josh Berry, joined him on the front row for Sunday’s Green Flag. At the start, Bowman launched ahead into Turn 1, with Noah Gragson close behind.

Homestead-Miami Speedway is known for its bold and aggressive racing, where drivers push the limits by running the wall throughout the day. It didn’t take long for defending race winner Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson to embrace the high line, searching for grip and momentum where it’s often found. Both Larson and Reddick have found success at the South Florida track, respectively winning the last two races. Ryan Blaney got around Bowman on the inside lane on Lap 9, hoping to finally capitalize off of Team Penske’s early-season speed. Cars began pitting on Lap 34, being that the 22-year-old surface is notorious for being abrasive on Tires. Kyle Larson took the lead once stops cycled through, prior to Ryan Blaney reclaiming the lead with 35-to-go in Stage 1.

With less than 20-to-go in the first Stage, Blaney had an eight-second lead ahead of Alex Bowman, prior to Christopher Bell spun coming out of Turn 4, prompting a caution. With six-to-go once the Green Flag dropped, Blaney held off Bowman and the rest of the top-10, collecting the ten points and a single Playoff Point for winning the Stage. Rounding out the top-5 after five-wide racing on the restart were Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric.

Stage 2 began after pit stops took place, and coming out on top was Alex Bowman, as Joey Logano was spun on pit road and Josh Berry also had an issue. Carson Hocevar led the field to green on Lap 89 after staying out, but eventually faded back to seventh, allowing Bowman to take the lead, until Blaney caught him on Lap 96 and Denny Hamlin moved up to second in the process.

On Lap 119, Blaney pitted from the lead, allowing Hamlin to take it until Lap 126, as Daniel Suarez spun coming into the pits. Once green flag pit stops ended, Blaney reclaimed the lead, maintaining a 2.7-second lead over William Byron with 25-to-go in Stage 2. With two laps remaining, Hamlin took the lead in his #11 Progressive Insurance Toyota, collecting ten Stage Points and a Playoff Point in the process, with Larson, Blaney, Byron and Bubba Wallace rounding out the top-5, respectively.

The final stage went green with 94 laps remaining, as Wallace surged ahead of Larson for the lead. Trailing Wallace and Larson were Hamlin, Reddick and Bowman, as Wallace looked to win his first race since last going to Victory Lane in October 2022.

Another caution flew with under 60 laps remaining, as Blaney’s engine gave away on the Frontstretch, ending his strong run for the day. After the cleanup, Wallace led with 50-to-go. Bowman gained momentum, taking the lead from Wallace on Lap 236 and now Bowman’s task was simple. All he had to do was beat his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Larson, who climbed up to second with less than ten laps remaining.

On Lap 262, Bowman made a mistake, brushing the Turn 4 wall, allowing Larson’s momentum to carry his #5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet around the #48, which set him up to capture his 30th-career win in the NASCAR Cup Series. Larson won the race with a one-second lead, followed by Bowman, Wallace, Briscoe and Buescher rounding out the top-5.

Coming out of Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports tops the season points standings, with Byron +36 above Kyle Larson, while Alex Bowman is -39 to the leader in the points. This weekend’s Cookout 400 at Martinsville Speedway will take place on Sunday, March 30 at 3:00PM EST/12:00PM PST, where Hendrick Motorsports finished 1-2-3 a year ago in this race. Byron looks to defend his victory in the Spring Classic, but his teammates look to steal the spotlight, as does Ryan Blaney, who won the Fall Race here last October and looks to finalist bring Team Penske to Victory Lane. The season rolls on and 400 Laps will take place on Fox Sports 1.