Mar 23, 2025, 07:04 PM ET
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Larson handed Alex Bowman with six laps last in NASCAR’s Cup Sequence race at Home-Miami Speedway on Sunday, giving the Hendrick Motorsports motive force the thirtieth win of his occupation at one in every of his best possible tracks.
Larson, riding the No. 5 Chevrolet, sped by means of as Bowman scraped the wall on Flip 4 with the lead. Larson prolonged his edge to greater than a 2nd over his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, then hung on to overcome Bowman by means of 1.205 seconds for his 2nd occupation Cup Sequence win at Home, and his 2nd victory of the weekend.
Larson fell one race in need of sweeping the triple-header weekend. He received the Craftsman Truck race on Friday and completed fourth within the Xfinity Sequence on Saturday regardless of main 132 of 201 laps. He used to be hoping to sign up for Kyle Busch as the one drivers to comb a triple-header weekend — Busch did it at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017. Larson will take some other shot at a sweep in Bristol subsequent month.
He mentioned he used to be motivated by means of Saturday’s end result, when a overdue warning necessarily price him a race he had ruled. It used to be an all-to-familiar feeling of sadness at Home regardless of Larson traditionally riding rather well there.
“Pleased with myself. Pleased with the group. Simply a large number of gritty arduous paintings there as of late,” Larson mentioned. “Tremendous pumped. One of the most coolest wins I feel in my Cup occupation simply as a result of the entire heartbreak I have had right here, the heartbreak the day before today. To simply stay my head down and stay digging feels actually excellent.”
He used to be a long way from dominant on Sunday. Larson led simply 19 of 267 laps, needed to climb from 14th-place beginning place and overcame pit highway mishaps and unhealthy restarts to tug off the win – his first victory of the season and primary within the Cup Sequence at Home since 2022.
“Given previous historical past, I simply sought after to take the fairway flag and kick everyone’s ass as of late,” Larson mentioned. “I sought after to get to the lead early and simply dominate like I used to be the day before today. Then the fairway flag flew, and it used to be like the other. I used to be going backwards and getting [mad] within the helmet.
“After 10 laps or so, I forgot in regards to the in need of to kick everyone’s ass all race lengthy. It used to be like, ‘All proper, let’s attempt to and paintings arduous at this and get a win.'”
Bowman, who used to be Saturday’s pole winner, completed 2nd within the No. 48 Chevrolet. Bubba Wallace used to be 3rd for 23XI Racing after main 56 laps — essentially the most laps he is led in a race since September 2023. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin rounded out the highest 5.
Ryan Blaney used to be operating 3rd when his engine blew up on Lap 207, inflicting a thick cloud of smoke to hide the observe and a long cleanup.
It have been a powerful race for Blaney prior to then. He led 124 laps and received Degree 1 after beginning 6th. It used to be the second one time in 3 races that Blaney didn’t end a race as a result of an engine failure along with his No. 12 Crew Penske Ford.
“It simply stinks,” Blaney mentioned. “Led a large number of laps. Misplaced slightly little bit of observe place there with some stuff on pit highway however were given again to 3rd. And it used to be an excellent race between me, Bubba and Larson. … It used to be going to be a heck of a fight the final 60 laps or so however simply did not actually figure out for us. We’re going to stay our head up.
“It is a type of issues the place it is not actually going our means at the moment, however the excellent news is we are bringing speedy vehicles.”
Pit highway mishaps
Whilst exiting pit highway on Lap 84, Josh Berry’s No. 21 Ford hit the aspect of Larson’s vehicle, then hit Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford. Each Logano and Berry spun then went the fallacious path into their pit stalls to test the wear. Larson’s vehicle used to be relatively broken from the touch.
Some other incident took place on Lap 172. Chase Elliott gained a penalty for no longer being line up single-file entering pit highway, even supposing Elliott may well be heard on his in-car feed pronouncing he had veered left to steer clear of hitting somebody however gave the spot again. Elliott, riding a No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, completed 18th.
Home’s long run
Some drivers want to see Home go back to the postseason after the 1.5-mile observe went from website hosting NASCAR’s championship races from 2002-2019 to being out of the playoff rotation.
Whilst Phoenix Raceway has hosted the general since 2020, Home used to be within the playoff rotation the previous 3 seasons prior to being moved to the common season this yr.
“I indisputably want to see it play a larger consider our championship, whether or not it is within the playoffs or simply a part of the championship race or spherical,” Hamlin mentioned.
