Kyle Larson delivered a dominant performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway, securing victories in two of the three NASCAR series races over the weekend. His efforts culminated in a win at Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400.
Larson capitalized on a late-race incident involving his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, who made contact with the outside retaining wall with six laps remaining. This allowed Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet to take the lead and secure a 1.205-second victory.
This marks the first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season for the 32-year-old Californian.
“I knew if I could keep pressure on Alex, he might make a mistake, and he caught the wall there,” Larson stated. “It was still a challenge in clean air, but the team put together a great car.”
Bowman, who started from pole position and led 43 laps, finished second, narrowly missing his first victory of the year. Bubba Wallace of 23XI Racing secured third place, leading a season-high 56 laps in the No. 23 Toyota. Chase Briscoe finished fourth, and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five while also winning Stage 2 with a season-high 15 laps led.
Ryan Blaney, who led the most laps (124) in his No. 12 Ford, experienced an engine failure with 60 laps remaining, resulting in a 36th-place finish. This marked his third consecutive DNF of the season.
With this victory, Larson moved into second place in the championship standings, trailing Hendrick Motorsports teammate and Daytona 500 winner William Byron by 36 points. Bowman is currently in third place, 39 points behind the leader.
Larson’s win at Homestead follows a mixed weekend in which he also won Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, but finished fourth in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race due to an incident during an overtime restart.
The NASCAR Cup Series continues next Sunday at Martinsville Speedway for the Cook Out 400, the season’s first short-track race. The event is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Results: Straight Talk Wireless 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway
- Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267 laps
- Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267
- Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267
- Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 267
- Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267
- Chris Buescher, Ford, 267
- AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267
- Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267
- Ryan Preece, Ford, 267
- Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267
Additional Race Statistics
Average Speed of Winner: 131.876 mph
Time of Race: 3 hours, 2 minutes, 13 seconds
Margin of Victory: 1.205 seconds
Caution Flags: 4 for 27 laps
Lead Changes: 27 among 9 drivers
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