By Holly Cain / NASCAR Wire Service
Sunny South Florida is ready for the NASCAR Cup Series
HOMESTEAD (March 20, 2025) – The NASCAR Cup Series returns east to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Straight Talk Wireless 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – the weekend’s NASCAR tripleheader marking the first time since 2021 the series has competed on the South Florida track in the spring.
It remains to be seen if the 1.5-miler – popular among competitors – will race differently this weekend in the warm March Florida sun versus how it races in the Fall when the series typically visited more recently.
Regardless of the timing, a good weekend has proven to be a good weekend at Homestead. Six of the last seven race winners have led the most laps. That comes in sharp contrast to the current early season. Only once in the five 2025 races has the winner led the most laps – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell’s victory at Phoenix.
Hendrick Motorsports is certainly hoping its track record continues to prove successful at Homestead. The team has led 54 percent of all laps in the Next Gen Era there and Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HMS Chevrolet, has led the most laps (626) of any active driver.
His work on the 1.5-milers is especially impressive. Larson’s 12 stage wins in the Next Gen car is a series-best. No other driver has more than five stage wins.
Larson’s 1,286 total miles led on the 1.5-mile tracks is almost double that of any other driver. Bell is second on the list with 614 laps out front.
Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Daytona 500 winner William Byron not only holds the championship points lead – by 29 points over the season’s three-time winner Bell – but is the only driver to run out front in every race this season. He has led laps in the last seven races – the longest consecutive streak for a driver in the series since 2019.
This weekend Larson will have plenty of time on track even before Sunday’s green flag. He will be doing rare triple-duty work – competing in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series on Friday (in the No. 07 Spire Chevrolet), the Xfinity Series on Saturday (No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) in addition to Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
He is attempting to become only the second driver to earn a weekend three-peat. Kyle Busch won in all three national series at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway twice in 2010 and 2017.
“I always feel good going to Homestead,” said Larson, who won at Homestead in 2022. “It’s probably the track that suits me the best, you know, being comfortable running against the wall and stuff like that. So, yeah, the last two finishes (34th and 13th) we’ve had there don’t reflect how we’ve ran. We’ve been the best every time we go there.
“We were stupid fast there the second- half of the fall race last time we were there with a bunch of damage underneath the car that you can’t see. So that was a satisfying run to almost have a shot to win there. But hopefully this year it goes smooth; we have a good handling race car, which I know we will, and we can just hammer away at the wall and be fast.”
A victory Sunday for 2025’s three-trophy winner Bell would be his fourth in the opening six races – a high-achieving season start accomplished only twice previously: by NASCAR Hall of Famers Bill Elliott (1992) and Dale Earnhardt (1987).
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick is the defending race winner, claiming the victory from pole position last October; the second driver (also his team co-owner Hamlin) to win from pole in the last five Homestead races.
Interestingly, there hasn’t been a back-to-back race winner at Homestead in the last 19 years when Greg Biffle won three straight from 2004-06.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain claims Homestead as his “home track.” It’s about two hours south of his Alva, Fla. hometown. The popular driver is coming off his first top-five (fifth place) of the season at Las Vegas last week.
“The weather in South Florida is beautiful and it’s fun to have so many friends and family at the track,” said Chastain, who plans to drive to Homestead after visiting home. “I think Homestead provides some great racing and the ability to run up by the wall. I was there last week for an event at the track and got to meet different people from the community. I enjoy it anytime I get the chance to go to South Florida.”
NASCAR Cup Series practice followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Xfinity Series gears up of Dash 4 Cash in Miami
Always a highlight reel at the Homestead-Miami weekend, Saturday’s Hard Rock Bet 300 (4 p.m. ET on CW Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks the second consecutive 1.5-miler for the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier claimed his first victory of the season last week at the Las Vegas 1.5-mile track earning the JR Motorsports driver a bid to compete for the $100,000 prize money in the opening Xfinity Dash 4 Cash event this weekend. Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Hill and Jesse Love and Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer are also racing for the big bonus money – with the highest finisher among the foursome claiming the check.
Not only do they stand to win bonus money with Xfinity’s Dash 4 Cash, the next victory for either Hill or Love will give the legendary RCR team a milestone 100th series win – something accomplished only by Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Hill is the defending Homestead winner.
As good as the current group of drivers have been at the South Florida track, historically speaking there are no overwhelming favorites on the grid. The last seven series races there have been won by seven different drivers.
Allgaier holds a 19-point advantage over Atlanta race winner and fellow Chevrolet driver Love atop the championship standings.
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ Kyle Larson will drive the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Saturday – he is the 2015 Homestead Xfinity Series winner and one of four former winners in the field (also Harrison Burton, 2020; Mayer, 2023 and Hill, 2024).
Kennametal Pole Qualifying is set for 10:30 a.m. (The CW App) and interestingly, no former pole-winners are entered. No pole-winner has hoisted the Homestead trophy since 2020.
CRAFTSMAN Truck Series kicks off a tripleheader weekend in Miami
The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to action this week in the Baptist Health 200 (8 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
CR7 Racing’s Grant Enfinger is the defending Homestead race winner. Last week’s Las Vegas winner, Corey Heim led a race best 68 of the 134 laps but finished fourth in the October 2024 Homestead visit.
Reigning series champion Ty Majeski won at the track in 2022 and three-time series champ Matt Crafton hoisted the trophy in 2015.
Heim has wasted no time establishing himself as a championship favorite – again. He’s won two of the season’s three races and led a series best 51 laps, however he sits second to Majeski in the standings, five points off the reigning champ’s pace. Enfinger dropped to third in the championship last week, tied with Chandler Smith, eight points back.
As with the other two NASCAR series on the marquee this weekend, the trucks have a long and assorted winner’s list. The last 10 races have all been won by different drivers.
When it comes to consistency, however, the 22-year-old Heim has certainly proven to be a master of the 1.5-milers – like Homestead – winning three of the last five races on that brand of track and his No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota leading 504 laps on 1.5-mile tracks since he started competing fulltime – nearly double that of any other competitor.
Kyle Larson, who will drive the No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. The last – and only other time he drove that truck he ended up in Victory Lane (at North Wilkesboro, N.C. in May 2023). Fellow NASCAR Cup Series star, the hometown favorite this week, Ross Chastain will drive the No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet. He has three top-five finishes in three Homestead starts in the series.
The Kennametal Pole qualifying session is set for 3:30 p.m. ET (FS2).
