Kyle Larson Earns Emphatic Homestead Win

Kyle Larson and his son, Owen, celebrate a big win in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Larson entered Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with high hopes.

Despite Larson’s bid to sweep the race weekend ending with a fourth place finish in Saturday’s Hard Rock Bet 300, he had a chance to go two out of three.

Like the Meat Loaf song from the famed 1977 album, Bat Out of Hell, Larson proved that “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.” The bid to win two out of three at the 1.5-mile track kicked off with a challenge, starting 14th and dropping outside the top 20 in the opening laps.

While Larson and his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet slowly worked up the leaderboard, Alex Bowman led the opening eight laps from the pole. Ryan Blaney immediately became the dominant factor, leading the way for the first of five stints.

Blaney had incredible pace at the abrasive track as he opened a substantial lead over his competitors in the opening stanza. Meanwhile, Larson drove his way inside the top 15 and seemingly on a different pit strategy than the lot of the field.

For a majority of the lead lap contenders, they pitted early to take advantage of fresh tires. On the other hand, Larson, who took the lead on Lap 37 during the race’s first green flag pit stop cycle, fell to 22nd once Blaney retook the lead on Lap 41.

It may have been clear sailing for the Team Penske driver as he won Stage 1. However, Larson, who pitted on Lap 41, he had a tremendous fresh tire advantage over the lead lap contenders.

Charging from 22nd on Lap 41 to place fourth in Stage 1, it was clear that Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels committed to a game plan that would work on a long, green flag run.

Their hopes for clean and green racing came to fruition in Stage 2. Parlaying the same pit strategy from Stage 1 in the race’s middle stanza, Larson, along with Denny Hamlin, decided to split the difference.

Sacrificing track position during green flag pit stop cycles, Hamlin and Larson rocketed to place first and second in Stage 2, clearly having strong pace that matched Blaney’s No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry.

Once Stage 3 was underway, it was clear that the race would be decided to the trio of Hamlin, Larson and Blaney. On Lap 209, Blaney’s bid for the win came to a fiery ending due to engine issues, a bitter pill to swallow for the 2023 Cup champion just 59 laps from the finish.

After an eight-lap caution period to clean the track, Larson led the way on Lap 217 before Wallace drove by him a lap later.

Dropping to third, Larson brushed the wall on several occasions, dropping to fifth and nearly in danger of losing the race as Bowman took the lead on Lap 235 from Wallace.

Kyle Larson parlayed the high line to win Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)

Trailing Bowman, Wallace and Chase Briscoe with 33 laps to go, Larson was 2.9 seconds behind the top two.

That was when Larson mounted a clutch comeback, much like Steve Young in his prime, applying a slide job on Wallace for second with 11 laps left. Closing the gap from 1.2 seconds to 04 seconds with seven laps remaining, Larson caught Bowman in Turn 3.

With the Hendrick teammates approaching Turn 4, Bowman brushed the Turn 4 wall, prompting Larson to dart inside and take the lead approaching the stripe.

Although Larson nearly brushed the Turn 4 wall on a few occasions in the final laps, the 2021 Cup champion captured his first win of the season, besting Bowman by 1.205 seconds.

Fittingly, Larson’s post-race burnout shredded his right rear tire, but his battle-scarred car told the story of a hard-fought victory.

“It was far from perfect. I gave up a spot and a half, almost two spots there by getting in the wall too many times,” Larson said. “I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart there. I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs and just thought if I could hold off the 11 and the 45 behind me, you know, I could get really in the top and the 19 too. Then I got in the wall and let him by.”

Unlike most late race battles for the win, Larson did not throw Hail Mary passes or pull any desperation moves. Instead, he was patient and let the track come to him.

Kyle Larson put on a smoke show for the Straight Talk Wireless 400 faithful at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: John Arndt | The Podium Finish)

“Just kind of had to keep plugging away at what I know and what’s good for me,” he recalled. “So just proud of myself, proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty, hard work there today between damage on pit road, you know, qualifying bad, bad restarts, all that stuff. Just super pumped.

“One of the coolest wins I think in my Cup career just because of the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday, and to just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”

As Larson celebrated his 30th career Cup win, Bowman lamented on his bittersweet runner-up result.

“I guess I choked that one away. Just burned my stuff up. Saw the 5 coming, so moved around a little bit. Not when he passed me, but the time before that I hit it hard with the right front and ended up just bending something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel and then I pulled it off the wall too far right there and ended up hitting the fence pretty bad.

“So I hate that for this Ally 48 group. They deserve better than that. Just a couple of mistakes there. I felt like we were okay all day. That last run was the best we were. Hats off to Ally and Blake and everybody for supporting this 48 team. Hate it for Mr. Hendrick. Congrats to Kyle. We’re going to try get another one this week.”

Wallace captured a pivotal podium finish, a result that he attributed to his pit crew executing fast, consistent stops during the race.

“Our Columbia Toyota Camry was just game-changer,” Wallace said, “So got out front. I didn’t think I burned my stuff up to start that last run. I thought it was very similar to the previous restart, but I don’t know. I need to go back and study and look at what happened. Obviously I hit the fence and allowed the 48 to get there.

“All in all, hats off to my 23 group here. It’s been a grind all year long. I’m talking like we’re 20 races in. It’s only five, whatever it is. We’ve just been getting kicked in the teeth the last stage of every race. Finally closed one out. This feels good. I can’t hang my head over this. As pissed off as I want to be at myself, it’s a good day.”

It was a good day and weekend for Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, as he expressed his pride with Larson and how he put Saturday’s XFINITY Series race behind him.

“Overall, it was an impressive weekend,” Gordon said. “Just watching him at his craft at this track, it’s like watching him at Knoxville or Eldora or something, in my opinion. It’s fun, but it doesn’t guarantee wins. You don’t know when the cautions are going to come out. As good as his car and he is here, if he has any weakness, it’s short runs. We saw it today, and we saw it yesterday.

“Yeah, I mean, the 41, he got in the back of them on that restart. But I don’t even know if they win if that didn’t happen. His car just doesn’t take off as good. Some of that’s setup, what it takes to be good, ripping the wall on the long runs. Yeah, it just doesn’t guarantee the wins. I think today made up for it. I think that he’ll forget about [Saturday] pretty quickly after this win.”

Typically, Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, urges cautiousness over aggression with driving on the edge. On Sunday, Daniels knew Larson could throw caution to the wind, trusting his driver to execute and win the 267-lap race.

Kyle Larson earned his paycheck in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)

“He and I were joking after the race of, you know, how many times he hit the fence,” Daniels said. “There are times in the past where I’m, like, ‘Hey, man, let’s back it down just a little,’ or whatever. We talk through it. I now know and I think he knows where we stand together that that’s him getting his rhythm and finding the limits. The Next Gen car is tough and can handle it.

“Even at the end of the race I didn’t want to distract him from what he’s doing because I knew he was putting in the work. To your point, it was a workman-like day. I knew he was putting in the work to find his limits and to know what he was going to have to do to catch those guys and pass for the win, and he did a great job.”

Leading six times for only 19 laps, Larson will remember his latest victory for rallying from behind and making his blue, white and red No. 5 Chevrolet lurk like a shark against Bowman’s No. 48 ride.

“That’s what I’m thinking every time in the lead, especially here at Homestead,” Larson observed. “Yeah, just crazy. I knew me coming towards those guys, they were going to start moving around and making mistakes. I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex, I would hope that he made a mistake. He caught the wall there, and I got by him easier than I expected to.

“Still had to work hard, though. My balance once I got in clean air was really loose, just like those guys were. So hats off to the whole team, Hendrickcars.com, Chevrolet, Prime, Valvoline, the whole Hendrick engine shop, everybody involved, Hendrick Automotive Group.”

Kyle Larson became the first repeat Straight Talk Wireless 400 winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway since Kyle Busch (2015, 2019). (Photo: Erik Smith | The Podium Finish)

Since joining Hendrick in 2021, Larson captured 23 of his 29 Cup career wins, just under 80% of his victory total. Capturing the checkered flag on Sunday, Larson has tallied 80% of his Cup wins with the storied stock car organization.

Like Young and his San Francisco 49ers, Larson recognized how the Next Gen car presented challenges for him, his personal Dallas Cowboys from 1992 and 1993. Perhaps the tide is turning for Larson with this iteration of the Cup car as he moves to second in the championship standings behind points leader William Byron.

“I think if we would still have the 2021 car, I would have about 50 Cup wins right now,” Larson opined. “I think switching to this car has limited us from winning. I think just being with a good team and being able to adapt to new things is something you try to pride yourself on. I think that’s an area where the 5 team really excels and the 24 as well.

“I think we probably share or are top two in most Next Gen wins. Young, adaptable drivers and teams. Yeah, they’re difficult cars to drive, though. You have to run really hard, and I think that probably benefits a guy like myself.”

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Ryan Blaney
2. Alex Bowman
3. Chase Briscoe
4. Kyle Larson
5. Austin Cindric
6. William Byron
7. AJ Allmendinger
8. Josh Berry
9. Noah Gragson
10. Joey Logano

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kyle Larson
3. Ryan Blaney
4. William Byron
5. Bubba Wallace
6. Alex Bowman
7. Austin Cindric
8. Chase Elliott
9. Carson Hocevar
10. Tyler Reddick

Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway Race Results