{"id":50546,"date":"2025-03-23T18:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T23:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=50546"},"modified":"2025-03-24T09:38:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T14:38:29","slug":"kyle-larson-gets-first-cup-win-of-the-season-at-homestead-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/23\/kyle-larson-gets-first-cup-win-of-the-season-at-homestead-miami\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Larson gets first Cup win of the season at Homestead-Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

HOMESTEAD, Fla. \u2013 Kyle Larson, proved himself the weekend\u2019s most dominant driver at Homestead-Miami Speedway winning two of the three national series races, capping off the extraordinary three-day performance with a victory in Sunday\u2019s Straight Talk Wireless 400 NASCAR Cup Series race.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Larson was able to seize upon a miscue by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, who put his pole-winning No. 48 Chevrolet in the outside retaining wall with six laps remaining Sunday. That contact allowed Larson\u2019s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to pass him for the race lead and jet off to a 1.205-second win \u2013 the 32-year-old Californian\u2019s first series trophy of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew me coming towards those guys they were going to start moving around and making mistakes and I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex [Bowman], he may make a mistake and he caught the wall there and I got around him easier than I expected to,” the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Larson said. \u201cStill had to work hard though. My balance in clean air was really loose just like those guys were. Hats off to the whole team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bowman, who started from pole position, led 43 laps and was obviously disappointed even in a second-place outcome, coming so close to his first victory of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuess I choked that one away for sure,” Bowman said, revealing he actually hit the wall harder the lap before he got passed. \u201cJust kind of burned myself up. Saw the 5 [Larson] coming, so I moved around a little bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, I hate that for this Ally 48 group they deserve better than that. Just a couple mistakes there. Felt like we were okay all day there.”<\/p>\n

23XI Racing\u2019s Bubba Wallace finished third, leading a season high 56 laps in the No. 23 Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Chase Briscoe finished fourth in the No. 19 Toyota \u2013 the afternoon proving to be season best finishes for Larson, Bowman, Wallace and Briscoe.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

JGR\u2019s Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five finishing order and won Stage 2 \u2013 his 15 laps out front are most on the year for him.<\/p>\n

The day\u2019s most dominant driver was Team Penske\u2019s Ryan Blaney, whose No. 12 Ford led a race best 124 laps, only to suffer an engine failure with 60 laps remaining. A huge blast of smoke burst out of the car as it slowed abruptly onto the frontstretch from a top-five position.<\/p>\n

He ended up 36th of the 37 cars, the 2023 season champion suffering his third straight DNF of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have any warning,” said Blaney, a runner-up in the previous two Homestead races. \u201cWhen I got back to wide open down the front, that was all she wrote. Just stinks. Really fast Ford Mustang, led a lot of laps, lost a little bit of track position with stuff on pit road, but got back to third and it was a great race between me, Bubba and Larson. I\u2019m sure Denny [Hamlin] was going to get back into it, it was going to be quite a battle in the last 60 laps or so.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cJust didn\u2019t really work out for us. We\u2019ll continue to keep fighting. I appreciate the 12 guys for giving me just a hot rod today, an incredibly, incredibly fast race car today. We\u2019ll keep our head up. Just one of those things where it isn\u2019t really going our way right now. But the good news is we\u2019re bringing fast cars and that\u2019s all you can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing\u2019s Chris Buescher rallied to a sixth-place finish, followed by Kaulig Racing\u2019s A.J. Allmendinger, 23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick, RFK\u2019s Ryan Preece and Spire Motorsports\u2019 Justin Haley.<\/p>\n

With the win Larson moved into second place in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, 36 points behind Hendrick teammate, Daytona 500 winner William Byron. Bowman is now third in the championship, 39 points back. The fourth member of the team, Chase Elliott finished 18th and is sixth in the standings.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Briscoe, driver of the #19 BassProShopsSpringFishingClassic Toyota, Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and William Byron, driver of the #24 Valvoline Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The promising start to the season a strong confidence-builder for all the drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad to keep plugging away, proud of myself, proud of the team, just a lot of gritty hard work there today between damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restarts all that stuff,” said Larson, whose 30 career wins are now second only to NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (93) and Jimmie Johnson (83) among Hendrick drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust super pumped,” Larson said. \u201cOne of the coolest wins I think of my Cup career just because of all the heartbreak here, the heartbreak yesterday. Just kept my head down and kept digging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23, 2025 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The heartbreak Larson referred to was his 2-for-3 showing in his three-peat attempt. He won Friday\u2019s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race and suffered a gut-wrenching near-miss in Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity Series race \u2013 an afternoon where he led the most laps only to get tapped from behind in an overtime restart and finish fourth.<\/p>\n

Larson will attempt the three-race sweep at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in April, hoping to equal the work of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch who is the only driver in history to win all three national series races on the same weekend \u2013 and he did it twice, ironically accomplishing the feat at Bristol in 2010 and 2017.<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway for the first short track race of the season, the Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Byron is the defending race winner.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NCS Race Winning Team: Jeff Gordon, Cliff Daniels, Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) –<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

NASCAR Cup Series Race – Straight Talk Wireless 400<\/b><\/p>\n

Homestead-Miami Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Homestead, Florida<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday, March 23, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (14)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                2. (1)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                3. (9)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                4. (4)  Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                5. (23)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                6. (11)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                7. (10)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                8. (20)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                9. (31)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                10. (21)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                11. (17)  Zane Smith, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                12. (5)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                13. (30)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                14. (12)  Joey Logano, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                15. (28)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                16. (3)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                17. (2)  Josh Berry, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                18. (18)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                19. (8)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                20. (26)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                21. (22)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                22. (33)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                23. (7)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                24. (27)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                25. (13)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                26. (32)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 266.<\/p>\n

                27. (34)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.<\/p>\n

                28. (24)  Cole Custer, Ford, 266.<\/p>\n

                29. (16)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 266.<\/p>\n

                30. (29)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 266.<\/p>\n

                31. (25)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 266.<\/p>\n

                32. (35)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 266.<\/p>\n

                33. (19)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 265.<\/p>\n

                34. (36)  Cody Ware, Ford, 265.<\/p>\n

                35. (37)  JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 263.<\/p>\n

                36. (6)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, Engine, 207.<\/p>\n

                37. (15)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Engine, 184.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  131.876 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 2 Mins, 13 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.205 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  4 for 27 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  27 among 9 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   A. Bowman 1-8;R. Blaney 9-32;J. Berry 33;Z. Smith 34-36;K. Larson 37-40;R. Blaney 41-71;A. Bowman 72;R. Blaney 73-83;A. Bowman 84;C. Hocevar 85-88;A. Bowman 89-94;R. Blaney 95-117;D. Hamlin 118-124;K. Larson 125;J. Berry 126;R. Blaney 127-161;D. Hamlin 162-168;W. Byron 169;K. Larson 170-172;D. Hamlin 173;K. Larson 174-176;B. Wallace 177-212;A. Bowman 213;B. Wallace 214-215;K. Larson 216;B. Wallace 217-234;A. Bowman 235-260;K. Larson 261-267.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Ryan Blaney 5 times for 124 laps; Bubba Wallace 3 times for 56 laps; Alex Bowman 6 times for 43 laps; Kyle Larson 6 times for 19 laps; Denny Hamlin 3 times for 15 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 4 laps; Zane Smith 1 time for 3 laps; Josh Berry 2 times for 2 laps; William Byron 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,48,19,5,2,24,16,21,4,22<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 11,5,12,24,23,48,2,9,77,45<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. \u2013 Kyle Larson, proved himself the weekend\u2019s most dominant driver at Homestead-Miami Speedway winning two of the three national series races, capping off the extraordinary three-day performance with a victory in Sunday\u2019s Straight Talk Wireless 400 NASCAR Cup Series race. Larson was able to seize upon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":50566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[527,225,16],"class_list":["post-50546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-homestead-miami-speedway","tag-kyle-larson","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2206570168-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-d9g","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50546"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50573,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50546\/revisions\/50573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}