Kyle Larson capitalized on teammate Alex Bowman’s late-race skirmish with the outside wall, cruising to a NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, March 23.
The 2021 Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, led six times for 19 of 267 scheduled laps. In an event where he qualified 14th, he methodically worked his way to the front, notching a top-five result after the first stage period. Despite sustaining minimal left-side damage to his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry amid a pit road skirmish with Josh Berry and Joey Logano, Larson continued to race up front and claimed a runner-up result after the second stage period.
After spending a majority of the final stage period racing and jostling amongst his fellow competitors at the front, Larson would find himself racing in second place with 11 laps remaining as he attempted to track down Bowman for the lead. Then after Bowman scrubbed the outside wall entering the frontstretch with seven laps remaining, Larson seized the opportunity. He made his move for the top spot and he rocketed past Bowman to lead with six laps remaining. With clean air and Bowman unable to rebound, Larson both cruised and rim-rode his way around the Homestead circuit smoothly for six final laps. He claimed his first Cup Series victory of the 2025 season and his second in Miami.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, March 22, Alex Bowman notched his first Cup Series pole this season. His pole-winning lap at 168.845 mph in 31.982 seconds was his sixth career pole. Joining Bowman on the front row was Josh Berry, winner of last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Berry clocked in his best qualifying lap at 168.460 mph in 32.055 seconds.
Prior to the event, Erik Jones dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota entry.
When the green flag waved pole-sitter Alex Bowman rocketed his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet entry ahead from the inside lane. The field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch while jostling for spots. Bowman proceeded to lead Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Ryan Blaney through Turns 3 and 4. With the field returning to the frontstretch and still jostling for early spots, Bowman led the first lap.
Over the next four laps, Bowman maintained a steady advantage over a three-car battle for the runner-up spot that involved Blaney, Berry and Gragson. Behind, Chase Briscoe moved into fifth place. William Byron, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger followed suit in the top 10, respectively.
Then on the eighth lap, Blaney, who had spent the last handful of laps stalking Bowman, made his move. He went beneath Bowman for the top spot through Turns 3 and 4. Both drivers dueled through the frontstretch. Then, Blaney muscled his No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry ahead entering the first two turns. As Blaney proceeded to lead the Lap 10 mark, Berry joined the battle. He overtook Bowman for the runner-up spot. By then, Briscoe also started to reel in on Gragson for fourth place.
Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Blaney stretched his advantage to one-and-a-half seconds over Berry. Bowman, Briscoe and Gragson followed suit in the top five. Behind, Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, Wallace and Joey Logano were racing in the top 10 ahead of Chris Buescher, Christopher Bell, Zane Smith, Tyler Reddick and Carson Hocevar. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott, John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch were mired in the top 20 ahead of Austin Dillon, Justin Haley, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell, respectively.
Ten laps later, Blaney continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by nearly four seconds over Bowman. Behind, Briscoe, who overtook Berry for third place, four laps earlier, retained the spots. Gragson was racing in fifth place while Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, Wallace and Logano continued to follow suit in the top 10. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, who qualified in 23rd place, was strapped in 24th place behind Kyle Busch. In addition, Ross Chastain had fallen to 27th place, Erik Jones was mired in 29th place behind Todd Gilliland and Brad Keselowski, who qualified in 32nd place, was racing in 32nd place in front of rookie Shane van Gisbergen.
On Lap 31, a first cycle of green flag pit stops commenced. A bevy of names including Byron, Austin Cindric, Logano, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Gragson, Reddick and Bell pitted their respective entries. Amid the pit stops, the leader, Blaney, pitted by Lap 34 along with other drivers including Bowman, Wallace and Berry. By Lap 35, a total of 14 competitors had not yet pitted. Zane Smith, who was among those yet to pit, was leading ahead of Larson, Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Austin Dillon, who had also not yet pitted. Meanwhile, Blaney, who had made a pit stop, trailed in 12th place by less than 16 seconds.
By Lap 40, Larson, who assumed the lead from Zane Smith on Lap 37, pitted under green as Blaney cycled back into the lead. By then, Hamlin and Zane Smith, the latter of whom would encounter a pit road penalty, had also pitted. Meanwhile, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who has yet to pit, continued to race on the track in third place and Bowman cycled back into the runner-up spot. Byron and Gragson were racing in the top five. Once Stenhouse pitted before Lap 45, the event’s first green flag pit sequence concluded. The entire field had made at least one pit service.
Just past the Lap 50 mark, Blaney was out in front by more than seven seconds over Bowman while third-place Byron trailed by 13 seconds. Behind, Gragson and Briscoe were racing in the top five while Logano, Allmendinger, Cindric, Wallace and Chris Buescher trailed in the top 10 ahead of Buescher, Reddick, Carson Hocevar, Bell and Justin Haley, respectively.
Ten laps later, Blaney stabilized his large advantage to more than seven seconds over Bowman while Byron, Gragson and Briscoe continued to pursue in the top-five mark. Blaney would proceed to lead by more than nine seconds over Bowman at the Lap 70 mark while the rest of the lead lap field trailed by double digits.
Shortly after, the event’s first caution flew when Bell, who was racing in the top-15 mark, slipped sideways and spun his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE entry below the track entering the frontstretch. The incident occurred as Bell was racing towards the outside wall entering the frontstretch as he also made minor contact with the inside wall.
During the event’s first caution period, the lead lap field led by Blaney returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Blaney exited first ahead of Bowman, Byron, Gragson, Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Larson, Wallace, Allmendinger and Reddick, respectively.
With five laps remaining in the first stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, Gragson, who restarted behind Blaney on the second row, stumbled to launch, which caused the field to fan out entering the first two turns. Amid Gragson’s issues, Bowman fended off Blaney for the lead as Gragson went up the track and barely forced Wallace up the track and into the outside wall. With all competitors maintaining race pace and the event restarting under green, Blaney then executed a bold move to slide up in front of Bowman and assume the lead, where he led the following lap.
Then on Lap 76, Larson, who was trying to race his way into the top five, slid up the track and almost made contact with Briscoe entering Turns 3 and 4. With Larson managing to keep his car racing straight, he was locked in a battle with Briscoe as Byron and Allmendinger joined the battle. Meanwhile, Blaney maintained the lead in front of Bowman as Cindric joined the battle for third place.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Blaney notched his second Cup stage victory of the 2025 season. Bowman followed in second place ahead of Briscoe, Larson and Cindric while Byron, Allmendinger, Berry, Gragson and Joey Logano were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Blaney returned to pit road for service while Carson Hocevar remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Bowman exited pit road first ahead of Blaney while Byron, Cindric, Allmendinger, Gragson, Larson, Hamlin, Wallace and Buescher followed suit, respectively. Amid the pit stops, trouble ensued as both Berry and Logano spun backwards. The incident occurred after both were exiting their respective stalls before Berry made contact with Larson that bounced Berry into the path of Logano and sent the latter two spinning as both blocked Justin Haley from exiting his pit stall. Both would proceed to return to their respective pit stalls backwards for repairs.
The second stage period started on Lap 88 as Hocevar and Bowan occupied the front row. At the start, Bowman and Hocevar briefly dueled for the lead entering the first two turns before Bowman, who had four fresher tires than Hocevar, used the outside lane to launch ahead and reassume the lead. Hocevar then slipped up the track and lost a bevy of spots on his worn tires, which caused the field to scramble as teammate Byron and Blaney muscled into second and third. As the field fanned out, Bowman led the following lap. By then, Hamlin and Gragson were in the top five while Hocevar retained sixth place.
At the Lap 100 mark, Blaney, who reassumed the lead from Bowman on Lap 94, was leading ahead of Denny Hamlin, the latter of whom overtook Bowman for the runner-up spot. By then, Byron and Bubba Wallace were in the top five while Hocevar, Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott, Gragson and Allmendinger followed suit in the top 10. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, Briscoe, Daniel Suarez, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick trailed in the top 15 ahead of Ryan Preece, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher, Todd Gilliland and Michael McDowell, respectively.
Fifteen laps later, Blaney extended his advantage to nearly three seconds over Hamlin while Bowman, Byron and Wallace continued to race in the top five. Another two laps later,
Fifteen laps later, 12 by nearly three seconds over 11 with 48, 24 and 23 racing in top five. Another two laps later, another cycle of green flag pit stops commenced with various pit strategies being ensued amongst the field. Once Hamlin pitted on Lap 125, Larson cycled his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet entry into the lead. By then, Suarez spun his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet entry after he locked up his front tires while entering pit road he managed to continue without drawing a caution.
Just past the Lap 130 mark, Blaney, who reassumed lead after Larson, Berry and Logano pitted amid the pit cycle, was leading by two seconds over Byron while Wallace, Bowman and Austin Cindric trailed in the top five. Blaney would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Byron at the Lap 140 mark and he would stabilize his advantage by Lap 150.
Then on Lap 162, Hamlin assumed the lead from Blaney through the frontstretch as the leaders were mired in a bevy of lapped traffic. Despite encountering the lapped traffic that caused the leaders to weave through the slower traffic, Hamlin fended off Larson and Blaney to maintain the top spot.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 165, Hamlin, who inked a new multi-race partnership with Progressive Insurance earlier this week, cycled his way to his first Cup stage victory of the year. Larson followed suit in second ahead of Blaney, Byron and Wallace while Bowman, Cindric, Elliott, Hocevar and Reddick were scored in the top 10, respectively.
Under the stage break, the field pitted and Larson exited pit road first ahead of Hamlin, Byron, Wallace, Bowman, Cindric, Elliott, Reddick, Blaney and Briscoe, respectively.
With 94 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Larson and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out as Larson used the inside lane to muscle ahead of Hamlin. Larson would proceed to lead the following lap and lead with 90 laps remaining. By then, Wallace moved into second place before the latter assumed the lead from Larson exiting the frontstretch with 91 laps remaining.
Down to the final 85 laps of the event, Wallace was leading over Larson, with Hamlin, Blaney and Bowman pursuing in the top five. Meanwhile, Byron, Reddick, Cindric, Allmendinger and Buescher trailed in the top 10.
Ten laps later, Larson started to close in on Wallace for the lead, though the latter maintained a reasonable advantage. Amid Larson’s charge, Wallace led with 70 laps remaining as both Larson and Blaney were closing in.
Then with 60 laps remaining, the caution flew when third-place Blaney, who led a race-high 124 laps, blew an engine amid a heap of smoke through the frontstretch and retired on pit road. During the caution period, the field pitted and Wallace exited pit road first ahead of Larson, Hamlin, Bowman, Reddick, Cindric, Buescher, Briscoe, Byron and Gragson, respectively. Not long after, Byron was sent to the tail end of the field due to being too fast on pit road.
When the race restarted under green with 50 laps remaining, a three-wide action for the lead ensued between Larson, Wallace and Bowman going through the first two turns as Hamlin also tried to join the battle. Wallace would then muscle his No. 23 Columbia Toyota Camry XSE entry ahead entering the backstretch while Bowman, Larson and Hamlin engaged in a three-wide battle for second place. As the field behind jostled and fanned out for late spots, Wallace retained the lead for the following lap.
With 40 laps remaining, Wallace retained the lead by a second over Bowman while Larson, Briscoe and Hamlin trailed in the top five. Despite Bowman’s effort in slowly closing in on Wallace for the lead, Wallace retained the lead by six-tenths of a second with 35 laps remaining.
Then with 33 laps remaining, Bowman side-drafted Wallace entering the backstretch and dueled with him before he slid up in Turns 3 and 4 and assumed the lead with 32 laps remaining. Bowman would slightly grow his lead to half a second over Wallace with 30 laps remaining as Briscoe, Larson and Hamlin followed suit in the top five.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Bowman increased his lead to a second over Wallace. As Briscoe, Larson and Hamlin continued to race in the top five, Buescher, Allmendinger, Reddick, Austin Dillon and Ryan Preece were in the top 10 while Gragson, Logano, Berry and Byron were mired in 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th, respectively.
Five laps later, Bowman stabilized his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Wallace while third-place Briscoe trailed by more than a second. In addition, fourth-place Larson trailed by under two seconds while fifth-place Hamlin trailed by more than five seconds.
Then during the following lap, Larson overtook Briscoe for third place entering the first two turns. Larson would then overtake Wallace for the runner-up spot through the backstretch with 11 laps remaining. As Larson then commenced his charge on teammate Bowman, the latter retained the lead by a second.
With seven to go, Larson, who spent the previous three laps shaving off Bowman’s steady advantage while rim-riding towards the outside wall, capitalized on teammate Bowman scrubbing the outside wall entering the frontstretch to make his move beneath Bowman and assume the lead, where he led with six laps remaining. Larson would proceed to lead by four-tenths of a second over Bowman with five laps remaining while third-place Wallace trailed by more than two seconds.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Larson remained in the lead by more than a second over teammate Bowman. With Bowman unable to rally from his late-race scrape into the wall and narrow the gap back between himself and the leader, Larson, who kept rim-riding towards the outside wall, was able to smoothly cycle his way around the Homestead circuit for a final time before he cruised back to the frontstretch and claim his first checkered flag of the 2025 Cup Series season.
With the victory, Larson, who became the fourth different winner through the first six races of the 2025 season, notched his 30th Cup Series career victory in his 372nd series start and became the 30th competitor overall to reach 30 victories in NASCAR’s premier series. In addition, Larson achieved his second Cup victory at Homestead in four seasons and his 24th driving the No. 5 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports.
Larson’s Cup victory on Sunday served as a bittersweet moment as the Californian had commenced this weekend by attempting to win all three of NASCAR’s top national touring series events at Homestead. Despite winning the Truck Series event on Friday, his shot of the triple-header sweep was evaporated after he lost Saturday’s Xfinity event during an overtime attempt. Nonetheless, Larson, who earned his Cup victory amid a late-race charge, was still left jubilant on the frontstretch as he celebrated on the frontstretch with his son, Owen.
“[My last run] was far from perfect,” Larson said on FS1. “I gave up a spot and a half, almost two spots there by getting the wall too many times. I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart there.” He continued, “I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs and just thought if I could hold off [Hamlin] and [Reddick] behind me, I could get ringing the top, and [Briscoe] too.
“And then, I got in the wall and let him by, but just had to keep plugging away what I know and what’s good for me. Proud of myself, proud of the team. A lot of gritty hard work there today between [the] damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restart, all that stuff. Just super pumped. [This is] One of the coolest wins I think in my Cup career just because of all the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday and to just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”
“I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex [Bowman], I would hope that he made a mistake,” Larson added. “He caught the wall there and I got by him easier than I expected to. [I] Still had to work hard, though. My balance, once I got in clean air, was really loose just like those guys were
Meanwhile, Bowman, who led 43 laps from pole position and was searching for his first victory of the year, settled in second place for his first top-five result of the 2025 season. Amid the disappointment of having a victory slip from his grasp due to his late-race contact with the wall, Bowman has finished in the top nine in all but one of his current six races this season.
“I guess I choked that one away, for sure,” Bowman said, “just burnt my stuff up. [I] Saw [Larson] coming, so [I] moved around a little bit. Not when [Larson] passed me, but the time before that, I hit [the wall] pretty 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 [the car] off the wall too far right there and hung it in the fence pretty bad. I hate that for this Ally No. 48 group. They deserve better than that and just a couple of mistakes there. [I] Felt like we were OK all day. That last run was probably the best we were, but hats off to Ally and [crew chief] Blake [Harris] and everybody for supporting this No. 48 team. Hate it for Mr. [Rick] Hendrick, congrats to Kyle and we’ll go try to get another one this week.”
Bubba Wallace, who led 56 laps, came home in third place for his first top-five finish of the 2025 season while Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin notched their second top-five finishes of the year by finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece and Justin Haley completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, William Byron, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and rookie Riley Herbst finished 12th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 21st, 22nd, 26th, 29th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd, respectively. In addition, Ryan Blaney settled in 36th place with his second consecutive DNF in recent weeks due to an engine failure.
There were 27 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 27 laps. In addition, 25 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the sixth event of the 2025 Cup Series season, William Byron leads the regular-season standings by 36 points over teammate Kyle Larson, 39 over teammate Alex Bowman, 55 over Tyler Reddick, 58 over Christopher Bell and 63 over teammate Chase Elliott.
Race Results:
1. Kyle Larson, 19 laps led
2. Alex Bowman, 43 laps led
3. Bubba Wallace, 56 laps led
4. Chase Briscoe
5. Denny Hamlin, 15 laps led, Stage 2 winner
6. Chris Buescher
7. AJ Allmendinger
8. Tyler Reddick
9. Ryan Preece
10. Justin Haley
11. Zane Smith, three laps led
12. William Byron, one lap led
13. Austin Dillon
14. Joey Logano
15. Erik Jones
16. Noah Gragson
17. Josh Berry, two laps led
18. Chase Elliott
19. Austin Cindric
20. Michael McDowell
21. Kyle Busch
22. Daniel Suarez
23. John Hunter Nemechek
24. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
25. Ty Gibbs
26. Brad Keselowski, one lap down
27. Ty Dillon, one lap down
28. Cole Custer, one lap down
29. Christopher Bell, one lap down
30. Todd Gilliland, one lap down
31. Ross Chastain, one lap down
32. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down
33. Riley Herbst, two laps down
34. Cody Ware, two laps down
35. JJ Yeley, four laps down
36. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Engine, 124 laps led, Stage 1 winner
37. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Engine, four laps led
Next on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, for the Cook Out 400. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, March 30, and air at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
