Kyle Larson falls short of a sweep at Homestead, aiming to avoid another letdown weekend

Kyle Larson is frustrated with his weekends at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as they often end in disappointment.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won both a NASCAR Cup Series race and an Xfinity Series race at the South Florida track, but he mostly recalls the losses.

Last year, Larson finished 13th in the playoff race. On Saturday, he faced another setback in the Xfinity Series, losing his chance to win the weekend after a late problem.

Larson, who is racing in the Cup, Xfinity, and Craftsman Truck Series at the 1.5-mile track in Homestead, hoped to join Kyle Busch as the only drivers to win all three races in one weekend. Busch did this at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017.

Larson started strong, making a comeback to win the Truck Series on Friday after spinning out late in the race.

On Saturday, he appeared to be on track for an easy win in the Xfinity Series. He had a 16-second lead before a late spin by Taylor Gray caused a caution with seven laps remaining. During the overtime restart, Sam Mayer’s No. 41 Ford made contact with Larson’s No. 17 Chevrolet, which cost Larson the win.

“Bummer, again, to have another Homestead race play out that way,” Larson said. “I can’t go when my rear tires are off the ground. So I know it looks like I choked another one away, but I did everything I thought I could (to win). The 41 just lagged back and slammed me.”

Larson led 132 of the 201 laps and finished fourth, marking another frustrating finish at one of his best tracks.

In his career at Homestead, Larson has earned five top-five finishes in 11 Cup starts, two of which came while driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He has led the most laps (626) of any active driver and has 12 stage wins in the Next Gen car, which is the most in the series. No other driver has more than five stage wins.

Larson finished fourth in 2021 and won the race in 2022 but has been left feeling disappointed in the last two years.

In 2023, Larson was out of the race at Lap 214 after crashing into the pit road barriers while trying to pass Ryan Blaney for the lead. Last year, his chance to win ended when he spun out while racing Blaney for the lead with less than 20 laps remaining.

“I feel like every time I go there (to Homestead) you leave disappointed because you feel like you have the best car or truck, and things don’t work out,” Larson said this week. “Whether it’s mistakes on my end or ill-timed cautions combined with a hiccup on pit road, or whatever late in the race, and you end up losing.

“Literally all but maybe two or three races at Homestead I felt like we had the best car, best chance of winning, and we don’t have the wins to show for it.”

Rule clarification

NASCAR sent out a message to race teams in all three national series about pitting in another team’s pit stall. This came after Christopher Bell stopped in his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe’s pit stall to get a loose left wheel tightened during the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas last weekend.

If a vehicle gets service in another team’s pit stall for a safety issue, NASCAR said it will receive a flag status penalty. The team will either have to restart at the back of the field or get a pass-through penalty for pitting outside the assigned pit box.

Bell’s No. 20 Toyota had a loose left-front wheel when he was leaving pit road last week. If the wheel had come off after he left pit road, Bell would have been penalized two laps and two pit crew members would have been suspended for the next two races.

Instead, he stopped in Briscoe’s pit stall for service, was penalized for pitting outside the box, and only had to restart at the back of the field. He finished 12th.

NASCAR gave examples of safety issues, such as tightening loose wheels, removing a fuel can, or using a wedge wrench.

Hamlin’s new sponsor

Joe Gibbs Racing announced on Tuesday that they have signed an agreement with Progressive Insurance to sponsor Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota Camry in 18 NASCAR Cup Series races this season, starting with Sunday’s race in Homestead.

Progressive’s name and blue branding will be on Hamlin’s car and race suit, and his crew will wear Progressive-branded gear.

“It’s good for them (Joe Gibbs Racing) to have an anchor partner,” Hamlin said, “and certainly for my fans’ sake, they’re going to be able to identify me week-to-week. And I think that’s something that certainly is very important. So feeling out those 18 races is going to be a big deal for myself and Gibbs throughout the year.”

On the pole
Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman won the pole for Sunday’s race while driving a No. 48 Toyota that promotes the 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled, which just completed its first season in Miami.

It’s Bowman’s sixth career pole, and he was followed by Josh Berry — the winner at Las Vegas last weekend — Noah Gragson, Briscoe, and William Byron.