Posted on by Holly Cain

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In one of the most dramatic finishes of the season, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier took the lead on the final lap of overtime and held off his former teammate Sam Mayer for the win — the ultimate “Dash 4 Cash” in the Hard Rock Bet 300 Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

For much of the day, it looked like 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson would answer his win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday night. He led 132 of the 201 laps and held a 16-second advantage on the field when a caution flag flew with eight laps remaining, bunching up the field for that final overtime restart.

Larson chose the bottom lane for the restart, with second-place Mayer opting to pull his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford directly behind Larson’s No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet instead of on the front row alongside him. Just as the green flag flew for that final two laps, Mayer’s car hit the rear of Larson’s and knocked Larson’s Chevrolet out of shape.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Homestead

As that happened, the outside line of Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and Allgaier zoomed forward with Hill taking the race lead. A lap later, Allgaier caught Hill and got around him for the victory — his first top five in 16 Homestead races and the second straight win for the reigning series champion

Hill finished third after Mayer passed him as well on the last lap.

“Just a testament to this team,” the 39-year-old Allgaier said. “Honestly, it was looking like it was one those days that wasn’t our day. We got behind but were able to persevere and to get this Chevrolet to Victory Lane is special.

“I just feel like this place has gotten me so many times.”

“I was actually bummed to see the caution flag come out but it worked out in my favor,” Allgaier added. “I’m bummed I maybe got the [weekend] triple from Kyle [Larson] because I think he’s going to have a great shot at [winning] it tomorrow. But we were at the right place at the right time and I’m really proud of this race team.”

The final caution flag came for a spin by polesitter Taylor Gray of Joe Gibbs Racing. At the time, only five drivers were on the lead lap.

The last series of pit stops proved pivotal to those pursuing Larson. Twelve cars came out on the lead lap, eager to see what they could do in the closing sprint toward the checkered.

Larson, who won the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday night, looked well on his way to try and join Kyle Busch as the only drivers in NASCAR history to sweep three national series race wins in one weekend. In fact, he showed up in South Florida for the NASCAR weekend fresh off a sprint car win earlier in the week.

The outcome was understandably a huge disappointment for Larson, the frustration evident on his face as he climbed out of his Hendrick Chevrolet on pit road after the race.

“I’ve lived through it a number of times here, obviously a bummer to have another Homestead race play out that way,” said Larson, who finished fourth.

“I can’t go when my rear tires are off the ground,” he said of the contact from Mayer’s car on the restart. “I did everything I thought I could and the 41 just lagged back and slammed the [expletive] of me. Bummer, but cool to have had that big lead at the end.

“Loved to have gotten a win for everybody at the 17 car. They don’t get to race all the time, so it’s good we can run up front. Got one more opportunity at this [in the 17 car] in a few weeks and see if we can get it done then.”

WATCH: Larson calls Homestead finish a ‘bummer’

While the first half of Saturday’s race had all five of the day’s caution flags, Larson essentially put it in cruise control for the final 100 laps — and pulled a zip code ahead of Mayer, who doggedly pursued all afternoon.

“I unfortunately got to his [Larson] bumper a little too early,” Mayer said of the contact with Larson on that final restart. “He went really, really late in the box, just played games and that’s what you’ve got to do at this level to get the advantage. But he just waited really long and I wasn’t ready for him to wait that long.

“Anytime you’re finishing second you’re super bummed out but that’s a good day. We’re going to keep it going and try to get better.”

Not only did Allgaier get a trophy to take home, but he also won the first $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus check from series sponsor Xfinity. He, Mayer, third-place finisher Hill, and 10th-place finisher Jesse Love were all eligible for the extra pay based on their finishes last week at Las Vegas.

The second of the four Dash 4 Cash races is next Saturday at Martinsville Speedway, with Allgaier, Mayer, Hill and Sheldon Creed eligible to race for the next $100,000 bonus.

MORE: Dash 4 Cash hub | Xfinity Series standings

Love, JGR’s Brandon Jones and rookies Nick Sanchez, Daniel Dye and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top 10.

Allgaier is now the first series driver with multiple wins in 2025 and takes a 29-point lead in the championship standings over Mayer.

The Xfinity Series returns to competition next Saturday with the US Marine Corps 250 at Martinsville (5 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Aric Almirola is the defending race winner.

Note: Inspection in the Xfinity Series garage was completed without major issue, confirming Allgaier as the race winner. Four teams were flagged for having one unsecured lug nut each in a post-race check — the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevy and the No. 42 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet. Those infractions will result in a fine for each team in next week’s penalty report, according to guidelines in the NASCAR Rule Book.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Josh Berry’s maiden NASCAR Cup Series victory at Las Vegas last weekend may have come as a surprise to the racing world, but it was no fluke.

Six days removed from the Wood Brothers’ second win in as many seasons, Berry’s contemporaries had nothing but praise for the second-year Cup driver. From his success in late models to Xfinity Series success and now a trip to Victory Lane in NASCAR’s premier series, Berry’s rise came as no shock.

RELATED: Cup standings | Homestead lineup

“I expected him to win,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford. “I think for people that aren’t looking at it as close as we all do, maybe they didn’t, but I know Josh is capable.”

Preece, 34, has had a similar path to the Cup Series as Berry, grinding out years in the local scene, racing modifieds before landing his opportunities in the national series. Preece was also in sight of the No. 21 Ford as the checkered flag waved last weekend as he matched a career best third-place finish at Vegas.

Along with Preece, Chase Briscoe was teammates with Berry in the final season for Stewart-Haas Racing last year. Briscoe scored his first Cup win in 2022 at Phoenix Raceway and returned to Victory Lane in rousing fashion last year by holding off Kyle Busch to win the Southern 500.

Briscoe saw Berry winning in Cup as a guarantee based on how Josh ran across certain races in 2024.

“Josh was gonna win a race. Like, there was never a question,” Briscoe said. “Even in the 4 car last year, there was weeks where he was up in the mix and it just never ended up playing out where he was able to win the race. Josh is a great race car driver, the 21 car’s a great car, too. I would say it surprised me how early in the season they were able to win. But I definitely felt like Josh was going to be one of those guys that feel like was kind of similar to me in the 14 where if you won a race, it’s kind of surprising but they are in the mix every now and then.”

In William Byron’s teenage years, he raced with Berry on the late-model scene before landing a full-time ride in the Truck Series and then raced for JR Motorsports in 2017 where he won the Xfinity Series championship.

Berry also raced with JRM from 2021-2023, collecting five wins before moving up to the Cup ranks.

“I reached out to him. Josh and I grew up together racing late models, so I felt the need to reach out,” Byron said. “I felt happy for him. That was cool. Good for them. Good for the Wood Brothers. They did a good job there towards the end of the race, and really the last couple weekends, they have been strong.”

Michael McDowell has raced in the Cup Series since 2008 and has seen all sorts of drivers come and go at the top level, as well as seen a lot of drivers reach the pinnacle of grabbing a checkered flag. With his first Cup win not coming until season 14 of his career in the 2021 Daytona 500, McDowell understood just how meaningful Berry’s win was for the sport.

“It’s always very interesting because as a competitor you’re like ‘oh man, should have been us, right?’ That’s how you feel. But when you get home and you watch the race, and you see it from a fan, it’s just really cool,” McDowell explained. “He’s worked really hard to be in this sport and he’s got a great opportunity with the Wood Brothers and with Team Penske to do something special, and he did. It’s cool to see it work out. It’s cool to see the hard work pays off and grinding it out. So I think it’s awesome. I think it’s really cool for the sport.”

Berry may very well return to Victory Lane sooner rather than later as he will start on the front row Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway alongside polesitter Alex Bowman.

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway
Location: Homestead, Florida
Track length: 1.5 miles
When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,055,250
Race distance: 267 laps | 400 miles
Stages: 80 | 165 | 267
Defending winner: Tyler Reddick, October 2024
Starting lineup: Alex Bowman wins Busch Light Pole

Homestead-Miami looms as true test for Cup Series field

“It’s just fun.” — Kyle Larson, 2022 Homestead-Miami winner

“The driver can make a huge difference.” — Tyler Reddick, 2024 Homestead-Miami winner

“It’s a fun track, for sure. It’s a challenging race track.” — Joey Logano, 2018 Homestead-Miami winner

No matter who you ask, Homestead-Miami Speedway is among the drivers’ favorite tracks on the NASCAR schedule.

“This is a favorite for myself and I think a lot of the guys in the field because you feel like, as a driver, when you come here, you actually make a bigger difference than other race tracks we go,” Chase Briscoe said Saturday.

MORE: Cup standings | Full 2025 schedule

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to the 1.5-mile oval for the Straight Talk Wireless 400 on Sunday, the second of two consecutive mile-and-a-half tracks on the schedule. What separates it from last week’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — and other intermediate tracks on the calendar — are its abrasive surface and progressive banking that create multiple lanes for drivers to put their talents to the test with the added benefit of driving into cleaner air.

“A lot of tracks, it’s kind of one-thing-fits-all — like you have to drive it this way,” Briscoe said. “Where here, you can run the wall; you can run the bottom; you can run the middle. Your car changes so much throughout the run that you can do different things to make up time. A Kyle Larson or a Reddick, you could put them in a bad Xfinity car and they’re going to be able to get that car way higher just because of drivers’ feel here. At other tracks, you just can’t do that.”

NASCAR Cup Series drivers race at Homestead-Miami.
James Gilbert | Getty Images

With a surface that was last repaved in 2003, the abrasive aggregate creates significant tire wear that drivers must manage as well.

“I think there’s a combination between the tire wear that you have at this track versus the way the track sets up itself,” Denny Hamlin said. “So really, you can make a lot of different moves. You can cut distance or you can try to keep momentum, and that’s sometimes something that has to be fluid throughout a run. And so as a driver, you have a lot of tools at your disposal when you come to this track to change your line, to help the race car do things that it’s not doing well at the time. It’s just a lot of off-throttle time, and usually, any time you have to use both pedals, the driver’s tested more.”

MORE: Full Saturday recap

In the corners, Larson and Reddick are renowned for their ability to pin their cars against the wall — centimeters from the SAFER barrier — with the momentum coming off the banking propelling them down the frontstretch. Their fellow competitors take notice each trip to South Florida, perhaps with a tinge of envy.

“There are the lines that everybody runs — and then there’s Larson’s line that he’s really freaking good at, and he showed it again (Friday) night,” Logano said, noting how Larson rode the high groove to a Craftsman Truck Series win. “Yes, I expect him to be solid up there again, but there’s a lot of different lanes, for sure, and it’s fun as a driver to be able to move around, whether it’s short run versus long run or top versus bottom.”

Ultimately, Homestead serves as a litmus test that proves which drivers can adapt to the changing conditions and which struggle. Larson cautioned, though, that Homestead isn’t exactly a make-or-break track.

“There are guys that aren’t that good here that are great at other tracks,” Larson said. “For me, obviously I’m great here, but there’s tracks I struggle. So I don’t know if you can really just solely (say) if somebody’s good here, that means they’re a great race-car driver. I think it’s still (that) certain tracks and styles suit drivers’ styles, so I don’t know.

“But I like being good here because it’s fun.”

From atop the pit box …

What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?

The worn-out surface at Homestead-Miami combined with its progressive banking — 18 degrees on the bottom of the turns and a steeper 20 degrees near the wall — provides drivers with multiple lanes to utilize the speed of their cars. That offers an interesting challenge for the crew chiefs dealt with preparing those vehicles.

“The thing about setting up a car for this track is you have to be versatile, right?” Travis Peterson, crew chief of Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Chevrolet, told NASCAR.com on Saturday. “You have to be able to run low, you have to be able to run high. You have to be good when the pace is two seconds faster and your attitude of the car is completely different. So a lot of it is about building a car that’s versatile for all the changing conditions at Homestead.”

RELATED: See where drivers will pit for Sunday’s race

The South Florida sun significantly contributes to the grip level of the track. Saturday’s practice kicked off at 1 p.m. ET Saturday under sunny skies with ambient temperatures around 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Sunday’s race is forecasted by AccuWeather to go green under “hazy sunshine” with temps around 80 degrees at 3 p.m. ET. Though the differences seem minute, crew chiefs are plugged into every detail.

“As the weekend goes here specifically, it’s going to get hotter, and we’ll practice earlier in the day here and then race later into the day, kind of at peak temperature,” said Blake Harris, crew chief of Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet, before the team won the pole for Sunday’s 267-lap event. “So really just trying to find the balance of the car for all those conditions because you still need to practice well, you need to qualify well and get a good pit stall and get some track position to start off. And some of those things are a little bit different than what you necessarily will need at the end of the race.”

NASCAR Cup Series cars pit at Homestead-Miami.
James Gilbert | Getty Images

Strategy will still come into play Sunday, particularly through long green-flag runs and timing appointments to pit road. But the abrasive surface at Homestead makes decisions much easier to make.

“To some extent, it does simplify it from a strategy standpoint because you’re really running to the end of tire life,” Peterson said, “and you’re not really probably ever considering two (tires) unless you’re just throwing a Hail Mary because you’re gonna need four tires every time. You’re gonna pit because of tires, not because of fuel, and you’re gonna do whatever that says.

“Now, given that, depending on the fall-off curve of each race and the way the segments play out, you could be looking at two stops, one stop, three stops, right? There’s different things that could pop up depending on the fall-off. So it opens one channel with the multiple pit stops, but it closes several others in terms of options you have because if you came down and took two, you’re gonna get obliterated.”

History tells us …

Want to win at Homestead? Lead often. In six of the last seven Cup races at Homestead, the driver who led the most laps has gone on to win the race. The only exception since 2018 has been Christopher Bell, who surged to the victory in October 2023 after leading 26 laps, fourth-best that day.

He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …

RYAN PREECE. The newest RFK Racing driver has had quite the couple of weeks behind the wheel of the No. 60 Ford, scoring significant stage points en route to a 15th-place finish at Phoenix Raceway on an alternate strategy and backing it up one week later at Las Vegas, where he finished third. In two Next Gen starts at Homestead, Preece has finished 13th (2023) and 10th (2024). On the heels of a strong run at a 1.5-mile track one week ago, perhaps another is on deck for Preece on Sunday.

Fantasy update

NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup.

Practice and qualifying left me flustered on Saturday. The six drivers that were featured in my lineup to begin the weekend cracked the top eight in 10-lap averages during practice, but just two of them (William Byron and Ryan Blaney) qualified inside the top 10. Noah Gragson is a sleeper for Sunday, tying the best qualifying effort of his career (third) and ranking inside the top 10 in all practice categories. The lone switch for me this weekend is replacing Carson Hocevar with Bubba Wallace, who topped the chart on 10- and 15-lap averages.

Lineup: Kyle Larson, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace

Garage: Denny Hamlin

RELATED: More deep dives in Fantasy Fastlane

Speed reads

Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
• NASCAR clarifies pit-road rules: Christopher Bell’s Vegas stop in Briscoe’s box signals specification | Read more
• Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 | Read more
• Turning Point to Miami: On Josh Berry’s ability to contend for a championship and a favorable slate for Kyle Larson | Read more
• Photos to frame: Best shots so far from Homestead-Miami Speedway | Read more
• NASCAR Classics: Rewind the tape on past Cup races at Homestead-Miami | Watch races
• Paint Scheme Preview: See the fun under the sun from Homestead-Miami | View gallery

Posted on by Holly Cain

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — One of the more heralded rookies this season is former Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen, who turned heads and earned high praise for his historic victory at the Chicago Street Course two years ago in his first NASCAR Cup Series start.

With a strong background in road and street courses before coming to America as a full-time NASCAR Competitor, the 35-year-old New Zealand native said it has been a legitimate learning curve in the Cup Series on the ovals.

His lone top-10 result of the year in the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet came at the Circuit of The Americas road course. He says it has been an education on the assortment of long and short ovals in this first full Cup Series schedule. Twice — in the last two races at Phoenix and Las Vegas — he’s been collected in crashes not of his own doing.

RELATED: Homestead-Miami schedule | At-track photos

“I feel like we’ve showed a lot of promise, but we have nothing to show for it, really,” van Gisbergen said. “COTA was a good day, but on the ovals we’ve really struggled and we’ve had a lot of accidents and they haven’t really been our fault.

“It’s really tough results-wise but I see a lot of potential and speed. Just got to put it together and get to the end of the races and things will start clicking for us, I think.”

“It has been hard because I’m not really known for crashing too much and not finishing, so it’s been a bit of a pain really,” van Gisbergen added. “Just have to stay out of trouble and get through it. The first stage we’re always going good and improving and thinking the rest of the race is going to be good then something seems to happen, so hopefully we stop that this weekend.”

Van Gisbergen will roll off 35th for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Holly Cain

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman provided a dramatic final few minutes of Busch Light Pole Qualifying Saturday afternoon, claiming the pole position for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With only four cars remaining in the session, Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet set a fast lap of 168.845 mph around the 1.5-mile track, knocking Front Row Motorsports’ Noah Gragson from the lead position he held for most of the qualifying session.

RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos: Homestead

Josh Berry, last week’s Las Vegas Motor Speedway race winner for the Wood Brothers Racing team, took the track immediately after and nearly equaled Bowman’s lap. Instead, his No. 21 Ford was timed a mere 0.073 seconds off the pole-winning pace, earning a front-row spot alongside the Hendrick Motorsports driver.

This is Bowman’s sixth career pole position and first at Homestead, a place the 32-year-old Arizona native doesn’t necessarily consider one of his historically better tracks. He has only a pair of top-10 finishes, but his best outcome — seventh place — came in the series’ most recent Homestead visit last October.

“There were some cars not so great on the short run and really fast on the long run, and we were kind of the opposite of that practice. We were really faster in the short run and not great on the long-run stuff, so I knew qualifying was going to be really important because of that and that we had some work to do for tomorrow,” Bowman said, “But for me, I had a pretty clear-cut plan for qualifying, and I thought I was able to execute that pretty well and my race car gave me what I needed to do that.”

Gragson will start third, followed by Daytona 500 polesitter Chase Briscoe in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

“We’re still really fast, but I’ve never gotten a pole in the Cup Series, but our Beef-a-Roo Mustang is pretty quick on the short run,” said Gragson, driver of the No. 4 FRM Ford. “We just need to get a little better for the long run, and we’re up in the hunt, so that’s good.”

Intermittent clouds cooled the 74-degree afternoon, and, as Bowman alluded to, several of the fastest cars in practice did not necessarily fare as well in actual qualifying.

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace set the top pace in Group B practice, for example, but was only the ninth-quickest in qualifying. Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, a fellow Toyota pilot, was second — just behind Wallace — in that practice session but ended up only 28th-quickest on the starting grid.

MORE: Weekend schedule, results: Homestead

Conversely, Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger, who was 25th-fastest in that Group 2 practice session, will start the race from 10th position. Berry, still basking in his first career win last week at Las Vegas, was 31st in practice but will start from the front row.

Defending race winner Tyler Reddick was 20th in qualifying. Kyle Larson will roll off 14th in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, the season’s winningest driver, was 16th in qualifying. A three-time winner already, he is trying to become only the third driver in NASCAR modern day history — joining Hall of Famers Bill Elliott (1992) and Dale Earnhardt (1987) — to win four of the opening six races.

Bubba Wallace leads Cup Series practice

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace topped the leaderboard in practice at 166.955 mph, besting Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones (166.826 mph) and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson (166.713 mph).

Noah Gragson (166.626 mph) and Christopher Bell (166.507 mph) rounded out the top five.

MORE: Cup Series practice results

Chase Briscoe (166.466 mph), Alex Bowman (166.328 mph), Denny Hamlin (166.287 mph), Tyler Reddick (166.220 mph) and Michael McDowell (166.077 mph) completed the top 10.

Wallace also led the way in the 10-consecutive-lap-averages category in the No. 23 Toyota.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Josh Williams will start Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but Ty Dillon will be on standby to replace Williams in the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet after the green flag.

Dillon will practice and qualify the vehicle on Saturday morning, the team said in a statement, with Williams set to start the race and accumulate points based on Dillon’s results. Points are awarded only to the driver who starts the race.

MORE: Homestead-Miami schedule | Xfinity standings

“Josh Williams will remain out of the No. 11 Chevrolet during NASCAR Xfinity Series practice and qualifying due to his continued struggles with pneumonia,” Kaulig Racing said in a statement. “Ty Dillon will fill in. Williams will take the green flag at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Dillon on standby for a potential in-race swap.

Williams, a native of Port Charlotte, Florida, was forced to step out of the car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after Stage 1 also due to lingering effects of his illness stemming from the March 2 weekend at Circuit of The Americas. A Kaulig Racing spokesperson confirmed to NASCAR.com that Williams refused treatment from the infield care center after stepping out of the car. On short notice, Dillon also filled in for Williams to complete the event, finishing 29th, six laps down.

Posted on by Cameron Richardson

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — The Truck Series field gave a show under the lights in South Florida on a crisp, cool evening at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kyle Larson rallied from outside the top 20 after a final-stage spin to take the lead with three laps to go and win the opening frame of his quest for a tripleheader sweep this weekend.

But that’s just one side of a late-race bonanza that saw Layne Riggs and Corey Heim dice and slice it up for the lead before Larson’s triumph.

Twice over, it appeared the No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota, driven by Heim, would prevail after clearing Ross Chastain for the lead with 30 to go. However, the engine shut off on Heim, allowing Riggs and Chastain to pass the 22-year-old driver. Heim got his truck cycled back to power and he stormed back out front with 11 to go … and then it happened again.

Down the frontstretch with four to go, Heim lost power a second time, allowing Riggs to take point. The No. 11 got rolling again, but only to settle for a third-place result.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

“Just no warning,” Heim lamented. “Engine would hard cut on me, go completely dark. The motor would have no power, and I’d have to fully recycle the power with my right hand. It’s about the most random and most recent sting, I guess, just having that good of a truck. Kind of reminds me of Charlotte last year. Everyone executed great. Everyone controlled what they could control tonight. Just, man, I don’t know why it had to happen with 15 to go. Fifteen more laps and we would’ve been totally fine.”

Heim led a race-high 78 laps and swept the first two stages to salvage not having a Homestead trophy.

One of the few drivers that was in the mix all night long was Riggs. With finishes of third and sixth in Stages 1 and 2, respectively, the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports driver was in line for a productive top-five result to match his Las Vegas Motor Speedway run last weekend.

By the time the final stage got rolling, however, Riggs became a true player to score a statement first win of 2025, battling Chastain and Heim for the lead in the final 30 laps.

Both times Heim’s truck slowed, Riggs was the benefactor, and nabbing the lead with four to go appeared to be the golden ticket to the checkered flag and a playoff berth. But Larson, whose spin came from contact with the No. 34, had an absolute rocket in his No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and took the win away from Riggs with two laps to go, pinning Riggs to a runner-up result.

“I’m sure I’ll probably be more emotional when I go back and watch it but when you’re in the heat of the battle, you’re just so focused on your line just trying to keep all four wheels under you,” Riggs said. “You see stuff happening. Like, I knew I took the lead, but it’s not like ‘oooo, I took the lead,’ it’s just like, ‘OK, there’s another position. Just got to stay focused to the end’ and I got a little excited there a couple times racing for the lead, and got free and kind of spun my rear tires and got them hot and that definitely hurt us in the end.”

Riggs also discussed the tango with Larson that caused minor left-rear damage to the No. 34 truck.

“I think he just dive-bombed in there and got free up under me and hit me in the left rear,” Riggs said. “I’m kind of disappointed about it because it definitely took some speed out of the truck. Down the straightaways, it was just super draggy. That left-rear quarter panel is a super sensitive area on these trucks and we work really hard to make them have good shape to run good. I was at a deficit still, but we were still fast enough to run up front with the 11 and lead the thing.”

Heim’s Daytona win already put the No. 11 into the postseason, so both himself and Tricon co-owner David Gilliland are already looking ahead to what’s next with the goal in mind of making it to the Championship 4 at Phoenix for a third consecutive season.

“Our goal is Phoenix at the end of the year,” Gilliland said. “We’re going to focus on the positives out of here. Obviously, find out what happened and why it happened, and make sure it don’t happen again. Electrical issues are the worst, but I thought Corey held his composure well in the truck. It happened and he drove back up there and still had a chance to win if it wouldn’t have happened again, right? So to me, that’s what we’re working on. That’s what every race before Phoenix is about.”

Corey Heim and Tricon Garage owner David Gilliland speak after a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami.
Zach Sturniolo | NASCAR Digital Media

As for Riggs, the 22-year-old is maintaining the stellar form he flashed at the end of 2024 and has already pocketed two top fives in the first four races this season compared to just one top 10 in nine races early the year prior. He sits eighth in driver’s points.

“I almost out-Larson’d the Larson,” Riggs said. “I was running the top all night long, and I think me and him were the only ones entering on the fence in [Turn] 1. I learned a whole lot tonight. I ran here last year, and I got kind of close to the wall, but just not really as close as we were tonight.

“Everybody looks at me as a short-track racer. He’s just a short track guy. But now, I think we’re proving that I can race at any of these race tracks. Even the road courses coming up, I’m looking forward to those. I’m showing that I’m a diverse driver and that I can make it happen anywhere.”

Posted on by Staff Report

This weekend, NASCAR unveiled its latest multi-million dollar investment in Studio 43, a state-of-the-art production facility that debuted during the Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The new studio, utilized by The CW beginning with the Xfinity Series Hard Rock Bet 300 on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), is set to revolutionize race broadcasts with its advanced extended reality (XR) stage and cutting-edge virtual production capabilities.

RELATED: How to watch NASCAR on The CW

Spanning 1,550 square feet, Studio 43 is large enough to accommodate car shoots and multiple sets, but the real game-changer is its 57-foot-long, 14-foot-high XR wall, packed with more than 23 million pixels and camera-tracking technology. This allows for the creation of hyperreal virtual environments, making the on-screen experience nearly indistinguishable from reality.

This marks one of the most advanced studios of its kind in the country, with capabilities rivaling top-tier media networks in Los Angeles and New York. The closest comparable studio is located in Atlanta, making Studio 43 a groundbreaking addition to NASCAR’s Charlotte-based production facilities.

NASCAR fans saw it all in action during The CW’s broadcast of the Xfinity Series race — further elevating a season that has already seen record viewership growth.

The XR stage is the result of a collaboration between NASCAR Productions, NASCAR Studios and Raleigh-based Provost Studio. With Studio 43 now in play, NASCAR is pushing the boundaries of broadcast innovation, ensuring fans get an immersive race-day experience like never before.

In addition to debuting the XR studio, the CW will also utilize the capabilities of the NASCAR Production Facility to implement a remote broadcast booth for the live Xfinity Series telecast. Remote broadcast booths have become more frequent across all sports in recent years and are something that allows the team calling the race the opportunity to have more camera angles, data and insights and content in front of them at one time and maintain, if not increase, the quality of the race broadcast.

For a handful of races, the state-of-the-art capabilities at the NASCAR Production Facility will be utilized for a remote broadcast booth throughout the 2025 season.

Studio 43 debuted March 22 on The CW, starting with the NASCAR Xfinity Series pre-race show at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Posted on by Holly Cain

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Kyle Larson made a dramatic run to the checkered flag, rallying from a late-race spinout to methodically race back through the field and pass the night’s most dominant trucks in the final 10 laps to claim victory in Friday’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

It was a fittingly remarkable end to a typically competitive night in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Larson spun his No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet with 45 laps remaining in the 134-lapper and dropped out of the top 20. But the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion drove back through the field and moved forward, picking off one frontrunner after another.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Larson, who is entered in all three NASCAR national series races at the 1.5-mile South Florida track this weekend, passed Front Row Motorsports rookie Layne Riggs with two laps to go and never looked back, finishing 1.340 seconds ahead of the field.

The night’s most dominant driver, Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim finished third after leading a race-best 78 laps.

“I wasn’t exactly sure if I could get back up there,” said Larson, who has four wins in only 16 series starts — two in his last four races. “I didn’t have the restart I wanted, took a little bit too long to start picking them off and then just got ripping the wall and it paid dividends for me in [Turns] 1 and 2.”

Larson acknowledged that Heim — who won two of the first three races this season — looked tough all race and was unquestionably the truck to beat. There was a problem with Heim’s motor in the closing laps — his truck suddenly started intermittently shutting off then restoring power in the closing 20 laps.

“Not sure what happened to the 11 [Heim], but that worked out in our favor for sure,” Larson said. “I don’t think I would have gotten to him [otherwise]. Obviously, I would have gotten to second, probably, but that would have been tough to get to him. That last run was a lot of fun.”

MORE: Corey Heim talks ‘sting’ after late issues plague dominant day

Heim was understandably disappointed standing on pit road after the race. His No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota started from the pole position, swept both stage wins and led the most laps.

“I feel like we were lights out, the best truck tonight, think we should’ve won the race by six, seven seconds at the end there,” Heim said. “I feel like at the beginning of the runs, I knew what we were capable of and let those guys get away, burn their stuff up and then, fly past them.

“I don’t know exactly what was going on. Never really had an issue like that. I’d be totally fine, and the engine would just hard cut [out] on me. Dash would go black and have no power until I fully cycled it. So, I was coasting for six seconds trying to turn the power switch and turn it back (on). I don’t know.

“Felt I ran a really good race, saving tires and would mow them down on the long runs there. This No. 11 Tundra TRD Pro was really, really good. This just stinks pretty bad.”

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammates Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Hemric rounded out the top-five finishers. Floridian Ross Chastain, who competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, led 33 laps in the No. 44 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet but finished sixth.

ThorSport Racing’s Jake Garcia was seventh, followed by Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith, CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger and Niece’s Kaden Honeycutt, who rallied to 10th-place showing from a late race penalty that dropped him to 27th in the field.

As for potentially claiming a weekend three-race sweep, Larson said, “I felt like the Truck race was probably going to be the toughest to win, I don’t have much experience in them and the runs are typically shorter. I feel better about Xfinity and Cup, but the competition keeps getting tough and tougher as you get on with the weekend, but we’ll see. Off to a good start.”

WATCH: Larson on chances for weekend sweep

With his third-place effort, Heim takes over the championship lead and holds an eight-point advantage over reigning series champ Ty Majeski and a 27-point buffer over Smith for third.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to action next Friday night at Martinsville Speedway with the Boys and Girls Club of the Blue Ridge 200 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Rado Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Now Xfinity Series rookie Christian Eckes won the race last year.

NOTE: Inspection in the Craftsman Truck Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Larson as the winner.