Homestead hijinks ensue as playoffs heat up

Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the final race for NASCAR’s Cup, Xfinity, and Craftsman Truck Series for two decades before relinquishing the slot to Phoenix Raceway, but its current slot in the penultimate round of the playoffs still makes it a viable site for championship implications.

In the Cup Series, it was a battle of the B’s as Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and William Byron fought to clinch their spot in the final round. Although Byron had the upper hand on the final restart following Denny Hamlin‘s wreck, Bell passed him with sixteen laps to go to take it for himself.

Bell had to fight for every position after finishing a dismal twenty-second in Stage #2 while Blaney won the stage.

“Today was just a whirlwind, for sure,” said Bell. “To be able to overcome and to be in that bad of a spot, I was a quarter straightaway from going a lap down. It was just incredible the difference a couple pit stop adjustments will do to your car. I’ve always been one that says that the car is everything. The driver’s job is to maximise the car. If the car is fast, you do good. If the car is slow, you do bad. I think today was the epitome of that.

“We were really struggling. I was the slowest car on the track at one point in the race. A couple good adjustments later, we became one of the fastest ones.”

Kyle Larson won the first stage and led a race-high ninety-six laps, but retired after a bizarre accident on lap 214 in which he slammed into the sand barrels at the entrance to pit road; Sheldon Creed suffered the same fate in the 2020 Truck Series race at Homestead, while Kurt Busch nearly did the same in the 2004 Cup event here. Fortunately for Larson, he is already assured a spot in the finale thanks to his win at Las Vegas, incidentally over Bell.

At the Xfinity level, Sam Mayer scored his first oval win after keeping last week’s winner Riley Herbst at bay on the final lap. The win locks Mayer into the Championship Round with one race to go. On the opposite end, Creed’s gamble to stay out on older tyres with thirty laps remaining blew up as he restarted as the leader only to fall out of the top ten after one lap, and his subsequent finish of twenty-sixth leaves him in must-win territory.

While Creed and Hamlin still have one final shot to qualify for the Championship, Homestead was the end of the road for reigning Truck Series champion Zane Smith, Ty Majeski, Nick Sanchez, and Christian Eckes. The drivers comprising the Championship Round all finished first through fourth led by Carson Hocevar.

To add insult to injury, Smith was eventually disqualified for an illegal windshield support. Although he originally finished second, he needed to win to advance.

“We are disappointed in the disqualification from today’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event,” reads a statement from his Front Row Motorsports team. “We will continue to work and discuss with NASCAR officials back at the NACAR R&D Center in Concord, N.C. before making any further comment.”

Cup race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	13	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	Running
2	10	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	267	Running
3	3	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	267	Running
4	7	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
5	25	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	267	Running
6	2	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	267	Running
7	9	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	267	Running
8	36	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	267	Running
9	30	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	267	Running
10	6	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	267	Running
11	22	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	267	Running
12	26	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	267	Running
13	29	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	267	Running
14	19	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	267	Running
15	16	9	Chase Elliott^	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
16	14	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	267	Running
17	21	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	267	Running
18	18	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	267	Running
19	12	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
20	20	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	267	Running
21	17	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	267	Running
22	15	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	267	Running
23	27	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	267	Running
24	33	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	266	Running
25	32	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	266	Running
26	34	51	Ryan Newman*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	265	Running
27	23	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	263	Running
28	4	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	262	Running
29	1	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	237	Engine
30	11	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	236	Accident
31	8	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	221	Accident
32	24	42	John Hunter Nemechek*	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	218	Accident
33	31	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	218	Accident
34	5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	214	Accident
35	35	78	Josh Bilicki*	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	201	Accident
36	28	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	165	Overheating

Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Currently in owner playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points

Xfinity race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	13	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
2	7	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	200	Running
3	2	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
4	4	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
5	23	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
6	15	10	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
7	10	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	200	Running
8	17	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
9	5	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
10	11	19	Joe Graf Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
11	20	11	Derek Kraus	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
12	16	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
13	1	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	199	Running
14	14	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	199	Running
15	3	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	Running
16	18	91	Kyle Weatherman	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
17	26	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
18	33	44	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
19	29	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	Running
20	28	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
21	22	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
22	25	38	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	199	Running
23	27	45	Leland Honeyman	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
24	37	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
25	36	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	198	Running
26	9	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	198	Running
27	35	08	Mason Massey	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	198	Running
28	31	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	197	Running
29	34	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	Running
30	19	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	194	Running
31	21	24	Connor Mosack	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	190	Electrical
32	8	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	171	Accident
33	30	29	Mason Maggio*	RSS Racing	Ford	153	Electrical
34	12	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	138	Engine
35	6	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	97	Accident
36	32	74	Dawson Cram	CHK Racing	Chevrolet	65	Accident
37	38	28	C.J. McLaughlin	RSS Racing	Ford	37	Carburetor
38	24	66	Ryan Newman	MBM Motorsports	Ford	27	Rear Gear
DNQ		53	Matt Mills	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota
DNQ		4	J.J. Yeley	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		07	Natalie Decker	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet

Truck race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
2	21	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Ford	134	Running
3	8	11	Corey Heim	TRICON Garage	Toyota	134	Running
4	3	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	134	Running
5	17	41	Bayley Currey	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
6	9	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	134	Running
7	22	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Ford	134	Running
8	13	24	Rajah Caruth	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	134	Running
9	4	98	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Ford	134	Running
10	14	4	Chase Purdy	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
11	6	15	Tanner Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	134	Running
12	11	51	Jack Wood	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	134	Running
13	12	17	Taylor Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	134	Running
14	32	25	Trevor Bayne*	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	134	Running
15	15	35	Jake Garcia	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	133	Running
16	5	5	Dean Thompson	TRICON Garage	Toyota	133	Running
17	1	2	Nick Sanchez	Rev Racing	Chevrolet	133	Running
18	27	7	Marco Andretti	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	133	Running
19	23	45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	133	Running
20	10	19	Christian Eckes	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	133	Running
21	19	43	Daniel Dye	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	133	Running
22	26	56	Tyler Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	133	Running
23	25	20	Nick Leitz	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	133	Running
24	18	02	Brad Pérez*	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	133	Running
25	16	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	133	Running
26	33	30	Jonathan Shafer	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	132	Running
27	29	22	Mason Maggio	AM Racing	Ford	131	Running
28	20	13	Hailie Deegan	ThorSport Racing	Ford	131	Running
29	31	33	Memphis Villarreal	Reaume Brothers Racing	Ford	131	Running
30	24	9	Colby Howard	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	129	Running
31	34	46	Armani Williams	G2G Racing	Toyota	121	Running
32	28	04	Spencer Davis	Roper Racing	Ford	65	Electrical
33	30	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	50	Electrical
34	7	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	134	Running (DSQ)

Underline – Eliminated from playoffs