Homestead-Miami Speedway continues to be an unlucky track for Kyle Larson. While he has won both a NASCAR Cup Series and an Xfinity Series race at the South Florida track, the list of disappointments there is far longer for the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Kyle Larson Laments Another Lost Victory at Homestead
Chasing a rare tripleheader victory at Homestead, Larson suffered yet another heartbreak at the track. He entered the Cup, Xfinity, and Craftsman Truck races over the weekend. If he had won all three, he would have been the first NASCAR driver to sweep a tripleheader weekend since Kyle Busch in 2017.
Recovering from a late-race spin, Larson pulled off an impressive comeback win in the Truck Series on Friday. He also looked to be in full control Saturday in the Xfinity Series race, holding a 16-second lead.
But a late caution and a critical overtime restart collision with Sam Mayer cost him the win.
A bump from Mayer on the restart knocked the Cup Series champion out of contention for the historic three-series sweep. Larson had to settle for fourth after leading 132 of 201 laps.
Larson also missed the chance to become only the second driver in history to win all three NASCAR National Series races in a single weekend. Busch remains the only driver to do it, having pulled it off twice at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017.
“Bummer, again, to have another Homestead race play out that way,” Larson said after the race. “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.”
“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.”
In his 11 career Cup starts at Homestead, Larson has five top-five finishes, including two with the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He leads all active drivers with 626 laps led at the track and holds a series-best 12 stage wins in the Next Gen car — more than double any other driver.
Despite his record, Larson hasn’t found enough success at the track. He’s had too many near-misses there, and this was just another added to the list.
