SAD NEWS: NASCAR announced that Kyle Larson is Leaving immediately after Facing…..
Larson fell one race short of sweeping the triple-header weekend.
He won the Craftsman Truck race on Friday and finished fourth in the Xfinity Series on Saturday despite leading 132 of 201 laps.
He was hoping to join Kyle Busch as the only drivers to sweep a triple-header weekend — Busch did it at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017.
Larson will take another shot at a sweep in Bristol next month.
He said he was motivated by Saturday’s result, when a late caution essentially cost him a race he had dominated. It was an all-to-familiar feeling of disappointment at Homestead despite Larson historically driving very well there.
“Proud of myself. Proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty hard work there today,” Larson said. “Super pumped. One of the coolest wins I think in my Cup career just because of all the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday. To just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”
He was far from dominant on Sunday. Larson led just 19 of 267 laps, had to climb from 14th-place starting position and overcame pit road mishaps and bad restarts to pull off the win – his first victory of the season and first in the Cup Series at Homestead since 2022.
“Given past history, I just wanted to take the green flag and kick everybody’s ass today,” Larson said. “I wanted to get to the lead early and just dominate like I was yesterday. Then the green flag flew, and it was like the opposite. I was going backwards and getting [mad] in the helmet.
“After 10 laps or so, I forgot about the wanting to kick everybody’s ass all race long. It was like, ‘All right, let’s try to and work hard at this and get a win.'”
Bowman, who was Saturday’s pole winner, finished second in the No. 48 Chevrolet. Bubba Wallace was third for 23XI Racing after leading 56 laps — the most laps he’s led in a race since September 2023. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Ryan Blaney was running third when his engine blew up on Lap 207, causing a thick cloud of smoke to cover the track and a lengthy cleanup.
It had been a strong race for Blaney before then. He led 124 laps and won Stage 1 after starting sixth. It was the second time in three races that Blaney did not finish a race because of an engine failure with his No. 12 Team Penske Ford.
“It just stinks,” Blaney said. “Led a lot of laps. Lost a little bit of track position there with some stuff on pit road but got back to third.
And it was a great race between me, Bubba and Larson. … It was going to be a heck of a battle the last 60 laps or so but just didn’t really work out for us. We’ll keep our head up.
“It’s one of those things where it’s not really going our way right now, but the good news is we’re bringing fast cars.”
Beyond his own struggles, Chase Elliott has also weighed in on one of NASCAR’s option tire debates. NASCAR has been tweaking its short-track package for years, but the results have been mixed. The Next Gen cars have made passing more difficult, leading to races where track position is more important than raw speed. To combat this, NASCAR and Goodyear have introduced a softer “option” tire.
It has been designed to wear out faster and create more strategy-based racing. Some drivers support the change, while others remain skeptical.
The 2020 Cup series champion Elliott likes the changes.
When asked about improvement in racing at short tracks the HMS driver gave a blunt yet honest response.
“It seems like it’s better, for sure. And it seems like it’s large in part due to the tire. Maybe we’re onto something there,” he told the media.
His comments reflected the void in the NASCAR garage.
When drivers like Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin outrightly deny any improvement, Elliott has taken a different stance.
However, the final verdict will be out in a few days as the NASCAR caravan moves to Martinsville for the first short-track race of the 2025 season.
While it tests NASCAR’s tire plans, it also serves as an opportunity for Elliott to make a comeback.
Let’s look at why exactly is Elliott under the radar. For starters, in the first six races of the 2025 season, the HMS racer had led just 2 laps, as opposed to Byron’s 111, Larson’s 92, and Bowman’s 62.
On top of that, Chase Elliott’s latest performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway was frustrating, to say the least.
He finished a disappointing 18th, while his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Larson and Bowman were battling for the win.
As Elliott was struggling to match the race leaders, he faced a penalty when he almost collided with Ryan Blaney in pit lane.
Notably, this was Elliott’s back-to-back penalty in the last two races reflecting his struggling season.
Teammate Byron, fresh off his second straight Daytona 500 win, has been a constant threat on race day.
Larson, who just won at Homestead-Miami, has been leading laps and contending for victories nearly every weekend.
Meanwhile, Bowman has also been in the mix, coming close to winning at Homestead before a late mistake cost him the race.
What’s more? Byron, Larson, and Bowman are also occupying the Top-3 spots in the Cup Series points standings, while Elliott sits at 6th—high for the world, but low if you look at HMS’ caliber.
So, as expected, the HMS executives are definitely struggling to accept this unexpected reality.
Oh, man, couldn’t feel any better,” Chase Elliott had said after crossing the finish line at Texas Motor Speedway in 2024, and ending his 42-race winless streak.
It was a win that felt long overdue. After a tough, winless 2023 season, Elliott finally silenced critics by taking the checkered.
However, it was not an easy win, with 16 cautions shaking up the field.
Yet, the #9 managed to survive the madness, finishing ahead of Brad Keselowski and William Byron, solidifying his place in the playoffs.
But as the 2025 season rolled around, he’s seemed to have hit a bit of a snag, which Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman, Jeff Gordon is having a hard time overlooking. But before we get to that…
