HE IS LEAVING: NASCAR announced that Kyle Busch is Leaving immediately after Facing…..
Larson, who is competing in the Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck races at the 1.5-mile track in Homestead, 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 got off to a good start, rallying from a late-race spinout to pull off a comeback win in the Truck Series on Friday.
In the Xfinity Series on Saturday, it looked like he was on his way to a dominant win. He held a 16-second lead in the race before a late spin by Taylor Gray caused a caution with seven laps to go. On the overtime restart, Sam Mayer’s No. 41 Ford made contact with the back of Larson’s No. 17 Chevrolet, costing him 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 201 laps and finished fourth. It was another disappointing end at one of his best tracks.
Larson has five top-five finishes in 11 Cup starts in his career at Homestead — two driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. He’s led the most laps (626) of any active driver, and his 12 stage wins in the Next Gen car is a series best. No other driver has more than five stage wins.
Larson finished fourth in 2021 and won the race in 2022 but left frustrated the past two years.
He was out of the race at Lap 214 in 2023 after slamming into the pit road barriers trying to overtake Ryan Blaney for the lead. Last year, Larson’s winning chance ended when he spun while racing Blaney for the lead with under 20 laps to go.
“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.”
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 wrapped up its inaugural season in Miami.
It’s the sixth career pole for Bowman, who was followed by Josh Berry — the winner at Las Vegas last weekend — Noah Gragson, Briscoe and William Byron.
Odds and ends Larson (+375) is the Sportsbook favorite, followed by Tyler Reddick (+600). Larson’s 1,286 total miles led on the 1.5-mile tracks is almost double that of any other driver.
Bell is second with 614. … Reddick won the race last year, while Hamlin leads active drivers with three wins (2009, ’13, ’20).
Drama continued to encompass NASCAR ahead of its championship-deciding season finale as the sanctioning body issued $600,000 in fines and suspended nine team members from three different teams on Tuesday for alleged race manipulation at Martinsville Speedway.
The penalties came down after a contentious final battle Sunday at the Virginia track in which Christopher Bell initially qualified for the championship final four, but his move to hit the wall and use it for momentum violated a banned safety rule and was disallowed.
These team disruptions come in the wake of NASCAR’s disciplinary actions following allegations of race manipulation at a Martinsville event. Key figures within 23XI Racing, including competition director Dave Rogers and Bubba Wallace’s crew chief Bootie Barker, were suspended, presenting a formidable challenge for the team at an important part of the season.
Despite the absence of these colleagues, he still has confidence in the team’s ability to perform.
“I feel like we have good depth, we’ve got great people,” Reddick stated. “Personally, I wish Dave and Bootie were here for sure. But I don’t know, I think Dave does a really good job with his role, Bootie is a great leader of his team.”
Bubba Wallace was at the center of the controversy, and was found to have feigned a flat tire. This action was allegedly designed to assist his teammate, Christopher Bell. The penalties have undeniably altered their morale just ahead of what is 23XI Racing’s inaugural appearance in the Championship 4.
The Championship 4, a climactic drive featuring Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron, was directly influenced by the Martinsville incident. William Byron secured his spot due to Bell’s disqualification.
Bootie’s just an awesome guy to be around, so yeah, you know, I certainly will miss him this weekend. And getting to know Dave over the years, yeah, I like having him around, too. But there’s been weekends we’ve gone to the track and Dave isn’t there.”
Reddick remains focused on the immediate challenge, drawing on Bubba Wallace’s data and displaying a positive outlook as he prepares to compete.
The 28-year-old will be enjoying some well deserved down-time after the 2024 season, and recently shared his NASCAR break plans.
“I don’t know if ‘reflect’ is really the word that comes to mind for me,” Reddick said via NASCAR.com.
“I have plenty of good notes to go back through. We all do. I think at some point we’ll review the season as a whole. But yeah, I think at moments I probably have, but not for long periods of time. I’ve just been doing other things outside of racing that’s taking up all my day.”
“Working on other things outside of racing, catching up on life, honey-do’s, whatever you want to call them,” he added.
“So yeah, once I get all that stuff in a good place, I feel like I’ll be decompressed and ready to get back just focused on racing.”
The two individuals involved are Cordell Cahill, an IT support worker from 23XI Racing, and RJ Otto, who formerly acted as the interim crew chief for Bret Holmes Racing last season but is not part of the current year’s roster. While specific details have not been disclosed, NASCAR’s policy mandates such sanctions when members fail substance checks, aiming to maintain a safe and fair competitive environment.
Reinstatement for Cahill and Otto is contingent upon completing a tailored recovery plan, a common practice that grants crew members a structured path back to the sport, assuming adherence to prescribed rehabilitation steps.
In another NASCAR league, the Craftsman Truck Series noted a minor infraction with Ross Chastain’s vehicle. A loose lug nut led to a $2,500 fine for Phil Gould, crew chief for the No. 45 Niece Motorsports truck.
However, in a more contentious issue, an incident involving drivers Corey LaJoie and Kyle Busch during the same series did not result in penalties, despite the apparent intentional nature of their collision.
Amidst these regulatory actions, NASCAR is preparing for the much-anticipated return of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The event marks a significant shift back to the oval track after
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