Kyle Larson, widely rated as one of the world’s best race car drivers, made the trip down to Miami, Florida a little bit early this weekend to try and add his name to an exclusive list, one that only includes the name of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch.
The Elk Grove, California-native, in addition to his duties with Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series, also elected to enter NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events at Homestead-Miami Speedway, in hopes of sweeping the weekend.
It’s something that’s only been done twice in NASCAR history, both times by Kyle Busch, and both times at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2010 and 2017. Larson was hoping to become the first to do so at a mile-and-a-half racetrack.
Things started off fantastic in Friday’s Baptist Health 200, when Larson, driving the No. 07 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, rebounded from a late-race spin to capture his fourth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory, passing Layne Riggs with two laps to go.
The 32-year-old driver entered Saturday’s Hard Rock Bet 300 looking confident, competing in the series that races cars that many say pay dividends for more skilled drivers, and are typically harder to drive. After a difficult qualifying effort, it took virtually no time for Larson to get up front.
Driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, Larson was DOMINANT throughout Saturday’s event, leading a race-high 132 of 201 laps and looked to be pretty much lights out on the remainder of the NASCAR Xfinity Series field.
Larson had such an advantage over the second-place runner Sam Mayer, a gap of more than 15 seconds, that when a caution flag was displayed with eight laps to go – for Xfinity Series rookie Taylor Gray spinning on the frontstretch – you couldn’t help but feel bad for the NASCAR Cup Series champion.
Restarts do tend to get wild at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and this one in NASCAR Overtime was no exception, frankly, it started before the field even got to the start-finish line. As Larson approached the ‘restart zone’, Sam Mayer was hammer-down and on the rear-bumper of the No. 17, giving him a mega push.
“I’ve lived through it a number of times here, but obviously a bummer again to have another Homestead race play out that way,” said Kyle Larson post-race. “Just I can’t go anywhere when my rear tires are off of the ground.”
That shot the Hendrick Motorsports driver sideways and butchered the momentum on the bottom lane, allowing Austin Hill and Justin Allgaier to get by. From there, it was impossible to make up all of the lost time on that restart in about 60 seconds of racing action.
“I know it looks like I choked another one away but I did everything I thought I could. [Sam Mayer] just lagged back and slammed the shit out of me, and my rear wheels came off the ground. So, bummer, but cool to have as big of a lead as we had, but would have loved to get a win for everybody on this [Hendrick Motorsports] No. 17.”
Mayer settled for second, while Larson ended up a disappointing fourth. Meanwhile, Justin Allgaier captured his 27th win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his second of the season.
“I just mistimed it, unfortunately,” Mayer said post-race. “Got to his bumper a little too early He went really, really late in the [restart] box just playing games, Like, 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 kind of ready for him to wait that long. I was giddy to get going.”
While the disappointment was noticeable, both in Larson’s demeanor and his voice, the Hendrick Motorsports driver will still have a great chance to tackle the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday and collect his first victory of the season – and a victory that will actually matter towards his season-end goal.
Plus, on the bright side, Larson is set to take a second shot at making history in a couple of weeks at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he’ll again run the Truck Series event with Spire Motorsports and the Xfinity Series with Hendrick Motorsports.
In the meantime, the focus remains on excellence in the NASCAR Cup Series.
