When Alex Bowman made a critical mistake in the closing laps of the Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 23rd, 2025, Kyle Larson was right there to capitalize on it. Larson’s No. 5 Chevy spent laps tracking down his NASCAR Chevy teammate, looming in his rearview, and lunged when Bowman kissed the wall with six laps left on the board.
Bowman, whose No. 48 NASCAR Chevy machine captured the pole position in qualifying, was clearly the car to beat at Homestead (aside from Ryan Blaney, but his Ford Mustang Dark Horse blew an engine and took him out of competition). Both Bowman and Larson clung to the high side, barely avoiding brushing the wall lap after lap – until Bowman did just that, throwing out his chance of winning after leading an impressive 43 laps.
Larson hit his marks and went on to secure a 1.205-second lead at the line. It would have been a perfect three-for-three for the 2021 Cup Series champion after winning the Truck Series race on Friday, but a late-race caution nullified his lead in the Xfinity Series on Saturday.
“I knew me coming towards those guys they were going to start moving around and making mistakes and I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex [Bowman], he may make a mistake and he caught the wall there and I got around him easier than I expected to,” Kyle Larson said. “Still had to work hard though. My balance in clean air was really loose just like those guys were. Hats off to the whole team.”
NASCAR Chevy driver Alex Bowman was understandably dejected after the mistake that put him in the fence.
“Guess I choked that one away for sure,” Bowman said. “Just kind of burned myself up. Saw the 5 [Larson] coming, so I moved around a little bit. Man, I hate that for this Ally 48 group. They deserve better than that. Just a couple mistakes there. Felt like we were okay all day there.”
Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota TRD Camry brought up third, followed by the No. 19 Toyota of Chase Briscoe and No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin rounding out the top five.
| Finish | Start | Car No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Laps Led | Vehicle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 267 | 19 | Chevrolet |
| 2 | 1 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Unrivaled League Chevrolet | 267 | 43 | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 9 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota | 267 | 56 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 4 | 4 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Bass Pro Shops Spring Fishing Classic Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 5 | 23 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Progressive Toyota | 267 | 15 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 11 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Kroger/Farm Rich Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 7 | 10 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Action Industries Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 20 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Jordan Brand Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 9 | 31 | 60 | Ryan Preece | BuildSubmarines.com Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 10 | 21 | 7 | Justin Haley | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 11 | 17 | 38 | Zane Smith | Aaron's Rent To Own Ford | 267 | 3 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 12 | 5 | 24 | William Byron | Valvoline Chevrolet | 267 | 1 | Chevrolet |
| 13 | 30 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 12 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 15 | 28 | 43 | Erik Jones | Family Dollar Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 16 | 3 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Beef A Roo Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 17 | 2 | 21 | Josh Berry | DEX Imaging Ford | 267 | 2 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 18 | 18 | 9 | Chase Elliott | UniFirst Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 19 | 8 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Menards/Duracell Ford | 267 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 20 | 26 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Delaware Life Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 22 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Bank OZK Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 22 | 33 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 7 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 24 | 27 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | betr March Madness Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 13 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 26 | 32 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Nexlizet Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 27 | 34 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Sea Best Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 28 | 24 | 41 | Cole Custer | Autodesk/Haas Tooling Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 29 | 16 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Rheem Toyota | 266 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 30 | 29 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 31 | 25 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Kubota Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 32 | 35 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | Jockey Chevrolet | 266 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 33 | 19 | 35 | Riley Herbst # | Chumba Casino Toyota | 265 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 34 | 36 | 51 | Cody Ware | Jacob Construction Ford | 265 | 0 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 35 | 37 | 44 | * JJ Yeley | PCNY Chevrolet | 263 | 0 | Chevrolet |
| 36 | 6 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Dent Wizard Ford | 207 | 124 | Ford Mustang Dark Horse |
| 37 | 15 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet | 184 | 4 | Chevrolet |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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