The roar of engines and the adrenaline of high-speed competition returned to South Florida as the NASCAR Cup Series stopped at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 2025 edition of this highly anticipated 267-lap race promised intense action on the 1.5-mile oval, known for its progressive banking and tire-wearing surface that challenged even the best drivers in the field.
As the NASCAR season moves deeper into the season, Homestead once again serves as a pivotal battleground where championship hopes can rise or fall. With teams fine-tuning their setups and drivers eager to make their mark, fans can expect door-to-door battles, wall rides, strategic pit stops under green and the unpredictability that makes this track a fan favourite.
Kiwi Shane Van Gisbergen represented the US underwear brand Jockey this weekend with a Jockey-livery after the brand jumped on board as a naming rights sponsor. Jockey has been an apparel partner with Trackhouse Racing since 2022 and coincidently has a long history with New Zealand.
Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman was set to lead the field from pole position with last week’s winner, Josh Berry, beside him. Van Gisbergen started the race 35th while his teammates Daniel Suarez started 33rd and Ross Chastain ahead in 25th.
Denny Hamlin qualified back in 23rd position but was not to be underestimated. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has three wins under his belt at this track, dating back to 2009.
Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and William Byron were the most recent NASCAR Cup series winners at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Early in the race, Ryan Blaney showcased his competitive edge by overtaking Bowman on Lap 9 to claim the lead. Defending race winner Tyler Reddick also made significant progress, advancing from his 20th starting position to 14th by Lap 14 despite reporting that his car felt “too tight.”
Lap 23 saw the Top 10 spread out with 10 seconds between the field. Blaney charged ahead out front with a 3.5-second lead while Van Gisbergan had moved up to 33rd, 23 seconds down from the front.
Blaney had a rear-mirror view of Lason and Reddick battling it out behind him, and there were slide jobs galore between the two drivers.
The pit strategies came into play by Lap 33, as William Byron got a jump on the field and came into the pits first. Byron’s pitstop caused a bandwagon effect, as Cindric, Logano, McDowell, Custer, Chastain, Blaney, Bell, Bowman, Allmendinger, Smith, Suarez, Busch, Berry, Jones, Nemecheck and Wallace all pitted within two laps of Byron. The pit stops continued until Lap 42 when Van Gisbergen pitted.
It was a drag race to the exit of pit road, with Ty Dillon and Van Gisbergen side-by-side battling it out as they continued the race on track for multiple laps. Dillon eventually got Van Gisbergen.
Zane Smith was reported for speeding in a section of pit road, resulting in a drive-through penalty, which he served on Lap 43, dropping him to 35th.
Lap 72 witnessed the race’s first caution. Christopher Bell locked up and went for a spin, forcing Bell to take a second visit to pit road with a flat right rear tyre and frontal damage. Blaney’s 8-second lead diminished as the field bunched back up.
Blaney got the jump, held onto the lead on the restart, and won Stage 1. It was his second stage win of the season and his second ever at Miami. Blaney showed serious pace over his rivals, leading most of the race with at least a 3-second gap. Van Gisbergen finished the stage 31st, with his teammates ahead in 16th and 17th.
Stage 2 got underway with Bowman as the new race leader. The Hendrick Motorsports driver had a great start. Van Gisbergen struggled with restarts and moved down to 35th from 31st.
Van Gisbergen came into the pits on Lap 121 and re-joined the race a lap down. The Kiwi seemingly struggled with pace, as his rivals could pit around the same time and unlap themselves with fresh tyres within a few laps. Van Gisbergen continued to struggle, a lap down from the field, and settled in 33rd place.
Suarez had a big moment on Lap 12.
After racing in third place, Suarez spun as he came into the pit road, pushing the driver further down the field than previously anticipated. Suarez reported that his right rear tyre was coming apart, which caused the spin. He re-joined the race back in the 31st.
Stage 2 saw a close battle between Hamlin and Larson right to the line, with Hamlin edging out Larson to take the win for the second stage.
Stage 3 was action-packed. Larson got the initial lead on the field, but Wallace had other ideas. He gave Larson dirty air to compete with as he passed him and charged into the lead.
Van Gisbergen continued a lap down from the field. Trackhouse teammate Chastain was also a lap down, but ahead of SVG and Suarez, he climbed into the Top 20 in 18th place even after he lost places after his pitlane spin.
The race witnessed its first DNF casualty with 83 laps to go.
While racing in 12th, Hocevar reported over his team radio that his car was losing all power. Hocevar entered the pits, where the team narrowed it down to a suspected electrical/alternator issue and retired the car.
In a shocking turn of events, while running in third and fighting for a race win, Blaney’s engine blew up, causing a massive fiery explosion followed by a large cloud of smoke.
It was a heartbreaking end to his race after he had won stage 1 and led 124 laps out of the 210 run so far. This instance was Blaney’s second engine failure of the season after he lost one in Phoenix.
With 60 to go, the cautions were out as the track crew cleaned things up. A line of oil was seen on the track and all down the pit road while Blaney’s car continued to burn and smoulder.
The race resumed with only 50 laps to go. Wallace took the race lead ahead of Bowman, Hamlin, Larson, and Briscoe. Bowman and Larson made contact while the drivers battled for third place.
Van Gisbergen and Chastain ran outside the Top 30 in 33rd and 30th with 32 laps to go. Suarez was the top Trackhouse driver, running in 19th.
There was a battle at the front between Bowman and Wallace, with Briscoe waiting in the wings for the two drivers to make an error and a battle for 4th further back between Larson and Hamlin. Bowman won the side-by-side battle against Wallace, extending his lead by 0.9 seconds with only 23 laps to go.
Drivers put it all on the line in the race’s final laps. Wallace sat in second but laid down the race’s fastest lap as he chased down Bowman. Larson ran in fourth after he won his battle with Hamlin, hoping for an incident ahead of him as he was 3.3 seconds down from Bowman.
With four cars in the fight, piloted by four highly talented drivers, it shaped up to be an excellent finish in Miami and that it was.
Larson closed in on Bowman with only 10 laps to go, with only 1 second between the two drivers after Larson passed Wallace and moved up to second place. It was a fighting finish for Hendrick Motorsport teammates, the team giving them the go-ahead to battle it out.
Seven to go, and Larson caught Bowman and took the lead! Larson made his pass on Bowman look easy. Racing into the sunset, Larson took the white flag with a 1.2-second lead.
It was a Hendrick Motorsports 1-2 as Larson took the chequered flag ahead of teammate Bowman and Wallace in third. It was Larson’s second race win this weekend after an impressive win in the NASCAR Truck Series on Friday night.
“It was far from perfect. I gave up two spots by getting in the wall too many times. I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart. I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs. Just had to keep plugging away at what I know and what’s good for me.” said Larson post-race.
“Proud of myself. Proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty hard work today between damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restarts. All that stuff. Just super pumped. One of the coolest wins of my Cup career because of all the heartbreak I’ve had here. The heartbreak yesterday. Just keep my head down and keep digging; it feels really good.”
Trackhouse Racing will be taking this weekend as a learning curve. Their drivers came off a successful weekend in Las Vegas to finish in the bottom 13 in Miami. Van Gisbergen finished the race down in 32nd. Chastain was the car ahead of him in 31st, and Suarez could not make it to the Top 20 and finished 22nd.
Van Gisbergen had talked about his car lacking pace in previous races and has admitted he’s struggled to adapt to NASCAR ovals during his rookie season in the Cup Series. He has found the challenge more difficult than he anticipated.
“I feel like we’ve shown a lot of promise, but we have nothing to show for it. COTA was a good day, but on the ovals, we’ve really struggled, and we’ve had a lot of accidents. They haven’t really been our fault,” said Van Gisbergen when he spoke to reporters earlier this weekend.
“It’s really tough results-wise, but I see a lot of potential and speed. I just got to put it together and get to the end of the races, and I think things will start clicking for us. It has been hard because I’m not really known for crashing too much and not finishing, so it’s been a bit of a pain.
“Just have to stay out of trouble and get through it. In the first stage, we’re always going good and improving and thinking the rest of the race will be good; then something seems to happen, so hopefully, we stop that this weekend.”
Van Gisbergen did just that this weekend: stayed out of trouble, achieved important oval seat time and finished the race. That’s positive progress from our Supercars Champion.
The Top 10 –
- Kyle Larson
- Alex Bowman
- Bubba Wallace
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
- Chris Buescher
- AJ Allmendinger
- Tyler Reddick
- Ryan Preece
- Justin Haley
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia next weekend. At only 0.5 miles, it is the shortest track in the Cup Series. Ryan Blaney was the previous winner at the track back in November 2024.
Header Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
