HOMESTEAD, Fla. – With Kyle Larson’s victory last week at Las Vegas, one member of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 is set and three positions remain up for grabs as the series heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sunday’s 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – the race named in honor of 2014 series champion Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, who is retiring at the end of the season.
By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
The Playoff picture looks highly competitive as teams show up in South Florida for the annual 400-miler around the 1.5-mile track just outside the Florida Keys.
Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who held more than a 20-point margin on the Playoff cutoff line earlier in the Playoffs, now tops the standings by a slight nine points. Regular Season Champion Martin Truex Jr. and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin are tied only two-points to the good.
Sitting just below – two points back – is their JGR teammate Christopher Bell in fifth place. 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick is 16 points behind, followed by Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who is 17 points back. RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher is only 23 points behind Hamlin with two Playoff races remaining to decide which four drivers will compete for the sport’s biggest trophy on Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway.
All four highest-ranked drivers arrive in Homestead-Miami with confidence and a solid track record. The 2021 series champion Larson is the defending race winner. Byron won in 2021. Truex won in 2017 to claim that season title and Hamlin leads the entire series with three Homestead victories – 2009, 2013, 2020 – which ties the all-time record held by both Greg Biffle and NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart.
For Byron, a third victory at the track (also including his 2016 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win) would put him into the championship finale for the first time in his six-year career in the elite NASCAR Cup Series. His six wins in 2023 has tripled his previous single season output. His 13 top fives are most in his career as well, and his 19 top-10 finishes are one shy of equaling a career-high mark too.
Since Hamlin was paired with crew chief Chris Gabehart in 2019, the 42-year-old has won races at eight of the 10 Playoff tracks. And Hamlin’s career average finish at Homestead of 9.833 is second best among the Playoff contenders.
“We’re looking forward to this weekend,” said Hamlin, who has finished fourth or better in the championship six times including a best showing of runner-up in 2010.
“Obviously, we would have liked to have finished last week a little better to be in a better spot in the points, but we feel good about Homestead. It’s a track we’ve had some success at and feel like we can run up front and score points.
“That’s the name of the game right now to just qualify up front, score points in the stages and finish as good as we can. It’d be awesome to win the race and lock ourselves in, but if we can’t do that, we need to maximize our day.”
His teammate Truex is currently tied for most Championship 4 appearances (five) since the elimination format started in 2014. Although he won three races and his second Regular Season Championship this year, Truex only scored his first top-10 of this year’s Playoffs last week at Las Vegas.
“That’s the kind of track I really like,” Truex said of Homestead. “You can run all over and it’s really low-grip and it wears tires out. You really have to manage your car and your tires throughout runs. Be able to move around the track and find lines that work for you.
“It’s a big challenge and I enjoy tracks like that. I love South Florida and love going down there. A lot of great fans.”
On the flip side, three of the drivers ranked in the bottom half of the Playoff eight have never advanced to the Championship 4 previously. Bell, who scored a walk-off home run of sorts, winning at Martinsville, Va. a week before the 2022 Phoenix finale, is the only one.
And Bell’s average finish of 13.0 at Homestead is best among those four drivers below the cutoff line. Though, Reddick won back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Homestead-Miami to earn championships in 2018-19.
Practice followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying will begin at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday and can be viewed on the NBC Sports App.