NASCAR Cup Series News & Notes – Homestead-Miami Speedway

NASCAR Cup Series
Next Race: Straight Talk Wireless 400
The Place: Homestead-Miami Speedway
Track Length: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Sunday, March 23
The Time: 3 p.m. ET
The Purse: $11,055,250
TV: FS1 & FOX Deportes, 1:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 400 miles (267 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 80),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 165), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 267)

Where To Watch NASCAR This Week:

Friday, March 21

NCTS Kennametal Pole Qualifying (FS2 at 3:30 p.m. ET)

NCTS Race: Baptist Health 200 (FOX, NRN, SiriusXM at 8 p.m. ET)

Saturday, March 22

NXS Kennametal Pole Qualifying (The CW App at 10:30 a.m. ET)

NCS Practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying (Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM at 1 p.m. ET)

NXS Race: Hard Rock Bet 300 (The CW, MRN, SiriusXM at 4 p.m. ET)

Sunday, March 23

NCS Race: Straight Talk Wireless 400 (FS1 & FOX Deportes, MRN, SiriusXM at 3 p.m. ET)

Homestead-Miami Storylines and Insights:

• This weekend marks the 27th running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (1999-2025).
• Seven different drivers won the last seven 1.5-mile Cup Series races.
• Nine different drivers won the last nine Homestead-Miami Speedway Cup Series races.
• A total of 17 Cup drivers have won the pole at Homestead-Miami. This weekend, four of the 17 NASCAR Cup Series pole winners are active, led by Denny Hamlin with three poles:

• Toyota won the pole for nine of the last 12 races on 1.5-mile tracks, including each of the last two races at Miami.
• Nine different drivers have won the first 10 stages of 2025; Kyle Larson is the only repeat stage winner this season.
• Joey Logano earned the fourth most stage points in 2025 (50), main reason he’s eighth in points without a top-10 finish. Logano’s best finish this season is 12th at Atlanta.
• Bubba Wallace earned 43 more stage points through five races in 2025 compared to 2024, he missed the Playoffs by 27 points in 2024
• William Byron leads the point standings by 29 points over second place Christopher Bell following Las Vegas.
• William Byron is the only driver to lead in every race this season, it is the second time in the last four seasons that Byron led in each of the first five races (2022).
• William Byron led in the last seven races, tied for his longest streak of races led set in 2019.
• Kyle Larson’s 12 stage wins on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car lead all drivers, no other driver has more than five.
• Kyle Larson’s 1,286 laps led on 1.5-mile tracks in the Next Gen car, nearly double the next closest driver (Bell – 614).
• The driver leading the most laps won six of the last seven Homestead-Miami Speedway Cup Series races.
• The last three Miami races were held in October, the last Spring race at Miami was in 2021.
• Only one of the last 18 races at Homestead-Miami ended in overtime. In total, three Cup races at Homestead-Miami have ended in overtime: 2004, 2006, 2016.
• A total of 18 Cup drivers have won at Homestead-Miami. This weekend, seven of the 18 are active, led by Denny Hamlin with three wins:

• Christopher Bell can become only the third driver in Cup Series history to win four of the first six races in a season (Bill Elliott – 1992, Dale Earnhardt – 1987).
• Hendrick Motorsports drivers led 54% of the laps raced at Homestead-Miami in the Next Gen car (434 of 801).
• Ryan Blaney finished runner-up in the last two races at Homestead-Miami, he is the only driver to finish runner-up at Homestead-Miami more than once without a win.
• Kyle Larson has led 626 laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the most of all Cup Series drivers.
• Kyle Larson’s only Homestead-Miami win came in 2022 after leading 199 of the 267 laps, he finished 13th last year after spinning from second on Lap 255 and finished 34th in 2023 after hitting the sand barrels coming to pit road on Lap 213 after leading 96 laps prior.
• AJ Allmendinger finished top-10 in the last three Homestead-Miami Cup races, the longest active streak.
• AJ Allmendinger and Christopher Bell have the best average finish at Miami in the NextGen car (5.3).
• The pass for the win came in the final six laps in three of the last six 1.5-mile races including two last lap passes.
• The NASCAR Cup Series races at Homestead-Miami Speedway have had a last lap pass for the lead to win the race twice: 2003 (Bobby Labonte passed Bill Elliott) and 2024 (Tyler Reddick passed Ryan Blaney).
• The 33 lead changes at Homestead-Miami last year set a new track record, each of the last three laps was led by a different driver.
• 2025 is the fifth straight year that at least one driver (William Byron) led in each of the first five races of the season.
• 2025 is the first season since 2019 there wasn’t a repeat pole winner through the first five races.
• 2025 is the first time since 2003 that five different teams won the pole in the first five races of the season.
• A stage winner went on to win once this season (Christopher Bell – stage 2 at Phoenix), the fewest ever through five races.
• Through five races, the Wood Brothers have their most top fives since 2002 (two), and most laps led since 1982 (74).
• The Wood Brothers won in consecutive seasons (2024, 2025) for the first time since 1986 and 1987.
• Josh Berry accounts for two of Ford’s five top-five finishes in 2025 including the only win.
• Berry became the first driver to win their first career Cup race at Phoenix last weekend, no driver has won their first career Cup race at Homestead-Miami.
• Joey Logano’s 247 laps led in 2025 is the most ever through five races by a driver without a top-10 finish (in those five races)
• Joey Logano is the first defending champion to fail to earn a top-10 finish in the first five races of the following season
• Ty Gibbs earned 37 fewer stage points in 2025 through five races compared to 2024, the biggest decline among all drivers.
• Seven full-time drivers don’t have stage points this season, two are JGR drivers (T. Gibbs and C. Briscoe).
• William Byron is the first driver since Kevin Harvick in 2020 with 11 top 6 finishes in a 12 race stretch.
• John Hunter Nemechek finished on the lead lap in the last five races, his longest streak ever in Cup.
• Brad Keselowski will become the 17th driver to make 550 consecutive Cup starts this weekend, and second among active drivers (Joey Logano – 581)
• Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe will both be making their 150^th career NASCAR Cup Series starts this weekend at Homestead-Miami.

NASCAR & Homestead-Miami, Etc.

Historical & Significant Events at Homestead-Miami Speedway:

• Groundbreaking for Homestead-Miami Dade Motorsports Complex – as the track was originally named – began August 23, 1994, thanks to Ralph Sanchez, a long-time promotor of street races in the area.
• The 600-acre sporting facility, at the time of construction, was owned by city of Homestead on county land and was leased by Sanchez.
• The original configuration of Homestead-Miami Speedway was a four-turn, rectangular paved oval based on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s layout.
• The first race held at Homestead-Miami Speedway was a NASCAR Xfinity Series event on November 5, 1995. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett won the inaugural Xfinity Series race. Jarrett owned the No. 32 Ford he won the race in, and Jarrett only led the last two laps of the event. The average speed of the race was 92.229 MPH.
• The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway was held on November 14, 1999. The inaugural Cup Series race was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart, driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac. The average speed of the race was 140.335 MPH.
• International Speedway Corporation (now NASCAR) became the sole owner of Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2001.
• The 2002 season was the first year the Championship Weekend was held at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with all three of NASCAR’s national series holding their season finale at the same track. The track would host the season finale from 2002-2019.
• In 2003, the track underwent a major reconfiguration from what was a flat 1.5-mile rectangular-shaped track to a 1.5-mile asphalt oval with progressive banking in the turns.
• The 2019 season was the last time all three NASCAR national series held the Championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• At 25 degree longitude, Miami is the southernmost track that NASCAR visits within the United States. Mexico City is at 19 degree longitude.

Latest Homestead-Miami Speedway Storylines:

• Homestead-Miami Speedway announced that Miami Dolphins edge rusher Bradley Chubb has been named the grand marshal for the Straight Talk Wireless 400. The two-time veteran Pro Bowl star will fire up the South Florida fans with the most famous words in motorsports before an epic on-track battle between the NASCAR Cup Series drivers on Sunday, March 23.
• Grammy Award-winner and urban superstar Wisin will help the Straight Talk Wireless 400 get started on a high note as he leads the field to green as the honorary pace car driver, while the iconic Cuban duo Gente de Zona brings an impactful legacy in Cuban music to the track as honorary event officials, Homestead-Miami Speedway has announced. Juan Luis Morera Luna, known as Wisin, helped pioneer the style of reggaeton, collaborating with legends such as Jennifer Lopez, 50 Cent, T-Pain and Enrique Iglesias. With more than 22 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart, and 1.5 billion streams in the United States alone, Wisin’s popularization of reggaeton has united generations.