Kyle Larson’s fondness for Homestead-Miami Speedway is obvious however that doesn’t imply he’s all the time left the South Florida monitor feeling good.
This weekend, he’ll have three probabilities at victory. Larson will compete within the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck races there in a bid to hitch Kyle Busch as the one drivers to comb a triple-header weekend — one thing Busch did at Bristol in 2010 and ’17.
NASCAR: Pennzoil 400
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Joe Gibbs Racing had talked for years about what to do if a crew automotive wanted to have a wheel tightened after leaving its pit stall.
For a monitor seemingly constructed to match Larson’s skills, Homestead-Miami Speedway has solely awarded the Hendrick Motorsports driver one Cup and one Xfinity victory whereas giving him way more heartache via the years.
“I really feel like each time I’m going there, you permit there upset since you really feel such as you’ve had the perfect automotive … and simply issues don’t work out, whether or not it’s errors on my finish or ill-timed cautions, mixed with a hiccup on pit street or no matter late within the race, and you find yourself shedding,” Larson stated Wednesday in response to a query from NBC Sports activities.
Larson has 5 top-five finishes in 11 Cup begins on the 1.5-mile monitor. However he admits he remembers the defeats greater than victories in his profession. Regardless of his success at Homestead — Larson has led a track-record 626 laps in Cup — he has extra reminiscences of races he didn’t win there.
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“I really feel like … all however two or three races at Homestead, I felt like we had the perfect automotive, the perfect probability of successful and we don’t have the wins to point out for it,” stated Larson, who enters this weekend sixth within the factors.
NASCAR Cup Sequence Bass Professional Retailers Night time Race – Observe
The final time the NASCAR Cup Sequence raced at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Tyler Reddick went from third to first on the ultimate lap to win final fall’s playoff race.
Final 12 months, Larson challenged Ryan Blaney for the lead 13 laps from the end as they approached Austin Dillon, the final driver on the lead lap. Larson tried to squeeze between Blaney and Dillon and spun. Larson completed thirteenth.
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“I don’t remorse something from that race,” Larson stated. “Clearly, if I do know the results of what’s going to occur I might do one thing completely different. I might in all probability simply be extra affected person now.”
However Larson stated he felt like he needed to make his transfer at that time.
“The tires have been fading at that time, and I had a possibility proper in entrance of me and I took it,” he stated. “If I’m extra affected person proper there and I don’t have one other alternative to win, everyone’s going to be asking, ‘In case you had a gap there why did not you strive?’ It’s really easy to look again on issues and critique them and all that, however we’re making split-second selections on the market at 180 miles an hour or no matter we’re going.
“That race … we must always have been working twenty fifth with that automotive, so I used to be pleased with even having a possibility to race for the win. I do know the outside of the automotive seemed high-quality, however every part beneath it was junk. I used to be comfortable simply to have a shot.”
AUTO: MAR 16 NASCAR Cup Sequence Pennzoil 400
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Two pit crew members from the groups of Kyle Busch and Chase Briscoe will miss the following two races.
In 2023, Larson was chasing Blaney, the chief, to pit street when Blaney slowed greater than Larson anticipated at pit entrance. Larson moved to the correct to keep away from hitting Blaney’s automotive however struck sand barrels and broken his automotive, ending his race.
Larson’s lone Cup win at Homestead got here in 2022 when he led 199 of the 267 laps.
Larson says he loves the monitor. When NASCAR modified a rule earlier than this season to allow Cup drivers to compete in Sprint 4 Money Xfinity occasions — Saturday’s race at Homestead is the primary Sprint 4 Money 4 race of the season — Larson needed to run that race. He’ll be in a Hendrick Motorsports automotive for that race and drive for Spire Motorsports in Friday’s Truck race.
“It was form of my concept to run triple-duty at Homestead,” Larson stated. “ … Clearly would like to win not less than one in all them and to win all three can be fairly neat as nicely.”
