Tag: Homestead

‘I guess I choked that one away’ – Bowman at Homestead

Alex Bowman gave the win away Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway but continued one of the hottest starts to a Cup Series season he’s ever had. Bowman finished second in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 after giving up the lead with seven laps to go. …

Alex Bowman gave the win away Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway but continued one of the hottest starts to a Cup Series season he’s ever had.

Bowman finished second in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 after giving up the lead with seven laps to go. He led Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson into Turns 3 and 4 when his Ally Chevrolet caught the wall, allowing Larson to make up the remaining gap and drive past for the victory. It was Bowman’s first top-five finish of the season after leading 43 laps and his best finish in Southern Florida.

“I guess I choked that one away, for sure,” Bowman told Fox Sports. “I just kind of burned my stuff up; saw the [No.] 5 coming, so I moved around a little bit. Not when he passed me, but the time before that, I hit it pretty hard with the right front and ended up just bending something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel, and then I pulled it off the wall too far right there and ended up hitting the fence pretty bad.”

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Bowman apologized to his team on the radio after the checkered flag, but the return message from crew chief Blake Harris was about the positives: Bowman started from the pole, led laps, and had a shot at winning at a racetrack the team needed to improve on.

“I hate that for this Ally [No.] 48 group,” Bowman continued. “They deserve better than that, and just a couple of mistakes there. I felt like we were okay all day. That last run was the best we were. Hats off to Ally and Blake [Harris] and everybody for supporting this [No.] 48 team. I hate it for Mr. Hendrick — congrats to Kyle – and we’ll go try to get another one this week.”

Sunday was the most laps Bowman has led in a race this season. It was also his fourth consecutive top-10 finish — he’s finished in the top 10 in five of the season’s six races. He moved to third in points.

“It was a good day for the No. 48 Ally Unrivaled League Chevy team,” Bowman said. “We have some work to do, for sure, but overall it was a really good weekend for us at a racetrack that hasn’t been very good to us in the past.”

Blaney bitten by Lady Luck once again at Homestead

A month of misfortune continued Sunday for Ryan Blaney. He saw a dominant day at Homestead-Miami Speedway go up in smoke early in the final stage, running third when the engine in his Team Penske Ford Mustang expired on lap 208 down the …

A month of misfortune continued Sunday for Ryan Blaney.

He saw a dominant day at Homestead-Miami Speedway go up in smoke early in the final stage, running third when the engine in his Team Penske Ford Mustang expired on lap 208 down the frontstretch, the extensive trail of white smoke eventually giving way to flames out of the right side of the car as he drove to pit road and parked in his pit stall.

It was the second time the No. 12 team experienced an engine failure in three weeks. Blaney has now failed to finish the last three consecutive Cup Series races. He finished 36th in the 37-car field in Homestead-Miami.

“I didn’t have any warning,” Blaney told Fox Sports. “It just laid over when I got back to wide-open down the front and that was all she wrote. Gosh, it just stinks.”

The first two stages of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 made him look untouchable. Blaney, who qualified sixth, led 124 of the first 165 laps and won the first stage. At times, he gapped the competition by as much as 8s. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson, both on slightly fresher tires, caught and passed Blaney for the win in the second stage.

On the subsequent pit stops, Blaney lost more track position when he was squeezed into the outside wall on pit road by Chase Eliott, who was exiting his pit stall. Blaney left pit road ninth and restarted seventh after the choose rule. He had climbed to third when the engine expired.

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“You have got to be [expletive] me,” Blaney radioed as he drove to pit road. “Sorry fellas. It’ll go our way eventually, I hope. I appreciate the fast car.”

Blaney went on to tell his team, “Good job all weekend, guys. A really fast race car; keep bringing these things, we’ll be good. Keep your head up.”

It is the first time in Blaney’s career he has had three straight DNFs. He started the season with two consecutive top-seven finishes but has finished no better than 19th in the last four races.

“We had a really fast Dent Wizard Ford Mustang,” Blaney said. “We led a lot of laps. We lost a little bit of track position there with some stuff on pit road but got back to third, and it was a great race between me and Bubba [Wallace] and [Kyle] Larson. I’m sure Denny was going to get back into it. It was going to be a heck of a battle the last 60 laps or so, but it just didn’t really work out for us.

“We’ll continue to keep fighting. I appreciate the [No.] 12 guys for just giving me a hot rod. It was an incredibly, incredibly fast race car today. We’ll keep our heads up. It’s just one of those things where it’s not really going our way right now, but the good news is we’re bringing fast cars and that’s all you can ask for. We’ll keep on moving.”

Larson pounces on Bowman error to win another at Homestead

Kyle Larson took advantage of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman scrubbing the wall late in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to grab his first win of the season. Bowman led with seven laps to go when his Chevrolet got too close to …

Kyle Larson took advantage of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman scrubbing the wall late in Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to grab his first win of the season.

Bowman led with seven laps to go when his Chevrolet got too close to the wall in Turn 4. By the time Bowman could pull off the wall, Larson was driving by on the inside, and he then drove away by 1.2s to secure the victory.

“It was far from perfect,” Larson told Fox Sports. “I gave up a spot and a half, almost two spots there, by getting in the wall too many times. I knew I wasn’t going to get the best restart there. I knew I wasn’t good on the short runs and just thought if I could hold off the [No.] 11 and the [No.] 45 behind me, I could get … the top, and the [No.] 19 too. Then I got in the wall and let him by.

“I just kind of had to keep plugging away at what I know and what’s good for me. I am just proud of myself, proud of the team. Just a lot of gritty, hard work there today between damage on pit road, qualifying bad, bad restarts, all that stuff. Just super pumped. One of the coolest wins, I think, in my Cup career just because of the heartbreak I’ve had here, the heartbreak yesterday, and to just keep my head down and keep digging feels really good.”

The victory is the second for Larson at Homestead-Miami Speedway and the 30th of his NASCAR Cup Series career. He led 19 laps Sunday.

Bowman finished second after leading 43 laps and starting from the pole position. Bubba Wallace, who led 56 laps, finished third. Chase Briscoe finished fourth, and Denny Hamlin finished fifth. Hamlin also won the second stage.

 

“I guess I choked that one away, for sure,” Bowman told Fox Sports. “I just kind of burned my stuff up; saw the [No.] 5 coming, so I moved around a little bit. Not when he passed me, but the time before that, I hit it pretty hard with the right front and ended up just bending something enough that I lost a lot of right front feel, and then I pulled it off the wall too far right there and ended up hitting the fence pretty bad.

“I hate that for this Ally [No.] 48 group. They deserve better than that, and just a couple of mistakes there. I felt like we were okay all day. That last run was the best we were. Hats off to Ally and Blake [Harris] and everybody for supporting this [No.] 48 team. I hate it for Mr. Hendrick — congrats to Kyle – and we’ll go try to get another one this week.”

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Chris Buescher finished sixth, AJ Allmendinger seventh, Tyler Reddick eighth, Ryan Preece ninth and Justin Haley rounded out the top 10.

William Byron remains the points leader after finishing 12th. Joey Logano finished 14th after rebounding when he and alliance teammate Josh Berry spun on pit road at the end of the first stage. Logano fell a lap down after the incident.

Berry finished 17th. Chase Elliott finished 18th after he was penalized for not staying single file coming to pit road under the caution at the end of the second stage.

Christopher Bell finished 29th. Bell spun on lap 70 and brought out the first caution of the afternoon.

The final stint of the race went green with 51 laps to go. It was set up by the final caution of the day, which came when Ryan Blaney blew an engine. Blaney dominated the event, leading a race-high 124 laps and winning the first stage.

There were four cautions during the afternoon and two of them were for the stage breaks. There were 27 lead changes among nine drivers.

Larson won two of the three races he entered over the weekend. He missed out on the trifecta by not winning the Xfinity Series race.

“That’s what I’m thinking every time in the lead, especially here at Homestead,” Larson said of not having a caution come out. “Yeah, just crazy. I knew me coming towards those guys, they were going to start moving around and making mistakes. I felt like if I could just keep pressure on Alex, I would hope that he made a mistake and he caught the wall there, and I got by him easier than I expected to.

“I still had to work hard, though. My balance once I got in clean air was really loose, just like those guys were. Hats off to the whole team, Hendrickcars.com, Chevrolet, Prime, Valvoline, the whole Hendrick engine shop, everybody involved, Hendrick Automotive Group. A lot of Hendricks.”

Allgaier strikes Homestead-Miami gold with $100k Xfinity victory

In one of the most dramatic finishes of the season, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier took the lead on the final lap of overtime and held off his former teammate Sam Mayer for the win – the ultimate dash for cash as it were in the Hard Rock Bet 300 at …

In one of the most dramatic finishes of the season, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier took the lead on the final lap of overtime and held off his former teammate Sam Mayer for the win – the ultimate dash for cash as it were in the Hard Rock Bet 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

For much of the day, it looked like former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson would answer his win in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race Friday night at the track with a victory on Saturday. He led a dominant 132 of the 201 laps and held a 15s advantage on the field when a caution flag flew with eight laps remaining, bunching up the field for that final overtime restart.

Larson chose the bottom lane for the restart with second place Mayer opting to pull his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford directly behind Larson’s No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet instead of on the front row alongside him. Just as the green flag flew for that final two laps, Mayer’s car hit the rear of Larson’s and knocked Larson’s Chevrolet out of shape.

As that happened, the outside line of Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and Allgaier zoomed forward with Hill taking the race lead. A lap later, Allgaier caught Hill and got around him for the victory – his first top five in 16 previous Homestead races and the second straight win for the reigning series champion, matching a trophy-haul at Las Vegas last week.

Hill finished third after Mayer passed him as well on the last lap.

“Just a testament to this team,” the 39-year-old Allgaier said. “Honestly, it was looking like it was one those days that wasn’t our day. We got behind but were able to persevere and to get this Chevrolet to Victory Lane is special.

“I just feel like this place has gotten me so many times.

“I was actually bummed to see the caution flag come out but it worked out in my favorite.” Allgaier added. “I’m bummed I maybe got the [weekend] triple from Kyle [Larson] because I think he’s going to have a great shot at [winning] it tomorrow. But we were at the right place at the right time and I’m really proud of this race team.”

The final caution flag came for a spin by polesitter Taylor Gray. At the time, only five drivers were on the lead lap.

The last series of pit stops proved pivotal to those pursuing Larson. Twelve cars came out on the lead lap eager to see what they could do in the closing sprint toward the checkered.

Larson, who won the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race on Friday night looked well on his way to try and join Kyle Busch as the only drivers in NASCAR history to sweep three national series race wins in one weekend. In fact, he showed up in South Florida for the NASCAR weekend fresh off a sprint car win earlier in the week.

The outcome was understandably a huge disappointment for Larson, the frustration evident on his face as he climbed out of his Chevrolet on pit lane after the race.

“I’ve lived through it a number of times here, obviously a bummer to have another Homestead race play out that way,” said Larson, who finished fourth.

“I can’t go when my rear tires are off the ground,” he said of the contact from Mayer’s car on the restart. “I did everything I thought I could and the No. 41 just lagged back and slammed the [expletive] of me. Bummer, but cool to have had that big lead at the end.

“Loved to have gotten a win for everybody at the No. 17-car. They don’t get to race all the time so it’s good we can run up front. Got one more opportunity at this [in the No. 17-car] in a few weeks and see if we can get it done then.”

While the first half of Saturday’s race had all five of the day’s caution flags, Larson essentially put it in cruise control for the final 100 laps – and pulled a zip code ahead of Mayer who doggedly pursued all afternoon.

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“I unfortunately got to his [Larson] bumper a little too early,” Mayer said of the contact with Larson on that final restart. “He went really, really late in the box, just played games and that’s what you’ve got to do at this level to get the advantage. But he just waited really long and I wasn’t ready for him to wait that long.

“Anytime you’re finishing second you’re super bummed out but that’s a good day. We’re going to keep it going and try to get better.”

Not only did Allgaier get a trophy to take home, but he also won the first $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus check from series sponsor Xfinity. He, Mayer, third place finisher Hill and 10th place finisher Jesse Love were all eligible for the extra pay based on their finishes last week at Las Vegas.

The second of the four Dash 4 Cash races is next Saturday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway with Allgaier, Mayer, Hill and Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed – the fifth-place finisher eligible for the next $100,000 bonus. The top finisher among the quartet will claim the cash.

Love, JGR’s Brandon Jones and rookies Nick Sanchez, Daniel Dye and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top 10.

Allgaier is now the first series driver with multiple wins in 2025 and takes a 29-point lead in the championship standings over Mayer.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to competition next Saturday evening with the Marine Corps 250 at Martinsville Speedway (5 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Aric Almirola in the defending race winner in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Bowman pips Berry to Homestead-Miami Cup Series pole

Alex Bowman stole the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway late in Saturday’s session when he went to the top of the board at 168.845mph (31.982s). Bowman was the third to last driver to make a qualifying lap. The pole is …

Alex Bowman stole the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway late in Saturday’s session when he went to the top of the board at 168.845mph (31.982s).

Bowman was the third to last driver to make a qualifying lap. The pole is the sixth of his career and first of the season. It’s also his first pole at Homestead-Miami.

“We’ve overcome a lot this year,” Bowman told Prime. “I think a lot of people don’t realize the amount of things we’ve had go wrong throughout our races, and honestly, those seventh-place finishes are pretty good, all things considered. We just need to have everything go right and execute all day.

“I feel like we’ve got some work to do for tomorrow on the long run, for sure, but at least we’re starting up front. We’ll have a good pit stall and put our best foot forward so far.”

Josh Berry continued his strong start to the season by qualifying second. Berry clocked in at 168.460mph to tie his career-best starting effort from the spring 2024 race at Bristol.

Noah Gragson qualified third at 168.219mph. He was sitting on the provisional pole before Bowman made his run. A third-place qualifying effort ties a career-best for Gragson from the 2024 spring race at Kansas.

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Chase Briscoe qualified fourth at 168.140mph, William Byron fifth at 168.046mph and Ryan Blaney sixth at 168.010 mph.

John Hunter Nemechek ran seventh at 167.853mph, Austin Cindric eighth at 167.738mph, Bubba Wallace ninth at 167.645mph and AJ Allmendinger 10th at 167.629mph.

The rest of the top 15 in qualifying were Chris Buescher (11th), Joey Logano (12th), Ty Gibbs (13th), Kyle Larson (14th), and Carson Hocevar (15th). Christopher Bell, the 2023 winner in Miami, qualified 16th.

Further back in the starting grid will be Chase Elliott (18th) and Tyler Reddick (20th). Reddick is the defending race winner in Miami.

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will start outside the top 20. Busch qualified 22nd and Hamlin 23rd.

Erik Jones did make a qualifying run and clocked in 28th fastest. Jones reported he ran over something in practice, and there was a hole in the underbody of the car that needed to be repaired.

Brad Keselowski qualified 32nd.

NEXT: Straight Talk Wireless 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.

Wallace fastest out of the box in Cup Series practice at Homestead

Bubba Wallace set the pace early in Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway as one of the drivers in the first group on track, and it was good enough to wind up fastest overall. Wallace clocked in at 166.955mph (32.344s) on his first lap on …

Bubba Wallace set the pace early in Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway as one of the drivers in the first group on track, and it was good enough to wind up fastest overall.

Wallace clocked in at 166.955mph (32.344s) on his first lap on track in his Toyota. He ended up running 24 in total.

Erik Jones was second fastest at 166.826mph. He also set his fastest on the first lap.

Kyle Larson was third at 166.713 mph, Noah Gragson fourth at 166.626.mph and Christopher Bell was completed the top five at 166.507mph.

Chase Briscoe ran sixth at 166.466mph, Alex Bowman seventh at 166.328mph, and Denny Hamlin eighth at 166.287mph, Tyler Reddick ninth at 166.220mph and Michael rounded out the top 10 at 166.077mph.

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Reddick is the defending winner at Homestead-Miami. The race was run in the fall in 2024.

Other notables in practice: Ryan Blaney in 12th, Ross Chastain in 15th, William Byron — the points leader — in 17th, Kyle Busch down in 20th, Brad Keselowski 27th, Ty Gibbs mired in 30th, Josh Berry in 31st, Joey Logano 32nd and Chase Elliott a lowly 33rd.

There were no significant incidents in practice, however Jones reported running over something in his Toyota that put a hole in the car’s underbody. The team is working to repair the damage before qualifying.

There are 37 teams entered at Homestead-Miami: the 36 charter teams and the Open team of JJ Yeley.

Wallace was also fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average. It was Wallace over Hamlin, Larson, Blaney, and Gragson.

Elliott ran the most laps (41). Yeley ran the fewest(12).

NEXT: Cup Series qualifying, which began at 2:10 p.m. ET.

‘You got to try to find a way to finish it, and just didn’t’ – Hamlin

Denny Hamlin was where he wanted to be at the end of Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but it wasn’t enough to finish first. Hamlin wound up third in the Straight Talk Wireless 400, losing the lead with two laps to go. He was passed by Ryan …

Denny Hamlin was where he wanted to be at the end of Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but it wasn’t enough to finish first.

Hamlin wound up third in the Straight Talk Wireless 400, losing the lead with two laps to go. He was passed by Ryan Blaney going into Turns 3 and 4, and then by the car he co-owns, driven by Tyler Reddick, on the final lap.

“I’m not really sure,” Hamlin said of what he could have done differently. “I tried to cover all lanes, but just couldn’t quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run. The short run wasn’t my specialty all day, obviously.

“But either way, controlling the race with two to go, you got to try to find a way to finish it and just didn’t.”

Hamlin took the lead on the final restart of the afternoon with seven laps to go. He restarted on the outside of the second row and drove around Blaney and Reddick going into Turn 1. The initial gap he built over Blaney was erased when the reigning series champion used the bottom lane to pull even with Hamlin off Turn 2 in the final laps.

It was a day the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team needed. Hamlin led 21 laps and earned 14 stage points.

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Chris Gabehart, Hamlin’s crew chief, also chose an alternate strategy to help his driver with track position. Gabehart ran Hamlin long on green flag fuel runs, which put him in the middle of the top 10 when it cycled out, but gave his driver fresh tires to make up the difference on the long runs.

In stage two, the call allowed Hamlin to drive through the field to win the stage. The same strategy was in play again in the final stage when Hamlin did not pit until 39 laps to go. Again, at a deficit, he needed to erase 18s with 25 laps to go to get to the lead.

Hamlin was running sixth with 22 laps to go and into fourth place with 17 laps to go. When the cycle completed, as Reddick was also on the same strategy, Hamlin was running third and was 6s behind. Then came the final caution with 13 laps to go, which moved Hamlin to second place coming to pit road.

He left pit road in the same position, but Reddick stayed out on track to inherit the race lead and set up the final run to the finish.

“Chris gave me everything I needed there to try to race him,” Hamlin said. “Just didn’t get it done.”

A victory not meant to be an aside, Hamlin did close the gap on a transfer spot into the championship race. He entered the weekend in a 27-point deficit, but is now 18 points behind going into the elimination race at Martinsville Speedway (Nov. 3, 2 p.m. ET).

“It’s another opportunity,” he said, “Certainly you’re not out of it until they throw the checkered flag at Martinsville.”

Blaney has just one more chance after Homestead defeat

Ryan Blaney has plenty to think about leaving Homestead-Miami Speedway after being bested by Tyler Reddick in the final two corners on the final lap. Blaney finished second in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 and remains out of a transfer spot with …

Ryan Blaney has plenty to think about leaving Homestead-Miami Speedway after being bested by Tyler Reddick in the final two corners on the final lap.

Blaney finished second in the Straight Talk Wireless 400 and remains out of a transfer spot with one race left in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Round of 8. The reigning series champion had taken the lead from Denny Hamlin with two laps to go Sunday, but was then passed by Reddick, who flew by on the outside, on the final lap in Turn 3. The side-by-side between the two drivers didn’t last long as Reddick finished the pass in Turn 4 and drove to the victory.

“It’s obvious disappointment,” Blaney said. “I had a great shot to win and I didn’t have a very good last lap. Man, I thought I got into [Turn] 3 hard and [Reddick] just blitzed it off in there and it stuck for him, which is pretty impressive. I hate we gave one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away; we got the lead back after losing it on the restart and the last lap just didn’t really play out for us.

“It definitely stinks. I appreciate everybody on the [No.] 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. We had a great shot to go to Phoenix, and still got one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that.”

Blaney restarted on the inside of the front row for the final green flag with seven laps to go, but Hamlin grabbed the top spot by going to the outside of Blaney and Reddick in Turn 1.

With two laps to go, the Team Penske driver used the bottom lane to get to the inside of Hamlin for the race lead. He completed the pass in Turns 3 and 4 coming to the white flag. Reddick went to second place on the final lap off Turn 2 and easily drove around the outside of Blaney, who left a lane open, going into Turn 3.

“Yeah, a shame,” Blaney said. “I’ll be picking through what I should have done different [all night], probably, and that’s just the way it goes. Overall, really proud of the effort and hopefully we can bring it to them next week.”

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Monday will be the first chance Blaney has to look ahead to Martinsville Speedway (Nov. 3, 2 p.m. ET). Until then, he admitted, “This feeling will suck,” after being so close to a victory. Although he tries not to stew on results, he said there are tons of things he could have done differently on the final lap.

To start, there was no getting to the bottom in Turns 1 and 2, which gave Reddick clean air as he moved around Hamlin. It wasn’t even possible to slide up in front of Reddick in Turn 3 — the timing worked better for Reddick to drive it further into the corner and make it stick.

“The Toyotas could do that really good all day,” Blaney said. “Their entry speed was crazy fast and it benefitted him there. It stinks. It was an up and down day and it was a shame to lose one on the last lap like that.”

Blaney led 47 laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway and earned 13 playoff points. He’s now 38 points out of a transfer spot going into the final race of the penultimate round, but he is the defending winner at Martinsville.

“I’m not fired up right now for Martinsville,” Blaney said. “I’ll take the night to replay a couple things and figure out what I could have done better. Tomorrow morning, we’ll re-stack and get ready for Martinsville.

“I’m excited, though. I’m super excited about the speed we had today. I can’t complain about that. Last week’s speed was great, too, before we got in the wreck. Hopefully we bring that same speed to Martinsville.”

Reddick wins tooth and nail fight at Homestead to advance to Cup Series Championship 4

Tyler Reddick is headed to the Championship 4 to compete for the NASCAR Cup Series championship after a third-to-first last lap drive to win Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Reddick wrapped the bottom around Turns 1 and 2 and completed a pass on …

Tyler Reddick is headed to the Championship 4 to compete for the NASCAR Cup Series championship after a third-to-first last lap drive to win Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Reddick wrapped the bottom around Turns 1 and 2 and completed a pass on boss Denny Hamlin for second position on corner exit on the white flag lap. The 23XI Racing driver then drove around the outside of leader Ryan Blaney to make the winning pass through Turns 3 and 4. The victory capped off a day where Reddick started from the pole, won the first stage, and led a race high 97 laps.

 

It is the first time Reddick will compete for the Cup Series championship.

“We were backed in a corner, man; we had no other choice,” Reddick said. “I know we were on a tire deficit, and here at Homestead that’s a death sentence, but I don’t care. We did what it took to win this race [and] we’re fighting for a championship.”

Blaney finished second and Hamlin, who won the second stage, finished third. Hamlin was leading with two laps to go before Blaney took the top spot in Turns 3 and 4 coming to the white flag.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Reddick said of the winning pass on Blaney. “I just knew I needed to get even with him on his right-side door; I didn’t care what he did. He raced me clean. I appreciate it. I’m really, really excited that we’re going to have a shot at this championship.”

The run to the finish was seven laps after a caution for a Kyle Larson spin. Larson was racing Blaney for the lead when he spun trying to squeeze in the middle of Blaney and Austin Dillon in Turn 3.

Reddick stayed on track and inherited the race lead having run long on the previous fuel run. Blaney led Hamlin and Chase Elliott off pit road.

“Billy [Scott] made a call that looked a little scary because we were going to run out of gas,” 23XI co-owner Michel Jordan said of the pit strategy. “We knew we needed a caution at the end and anything can happen after that. As you can see, Denny was up there, and the little kid drove his [butt] off. I’m proud of him.

“He just let go, he just went for it, and I’m glad. We needed it.”

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On the final restart, Hamlin took the lead by going to the top in Turns 1 and 2. He drove around Reddick and Elliott, who restarted on the front row. Blaney and Reddick settled into second and third place before the frantic run to the finish.

“It’s obvious disappointment,” Blaney said. “I had a great shot to win and I didn’t have a very good last lap. Man, I thought I got into [Turn] 3 hard and [Reddick] just blitzed it off in there and it stuck for him, which is pretty impressive. I hate we gave one away there like that. I don’t know if we gave it away; we got the lead back after losing it on the restart and the last lap just didn’t really play out for us.

“It definitely stinks. I appreciate everybody on the [No.] 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. We had a great shot to go to Phoenix, and still got one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that.”

Christopher Bell finished fourth and Elliott completed the top five. William Byron finished sixth; Alex Bowman, seventh; AJ Allmendinger, eighth and Carson Hocevar, ninth. Ryan Preece rounded out the top 10.

Larson finished 13th. He was scored third after his spin but lost six spots on pit road when his Hendrick Motorsports team had to knock a diffuser flap back in place. The spin was the second incident of the day for him, after hitting the wall on lap 48 because of a flat right rear tire.

Joey Logano was the lowest finishing playoff driver in 28th position, but he’s under no pressure after clinching his spot in the championship race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

There were 33 lead changes among 11 drivers in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wire 400, plus six caution flags.

The four drivers out of a transfer spot going into the final elimination race at Martinsville Speedway (Nov. 3, 2 p.m. ET) are Larson, Hamlin, Blaney, and Elliott. Larson is at a seven-point deficit while Hamlin is behind 18 points, Blaney is behind 38, and Elliott the furthest behind at 43 points.

RESULTS

Hill roars to Xfinity Championship 4 with win at Homestead

An emotional Austin Hill climbed out of his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch to celebrate one of the most significant race wins of his burgeoning career – claiming the Credit One NASCAR AMEX …

An emotional Austin Hill climbed out of his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch to celebrate one of the most significant race wins of his burgeoning career – claiming the Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit Card 300 trophy Saturday and securing one of four positions to race for a trophy in the Nov. 9 series championship finale.

Hill – who also swept both of the race’s stage wins — took the lead from Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer with 11 laps remaining Saturday evening at the 1.5-mile South Florida track and raced off to a healthy 3.045s win over the fellow Playoff driver and reigning series champion Custer.

It was the fourth win of the season for Hill and 10th of this career. But importantly, it is the first time the 30-year-old Georgia native will have a chance to race for the championship trophy after multi-win seasons the last three years.

 

“I worked so hard for this. A lot of people doubt me but I wake up every day to prove them wrong,” Hill said. “I deserve to be here and I deserve to race for a championship. This No. 21 team deserves it just as much as I do. They work their [butts] off each and every day just like I do. I’ve got to give it up to those guys. They gave me a hell of a car.

“I can honestly say I’ve never cried coming to the start-finish line, but I had to get my emotions together going into Turn 1 after the checkered. All the hard work and dedication that goes into this. I don’t think everyone’s going to understand what this means for me, for my family and for [sponsor] Bennett. … I had to be on it today.

Pausing to take it in, he added, “This is amazing. To be able to go the Final Four. I’ve worked so hard at this and my dreams came true.”

With his win and A.J. Allmendinger’s victory last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, now only two positions remain for the title chase with one more race remaining – at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway half-miler next week – to establish the championship foursome.

JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier – who only had three previous top-10 finishes at Homestead – took the checkered flag in eighth place which was good enough to keep the driver of the No. 7 JRM Chevrolet with the points lead in third place should he need that to advance to the championship race.

Custer, whose No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led a race best 87 of the 200 laps, is now on that fourth-place cutoff line with a 28-point advantage over Saturday’s race pole-winner Chandler Smith. Smith, finished 13th and as with the bottom four ranked drivers is essentially in a must-win situation next weekend.

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Hill’s rookie teammate Jesse Love ran up front much of the day and finished fourth. He’s now sixth in the points standings – 35 points below Custer.

“It just shows you how good you have to be to get in the Championship Four,” Love said, noting of the Phoenix finale, “I feel like if we could get there we have a shot to win.”

JR Motorsports teammates Sam Mayer and Sammy Smith finished ninth and 22nd, respectively and find themselves in a similar must-win situation to Chandler Smith and Love next week at Martinsville.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Aric Almirola finished third Saturday behind the Playoff drivers, with Love and JGR’s Sheldon Creed rounding out the top five. Custer’s SHR teammate Riley Herbst, RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Mayer and last week’s race winner Allmendinger completed the top 10.

Of note, 18-year-old William Sawalich finished 24th in his much-anticipated Xfinity Series debut.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway half-miler next week for Saturday’s National Debt Relief 200 (4 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Allgaier is the defending race winner. Almirola won at the track this Spring.

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