On Sunday, Kyle Larson earned the 30th win of his NASCAR Cup Series career at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Here are the major takeaways following the sixth race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Christopher Bell falls back to earth
After winning three consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races at Atlanta, COTA and Phoenix, the last two weeks haven’t been as kind to the Norman, Oklahoma, native. After finishing 12th at Las Vegas, a spin in Stage 1 at Homestead put Bell in a hole he could not dig out of on Sunday. Bell ultimately finished 29th, and after a white-hot start to the season, he’s stumbled, if only slightly, over the last two races.
Kyle Larson is still the best driver in the sport
Larson hasn’t had a perfect start to 2025, but his drive on Sunday was another example of Larson being the best overall driver in the sport. A late-race charge from Larson was necessary just for him to be in the conversation for the race win, and when the pay window opened, he forced Alex Bowman into a crucial mistake and ran away with the lead. If Larson begins to close out more races in which he has winning speed, the field could be in trouble.
Blaney’s dominance falls by the wayside
Ryan Blaney clearly had the fastest car on Sunday, but the race results won’t show it. After winning Stage 1 and leading 124 laps, Blaney was running third on Lap 207. Unfortunately, that was when his race ended. For the second time in three weeks, the engine of Blaney’s No. 12 Ford detonated, providing a plume of smoke and knocking the fastest car in South Florida out of the race. Blaney has been fast to open the 2025 season, but the No. 12 team must evaluate its engine program in order to ensure that more catastrophic engine failures don’t occur later in the season.
NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway Results
Stage 1
- Ryan Blaney
- Alex Bowman
- Chase Briscoe
- Kyle Larson
- Austin Cindric
- William Byron
- AJ Allmendinger
- Josh Berry
- Noah Gragson
- Joey Logano
Stage 2
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Larson
- Ryan Blaney
- William Byron
- Bubba Wallace
- Alex Bowman
- Austin Cindric
- Chase Elliott
- Carson Hocevar
- Tyler Reddick
Race Results
- Kyle Larson
- Alex Bowman
- Alex Bowman
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
- Chris Buescher
- AJ Allmendinger
- Tyler Reddick
- Ryan Preece
- Justin Haley
- Zane Smith
- William Byron
- Austin Dillon
- Joey Logano
- Erik Jones
- Noah Gragson
- Josh Berry
- Chase Elliott
- Austin Cindric
- Michael McDowell
- Kyle Busch
- Daniel Suarez
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ty Gibbs
- Brad Keselowski
- Ty Dillon
- Cole Custer
- Christopher Bell
- Todd Gilliland
- Ross Chastain
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Riley Herbst
- Cody Ware
- JJ Yeley
- Ryan Blaney
- Carson Hocevar
The seventh race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season will take place at Martinsville Speedway on March 30. The Cook Out 400 will go green shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, with coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. William Byron is the defending winner of the Cook Out 400, while Ryan Blaney won at Martinsville the last time the Cup Series visited in November.
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