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NASCAR Monday Mash-Up: Kyle Larson goes two for three in Miami

JHby:Jonathan Howard•03/24/25•

Jondean25

Kyle Larson NASCAR Homestead-Miami
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Another exciting weekend behind us in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was all about Kyle Larson at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Trying to sweep the tripleheader weekend, Yung Money came up one race short of his goal.

Kyle Busch remains the only driver to ever sweep the Truck, Xfinity, and Cup Series races in the same weekend. He did it twice at Bristol. Kyle Larson was chasing that, but couldn’t quite get it done. He’ll also attempt it at Bristol later this season.

Coming off another Hendrick Motorsports win, there is a lot to go over from this past weekend. Did we actually make it one week without a major officiating controversy? It seems like it.

Chastain cracks joke at Hocevar, sends it on Lap 1

In an attempt to be funny, and it was, Ross Chastain made a joke at Carson Hocevar’s expense during the drivers-only broadcast. Chastain said he was glad Hocevar had a mic and not a steering wheel in his hand.

Of course, Chastain was joking about Hocevar’s reputation as an aggressive racer. Then the Melon Man went out and wrecked Gio Ruggiero and Ben Rhodes on Lap 1, Turn 1. Sound familiar?

Corey Heim, Layne Riggs duke it out with Kyle Larson

That Truck Series race was a huge success if you are Corey Heim and Layne Riggs. Not that they won the race, but the way they competed against Kyle Larson was fantastic.

Not to mention, this race was on FOX, not FS1. It was a great performance from both drivers against one of the best in the sport. Heim would have won had his truck not shut off late in the race.

Larson spins late, comes back to win

We have see Kyle Larson do these donut recoveries where he spins all the way around in a sprint car, plenty of times. Well, he did it in a truck on Friday night.

Racing hard with Layne Riggs, he forced the issue trying to intimidate the younger driver. Riggs didn’t lift and Larson spun out. But he saved the truck.

Taylor Gray earns first career pole

Taylor Gray Christian Eckes
Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Credit where it is due, Taylor Gray has been very impressive this season. He is second in points among rookies in the 54 car owned by Ty Gibbs.

Gray moved up from the Truck Series and there were critics, I among them. So far this year, he is 10th in points, has a pole award, has three top-10 finishes and one top-5.

Sam Mayer slams ‘the s**t’ out of Kyle Larson

After dominating for most of the race, Kyle Larson had to fight for his win on an overtime restart. Launching later in the restart zone, Larson got run over by Sam Mayer which caused him to lose track position.

From there, it was over for Larson. He had lapped all but four drivers before the final caution. He walked away P4 and said that Mayer “slammed the s**t out of me.” No sweep.

Justin Allgaier’s luck takes a turn

The big beneficiary to the Larson-Mayer fiasco was Justin Allgaier. Austin Hill tried to take advantage of the situation but the 7 car was too fast.

After a few heartbreaking results when he should have won in the last two seasons, is Allgaier’sluck changing? Allgaier won the race, Dash 4 Cash, and had the Xfinity Fastest Lap. Talk about a sweep.

Kyle Busch was nowhere to be seen

Kyle Busch
Peter Casey-Imagn Images

During the Cup Series race, Kyle Busch was nowhere to be seen. He was so bad, that the leaders were complaining about having to lap him.

After many adjustments, the No. 8 team got Busch going in the right direction. Too little too late. P21 and not a lot to show for their trip to Miami.

Ryan Blaney dominates first half until engine blows…again

Leading for 124 laps in the first half of the race, Ryan Blaney was the man to beat on Sunday. He was so good, there was really no one who could stop him. Except for his own team.

For the second time in three weeks, Blaney’s engine went up in smoke. That makes three straight DNFs for the 12 car.

Kyle Larson runs down Alex Bowman for the win

With Ryan Blaney out of the way, the door was opened. It came down to Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, and Kyle Larson.

Larson dueled it out with Bowman for a while. Despite driving a great race, it was clear Bowman was outmatched. He eventually hit the wall and Larson went by and secured the win.