CONCORD, N.C. – With three races remaining in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, it’s go time at stock car racing's highest level. This weekend, Homestead-Miami Speedway will be the venue for the action in the middle race of the Round of 8.
Although this track has not been the site of the championship since 2019, Hendrick Motorsports has seen success on the 1.5-mile track as of late. In 2021, William Byron became the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2016 to take home victory at the Florida facility. Kyle Larson put on a dominating performance in 2022 that locked the No. 5 entry into the Championship 4 for the owner title battle. The team has led 64% of the laps run (342 of 534) in the last two Homestead-Miami events.
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In all, the Rick Hendrick-led group has won four races in Miami. Current vice chairman Jeff Gordon took won the final race of the 2012 season at the track while Johnson's win earned him his seventh and final Cup Series championship.
The track is known for producing high tire wear, which means you will see teams pit for four tires under every caution. No. 24 crew chief Rudy Fugle, who earned his first Cup Series win atop the pit box with Byron here in 2021, noted the track itself is a fun challenge for drivers and crew chiefs.
"The tire fall off is huge and obviously the cars get super hard to drive," Fugle told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week. "The track is going to change a ton. Usually, the first couple of runs eat up the tires more than it does later and you end up on the wall really early. Later in the race you got to run middle, the top seam and the bottom. Having a car that can do that is not easy. It takes a lot of prep and a lot of work from the car side and the driver side.
"It is a really challenging track, which makes it fun. It is similar to Darlington (Raceway) in the challenging part of it and even California (Auto Club Speedway) with an abrasive track that you have to run all over the place. You have to have a car that is very versatile."
After a clutch win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team have their eyes set forward to Phoenix. No matter the result of the next two races, this team will compete for a championship. That said, Larson has a great shot to build even more momentum in Miami. Historically, few drivers have been able to walk the fine line of running inches away from the wall at top speed. Thanks in part to his dirt racing background, Larson has mastered this skill. He has five top-five finishes in nine starts at the venue and his 529 laps led are the most by any driver entered in Sunday's race.
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With nine points in hand over the cutline, Byron will look to Miami as an opportunity to grow his cushion heading into the cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway next week. With a victory in 2021, this has been a good track for the 25-year-old driver. In 2022, he took the pole position and led 32 laps on the day. He’s also riding a five-race top 10 streak, which is the longest active streak by any Cup Series driver in 2023 and the third-longest of Byron’s career. On top of that, he has a series-best average finish of 4.83 and 254 points on 1.5-mile tracks this season.
Despite Las Vegas not going the way Chase Elliott would have wanted, the No. 9 Hooters team still has plenty left to race for on the owner's side of things in the Round of 8. In seven starts at Homestead-Miami, Elliott has yet to finish outside the top-15 spots, highlighted by a runner-up result in 2020. His 9.7 average finish is the third-best among drivers in Sunday's race. In a year that has had so much adversity for the group, rebounding has been the name of the game. In the four races Elliott has finished outside the top 30, the team has earned a top-five result in his next event.
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This weekend will be Alex Bowman’s first time behind the wheel of the Next Gen race car at Homestead-Miami as he sat out of the 2022 race due to injury. In his five previous starts with Hendrick Motorsports at the Florida facility, the Tucson, Arizona, native has earned two top-10 finishes. Bowman has also scored stage points in both segments during 2020 and 2021’s races. He’ll look to grab his first win at Homestead this weekend while sporting a unique, fan designed paint scheme for the weekend.
Here is what you need to know to catch this weekend’s action.
WHAT TIME IS PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING?
Group practice will take place at 9:05 a.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 21, with coverage beginning on the NBC Sports App. Group qualifying will immediately follow practice and begin at 9:50 a.m. ET with coverage also on the NBC Sports App.
Bowman will be in Group A, while Larson, Byron and Elliott will be in Group B.
WHAT TIME IS THE RACE?
The green flag will fly for the Cup Series main event on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 2:30 p.m. ET with coverage on NBC. A post-race show will take place on Peacock.
CAN I LISTEN ON THE RADIO?
The race will be broadcast on the MRN Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90).
CAN I STREAM ONLINE?
Yes. Download the NBC Sports App or Peacock for online coverage. Fans can also keep up with the action on Twitter by following @TeamHendrick.
FIVE FAST FACTS HEADING INTO MIAMI
Stats courtesy of Racing Insights
1.4: The average running position for Larson during last year's victory at Homestead-Miami. He led 199 of 267 laps on the day.
2: Consecutive races in Miami where Bowman has scored stage points in both stages.
4: Wins in the month of October for Elliott during his career. This is the most victories in any month for the Dawsonville, Georgia, native.
5.7: Byron's average finish through the first seven races of the playoffs. It is the fourth-best mark all-time in the elimination-style format.
11: Hendrick Motorsports has had at least one driver finish inside the top five in each of the last 11 races. That is the best streak in the series since the organization accomplished this in 14 consecutive races in 2021.