The 2025 NASCAR season is fully underway now in March with Sunday’s visit to Homestead-Miami delivering the sixth start of the year. With the weather starting to warm up, things are getting even more interesting as we saw this weekend.
A majority of Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami was dominated by the usual names, with Ryan Blaney (Stage 1) and Denny Hamlin (Stage 2) each coming out with stage victories. In the end, Kyle Larson surged in the final laps to snag his first Cup Series victory of the season.
Let’s dive into the winners and losers from Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami.
Winner: Bubba Wallace delivers strong points day
Bubba Wallace might be a bit disappointed to leave Homestead-Miami without a victory, but he did come out as one of the biggest points winners on Sunday. The No. 23 car missed out on a few points in Stage 1, thanks to Joey Logano and Noah Gragson, but rebounded with a fifth-place finish (five points) in Stage 2. He battled his way to the lead and held on until late, settling for third place. The strong showing pushed Wallace into the top 10 of the points standings and he gained his first top-five finish of the season. Given some of the issues he’s had this season – 2 DNFs – being in the top 9 after six races is a great spot to be.
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Loser: Kyle Busch becomes an afterthought
The start of the 2025 Cup season suggested Kyle Busch was turning things around after a winless 2024 campaign. Busch finished seventh at Atlanta Motor Speedway, fifth at COTA and eighth at Phoenix Raceway to rack up 105 points in an outstanding three-race stretch. Wheel issues derailed his hopes for a top-10 finish in Las Vegas and he spent the majority of Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami at the back of the field. He was essentially an afterthought on Sunday. Busch’s winless streak is now at 63 races and he seems further away from snapping it than he did three weeks ago all the while he slips further down the standings.
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Winner: Ryan Blaney’s first 2 stages lessen the damage of another blown engine
Entering Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami, Ryan Blaney sat seventh in the points standings but had only led 23 laps through five races this season. He showcased his dominance on Sunday afternoon. The No. 12 car won Stage 1, picking up 10 points, and he quadrupled his laps led total by the end of Stage 2. Everything seemed to finally be going right for Blaney until his engine blew up late in Stage 3 for the second time. The saving grace for Blaney was his early dominance, preventing a disastrous points day, but this also marks this third DNF of the season and that’s the highest-ever in his Cup Series career.
Related: NASCAR standings after Homestead-Miami
Loser: Joey Logano’s pit-road problems
The reigning NASCAR Cup champion had some issues at Homestead-Miami and even if they weren’t all his fault, it still resulted in a poor showing. During pit stops after Stage 1, Josh Berry collided with Kyle Larson on pit road as the No. 21 came out of his box. The contact pushed Berry’s car into the No.22 as it exited, turning Logano’s car around in his pit box. Logano lost time getting the car turned around and then had to return after a lap to repair some damage. However, there was more work to be done. Sitting 12th with less than 35 laps to go on Stage 2, Logano came down pit road for adjustments and the car needed additional work. All that lost time proved costly, resulting in a rough Sunday for the No. 22 team. He ended the day in 13th, but the pit-road issues cost him plenty of points.
Winner: AJ Allmendinger stands out in Miami
A.J. Allmendinger has been positioning himself pretty well at the start of races this season, hitting the track on Sunday with the ninth-highest average starting position (12.4). What he didn’t have was strong finishes. That changed in Las Vegas – 8th place and 34 points – providing momentum that carried over into Miami. After starting 10th, Allmendinger earned 4 stage points with a seventh-place finish in Stage 1 and he also placed 13th in Stage 2. The No. 16 car hung around near the front of the pack in the final stage, finishing Sunday 7th and surging up the standings.
Loser: Christopher Bell spins out of contention
Already a three-time winner in 2025, Christopher Bell’s trip to Miami is one he’ll want to forget. He spun out late in Stage 1 and came out of it reporting front-end damage with bad vibrations in the car. The car never got right, resulting in Bell finishing outside the top 20 in both stages. After entering Sunday second in the standings and averaging 41.25 points per race over the last month, Bell was a complete non-factor in Miami and finished outside the top 20.
Winner: Kyle Larson dominates Homestead-Miami
Kyle Larson arrived at Homestead-Miami with aspirations of pulling off the clean sweep, winning races in all three races. He got off to a great start, overcoming a late caution, to win the Truck Series race on Friday night. He was even more dominant on Saturday in the Xfinity Series, leading 132-of-201 laps before some hard rear contact in overtime from Sam Mayer. With the clean sweep off the table, Larson responded with a Stage 3 comeback to overtake Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman to snag his first win of the season. Larson simply dominated Miami, proving why he’s regarded as the best driver in NASCAR.
