TRUCKS: Kyle Larson Comes From Behind To Win at Homestead-Miami
Entering the weekend, there wasn’t anybody in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series garage who believed that Kyle Larson wouldn’t be the favorite to win Friday’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway… and as it turns out, the NASCAR Cup Series champion nearly gave it away.
The Elk Grove, California-native wasn’t running away with Friday’s event, by any means, spending much of the evening fighting against Corey Heim, Layne Riggs, and later on, fellow NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain, and at times, it appeared the No. 07 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet wasn’t the best truck.
For Larson, things really boiled over with about 40 laps remaining, when he contacted the left-side of Layne Riggs’ No. 34 Ford F-150 and went for a spin in Turn 2, sustaining minor damage and losing all of his track position in a pivotal portion of Friday’s event.
When the green flag dropped, and the field was set loose to race amongst themselves, it was time for Larson to start his rapid progression throughout the pack, while Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, and Ross Chastain battled amongst themselves at the front of the pack.
RACE RESULTS: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Baptist Health 200
As Larson surged closer to the top-five, there were problems at the front of the pack with race-leader and dominator Corey Heim, whose No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro kept shutting off and causing the 13-time NASCAR Truck Series winner problems, tossing him back into the clutches of Layne Riggs.
With seven laps remaining in Friday’s event, Larson sat in fifth-place, a whopping 3.125 seconds behind the race-leader (which at the time was Corey Heim). The rally into his fourth NASCAR Truck Series victory, was nothing short of impressive.
When Heim’s TRICON Garage entry stalled out with four laps remaining, that provided the perfect opportunity for Layne Riggs to take over the race-lead, and left Larson the opportunity to jump into second and begin stalking the second-year driver for the win.
“That was pretty unbelievable,” Larson said in his post-race interview. “Wasn’t exactly sure if I could get back up there, didn’t have the restart that I wanted, kinda took a little bit too long to start picking them off, and just got rippin’ the wall.”
Layne Riggs finished in the runner-up spot on Friday, marking the third straight event on an intermediate racetrack that he’s been passed for the victory. The two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winner is off to a much better start than in his rookie season in 2024.
Corey Heim nursed his underpowered vehicle to a third-place finish, his third top three result of the season. The Marietta, Georgia-native started on the pole and led a race-high 78 laps in Friday’s event. McAnally-Hilgemann Racing teammates Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Hemric were a factor late in the race, finishing fourth and fifth.
After leading 33 laps – second only to Corey Heim – Ross Chastain faded to a sixth-place finish late in the going, while Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger, and Kaden Honeycutt completed the top-10.
As expected, Corey Heim holds the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points lead over Ty Majeski by eight markers after four events this season. Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger, and Stewart Friesen round out the top-five in standings.
Leaving Homestead-Miami Speedway, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is done with the mile-and-a-half racetracks for a couple of weeks, now traveling to Martinsville Speedway for an all-out brawl on the half-mile paperclip. Coverage of the event will be March 28 at 7:30 PM ET on FS1.
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-a54bf325b08a5e9f769b818f5c4a244c.png "Joseph Srigley")
Joseph Srigley covers NASCAR for TobyChristie.com, Racing America, and OnSI, and is the owner of the #SrigleyStats brand. With a higher education in the subjects of business, mathematics, and data analytics, Joseph is able to fully understand the inner workings of the sport through multiple points of perspective.