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IAMI, Fla. – The NASCAR Cup Series run for the championship makes its only stop of the season in South Florida this weekend with the Dixie Vodka 400 on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) the second race in the Round of 8 to determine which four drivers will advance to the Championship 4 season finale in Phoenix.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano became the first of the four to advance to the Championship 4 Round with an impressive win in a dramatic race last week at Las Vegas, outdueling another championship contender, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain for the victory.
Chastain is now second in the Playoff standings heading into Homestead with Regular Season Champion Chase Elliott in third and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin holding the important fourth and final position to transfer to the next round on points.
Hendrick’s William Byron – the defending Homestead race winner – trails Hamlin by only six points. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe is only 9 points behind the cutoff and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney is 11 points back.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell is certainly looking to return to form this week. His No. 20 Toyota was collected in a well-publicized tussle between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson last weekend, and the resulting DNF leaves Bell 23 points behind his teammate Hamlin for that last Championship 4 position.
The good news for Bell is that he has a good track record at Homestead and has enjoyed success there, including capturing the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship at the track.
“As disappointing as Vegas was, if anyone can pull through it’s our No. 20 group,” Bell said. “I expect to be extremely competitive again and am ready to tackle the challenge.”
Wallace was issued a one-race suspension for his part in the Larson incident and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship contender John Hunter Nemechek has been tabbed to drive the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota this week.
Teams got a rare mid-season opportunity to test the Next Gen car at Homestead-Miami Speedway in September and Team Penske’s Austin Cindric was fastest of the two-day session with Logano, the only driver who has already clinched a Playoff berth second quickest. Hamlin was third and Bell was fifth fastest – tops among the rest of the Playoff drivers.
Hamlin is the winningest active driver at Homestead-Miami with three victories. JGR’s Kyle Busch is the only other multi-time winner with a pair of trophies. Byron is the defending race winner and Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick have also won at the track.
Playoff driver Chase Briscoe, who is only nine points out of the Championship 4, has won in both the Xfinity Series (2020) and the Camping World Truck Series (2017) at Homestead-Miami. And Byron has wins in both the NASCAR Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series (2016).
Although Homestead is essentially the Floridian Chastain’s “home track” he has struggled there in the past. In three NASCAR Cup Series starts his best finish is 17th last year and his 28.3 average finish is worst among the Playoff drivers – although it should be noted two of those starts were not with competitive teams.
Elliott, who has had an up-and-down Playoff run, is looking to regain form. He boasts the top average finish (9.0) among the eight Playoff drivers at Homestead-Miami even as he races for his first victory there.
Among this Playoff group, Hamlin has had the most experience racing at Homestead. Not only is he the winningest driver there, but he is also highly consistent, scoring top-10 finishes in 11 of his 17 starts. His 10th place average finish is second only to Elliott.
“I’m looking forward to Homestead,” said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “We had a very good test there a few weeks ago and really felt like we unloaded as one of the best cars. After two days, the field kind of caught up to us a little bit, but I have a lot of confidence going there.
“I feel like the driver can make a difference just with the different lines you can run, so I think that fits into our strength on top of just how strong we have been on these types of tracks this year.”
Practice and Busch Light Pole Qualifying will be Saturday at 10 a.m. ET and fans can watch on the NBC Sports App.
Source: Holly Cain/NASCAR Wire Service
