It was a beautiful and bright day in the “Sunshine State” as Alex Bowman led the field to green at Homestead Miami Speedway on Sunday afternoon. As the #48 car took control over the rest of the field, Ryan Blaney, came to challenge for the lead. After a few back-and-forth laps, Blaney prevailed with the top spot, Bowman falling back to second. A few laps shy of the halfway point of the stage, green flag pit stops were underway, with Kyle Larson taking the lead over Blaney for a few laps. The lead cycled back out to Blaney once Larson came to pit road, meanwhile, William Byron and Noah Gragson made ground on track with both drivers sitting comfortably in the top five.
The day’s first caution came with just 10 laps remaining in stage one when Christopher Bell lost control of his car and went for a spin. At the drop of the green, Blaney and Bowman battled for the lead, however, Gragson just couldn’t seem to get going, causing a near stack-up at the front of the pack. As Gragson continued to fall behind, Blaney and Bowman continued to move forward, duking it out for the lead until the last lap of the stage. In the end Blaney held the advantage over Bowman to secure the stage win. Before stage two could begin, disaster struck on pit road when the cars of Joey Logano and Josh Berry collided, with Logano receiving the worst of the damage.
Carson Hocevar held the lead at the start of the second stage, after opting to not pit at the stage break. Hocevar’s decision to not pit was proven fruitless as he was almost instantly passed by the other drivers, his scuffs being no match for their fresh tires. Bowman once again found himself taking over the top spot with Blaney hot on his trail. The pole sitter and stage one winner battled back and forth for several laps, as Denny Hamlin gained on the two. Eventually, Blaney won over the lead once again, Hamlin right at the back bumper of Bowman ultimately stealing the position.
After the second cycle of green flag pit stops, Ryan Blaney found himself at the front of the pack once again. During the cycle, Daniel Suarez went for a spin at the front end of pit road, the incident, however, did not prompt a caution. As the laps winded down in the stage, the leaders hit lap traffic, allowing Hamlin to gain on Blaney, Larson closely following behind. Both drivers managed to get around the dominant Blaney with just three laps remaining in the stage. On the final lap, Larson attempted to use the lapped car of Cole Custer as a pick to take the stage win, it was to no avail though, as he was edged out by Hamlin at the line.
Stage three was off to a hot start as the field battled intensely for positions, with Larson and Hamlin, at the helm of the intensity. A new player entered the game though, as Bubba Wallace charged forward, quickly taking the lead over from the drivers of the #5 and #11. After some less fortunate luck on pit road, Ryan Blaney found himself back in the mix as he and Larson charged after Wallace for the lead. With just over 50 laps to go Ryan Blaney’s misfortune made a comeback, as his engine blew after a dominating performance.
At the drop of the green flag, it was a near-four-wide battle for the lead between Wallace, Hamlin, Bowman, and Larson. While the latter three battled one another for the second spot, Wallace pulled off with the lead. In fact, the drivers placed second, third, and fourth were fighting so intensely for a position that a near incident occurred between Bowman and Hamlin, with the driver of the #11 brushing the wall. With a little over 30 laps to go Bowman gained enough ground to reclaim the lead from Wallace.
The battle was intense between Bowman and Wallace as the laps continued to tick off one by one, with Bowmance grasping the top slot. Wallace despite his best efforts to hold on was no match for Larson, who passed him for second place and then a few laps later he passed Bowman for the lead. Despite Bowman’s best efforts to take back the lead from his teammate, he was no match for the #5, who captured the 30th win of his career and his first win of the season.
Featured image credits to @teamhendrick on Instagram
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