On Sunday, the celebrities of the NASCAR Cup Sequence will take to the excessive banks of the Homestead-Miami Speedway for the thirty fourth race of the 2024 season. The race serves because the second race of the Spherical of 8 and will ship a playoff driver to the Championship 4. This is what you must know earlier than the inexperienced flag flies in South Florida.
Toyota is the producer to beat
Toyota took 5 of the top-10 spots in each apply and qualifying, with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick topping the apply charts and successful the pole. Las Vegas runner-up Christopher Bell will roll off the grid third, with Denny Hamlin beginning fourth. Bell is the defending winner at Homestead-Miami and it might be a Toyota going to victory lane on the observe for the second consecutive season.
Kyle Larson in search of redemption
After scratching and clawing his method to an Eleventh-place end at Las Vegas, Larson is trying to win at Homestead-Miami for the second time in three years. Larson dominated on the observe in 2022, however his race got here to an early finish final season after he bumped into the sand barrels on the entrance of pit street throughout inexperienced flag pit stops. Larson has a large benefit (+35) over the minimize line, however a win at Homestead would assure his ticket to Phoenix.
Martin Truex Jr. trying to find sentimental victory
Truex Jr. is donning a particular throwback paint scheme on Sunday on the similar observe he gained the 2017 Cup Sequence championship at. Truex got here near successful at Homestead in 2022 earlier than a pit-road mishap derailed his day. Do not be stunned if he is in rivalry when the chips are down.
A.J. Allmendinger may spoil the occasion
Allmendinger has all the time been strong at Homestead — as evidenced by his Tenth-place end in Saturday’s Xfinity Sequence race and 5 Cup Sequence top-10s — however he is been glorious on the 1.5 mile oval in two Subsequent-Gen races. Allmendinger completed third in 2022 and fifth a 12 months in the past at Homestead and so long as Kaulig Racing provides him a strong automobile, he ought to run contained in the top-10 for a lot of the night.
