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Best driver in the world!” Many on X posted this with bitter sarcasm, soon after Kyle Larson spun himself out in last weekend’s Truck race. However, the Hendrick Motorsports driver took that seriously and went on to win the race by beating Layne Riggs. The same glorious run was visible on Sunday at the same track, Homestead-Miami Speedway. Yet as a ‘best driver’s attitude goes, Larson was not satisfied.
The ‘golden boy’ has a mixed history at the South Florida track. While holding Cup records for laps led (645) and stage wins (six), Kyle Larson also has painful memories of losses in Homestead. He smashed into the sand barrels guarding the pit road in 2023 and spun out while battling for the lead last fall. So Larson admittedly felt scared of a repeat of the same bad luck.
Larson confessed he was restless after leading for just 19 laps – contrary to his Cup record there. “On Sunday…me not leading any laps – I was getting kind of frustrated at that. Because I am used to leading most laps there. And I was not able to get to the front enough to lead those laps. So it was definitely difficult to overcome the mental frustration… with me being used to dominating there the whole time. But I think that’s what made it more rewarding to win that.”
Larson’s frustration is understandable. The HMS driver has led over 120 laps at the track on three different occasions. How many of those races did he win? Just one, in October 2022, when he led 199 laps and dominated both stages. So, when Larson realized he wasn’t leading many laps, the frustration of losing out at a track that favors him kicked in yet again. But this time he held his nerve and forced his teammate, Alex Bowman, into a mistake with under 10 laps to go to take the lead and get his first win of the season. Larson’s domination at Homestead also mirrors that of the host of the ‘Happy Hour’, Kevin Harvick, at Atlanta
