Kyle Larson took a very unconventional path to the Friday night's NASCAR Truck Series win at Homestead-Miami Speedway, causing the final caution before charging through the field to ultimately win the race. Already a winner at the 1.5-miler in both the Cup and Xfinity Series, he was hoping to add a Truck victory to the list this evening as he pursues an entire weekend sweep.
"Pretty unbelievable from my seat," Larson told FOX Sports after his 'spin-to-win.' "I wasn't exactly sure if I could get back up there. Didn't have the restart that I wanted. Kind of took a little bit too long to start picking them off and just got ripping the wall at both ends. I think it was really paying dividends in (Turn) 1 and 2 for me and staying wound up. I caught some of the guys that were doing just good enough up there where I couldn't get by them and bogged my momentum down. But got clear of them, then I'm not sure what happened to the #11 [Heim, whose truck kept shutting off at random] but that worked out in our favor for sure. I don't think I would have gotten to him. I would have gotten to second, probably, but it would have been tough to get to him. That last run was a lot of fun."
Looking ahead to the the possible weekend sweep, Larson said that he thought the Truck race would be "the toughest to win" due to his inexperience in the series and shorter race runs. "I feel better about Xfinity and Cup, but the competition just gets tougher and tougher as you get further into the weekend. We'll see, but off to a good start so we'll try."
Larson's road to victory and Heim's misfortune
The race featured a fantastic back-and-forth battle for the lead from start-to-finish, which we've come to expect from this popular multi-groove race track. Corey Heim, Ross Chastain and Layne Riggs all spent time out front, trading the lead with each other and Larson for much of the event.
But it was 45 laps to go when Larson's shot at the victory seemed to vanish. Trying to pull a slide on Riggs, Larson couldn't get clear and spun himself out after contacting his door. He was able to avoid any major damage, but a flat tire meant that he would restart outside the top 20 in the running order. The rest of the race went completely green, which forced him to pass most of the lead lap trucks the hard way.
While those watching were distracted by the three-way fight for the lead between Heim, Riggs and Chastain, Larson quietly made his march forward. And while he was blistering fast while running right against the outside wall, the victory was still unlikely ... until a bizarre bit of misfortune struck Heim.
Heim, who led a race-high of 78 laps, kept losing the lead because his truck's engine was cutting out intermittently. He was fast enough to quickly regain the lost ground, taking the lead from Chastain with just 12 laps to go and setting sail once more.
Larson wasn't going to be able to reach him, but that's when the issue appeared again with just five laps to go. Heim's 1.5-second lead vanished with Riggs now out front and Larson in hot pursuit. There was almost nothing he could do to defend against Larson, who was running over half-a-second per lap faster than the race leader.
Larson took the lead with two laps to go and never looked back, securing fourth career victory in the Truck Series while driving for Spire Motorsports. Riggs finished second, Heim third, Tyler Ankrum fourth and Daniel Hemric fifth. Chastain fell back to sixth with Jake Garcia, Chandler Smith, Grant Enfinger and Kaden Honeycutt rounding out the top ten.
