HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Larson had a 16-second lead with 10 laps to go. He didn’t win the race.
Second-place Sam Mayer was half a lap behind and only five cars were on the lead lap in the final laps. The NASCAR Xfinity Series field had effectively waved the white flag, and Larson looked to poised to score his second win of the weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway and keep the possibility of a weekend sweep alive.
That was until a spin by Taylor Gray with eight to go brought out the caution, and that brought the rest of the field right back to Larson and his dominant No. 17 machine for an overtime restart in Saturday’s (March 22) Xfinity race.
Larson was the control car on the final restart, but a botched and early push from Mayer knocked Larson’s car sideways, and that was all Austin Hill and Justin Allgaier needed to set sail and battle for the win themselves.
Clutch when it counted. pic.twitter.com/6noKkP83P7
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) March 22, 2025
Larson, after leading 132 laps and lapping up to the top five, had to settle for a disappointing fourth that ended his bid for a Homestead weekend sweep.
“Disappointed,” Larson said post-race. “I have been [in this position] probably seven or eight times or more, so I wish it would have stayed green. For some reason, nobody can keep [their cars] straight at the end of the races when I’m leading.”
As one could expect, Larson expressed his frustration with Mayer for the pushes that killed his momentum coming to the green flag.
“I thought we’d still have a good shot to win,” Larson said. “I think had I gotten a normal launch down the frontstretch, I would’ve been fine, but [Mayer] just ran right in the back of me.”
“… As soon as I was going to get to the throttle, he slammed me, and then he had [my car] just going all over the place. Just hard to help the guy in front of you on a track that’s just abrasive and this wore out. So obviously I’m mad at him, but I lost.”
Mayer, who recovered to finish second behind Allgaier, ultimately took the blame for the restart.
“I just wasn’t ready for him to not go and just mistimed it unfortunately,” Mayer explained. “Hit him so squarely, choked our entire lane up, let all those guys get going on the outside.
“… I haven’t mistimed a restart like that in a long time. And that’s why I’m so bummed out, because I know that for one, I ruined his race, because obviously he’s going for the sweep, and I took that away from him just by a silly mistake. I was trying to get everything I could get, but it’s obviously a bummer for both of us.”
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf