Note that there are brush fires in South Florida within only a few miles of the track. As of this writing, the fires are only 30% contained. There will likely be smoke hovering over the track for the entire weekend at bare minimum. If the situation deteriorates, changes could be made to the
schedule.
Records and facts
Last year's Straight Talk Wireless 400 came down to what was supposed to be a duel between Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin was able to take the lead on the final restart from Reddick and sought to hold off
Blaney.
With two laps to go, Blaney made his move and was able to take the lead. Things were looking good for Blaney, especially as the battle allowed Reddick to catch back up to Hamlin for second. Reddick took second in turn 1 and got right on Blaney's tail.
In turn 3 on the final
lap, Reddick stuck to the outside line and swept around to take the win and the victory. Since the race was in October last year, that victory locked Reddick into the Championship 4.
Reddick won by .241 seconds over Blaney. Hamlin was third, then Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott.
Denny Hamlin is the winningest active driver at Homestead. He won the season finales in 2009 and 2013, along with the swelteringly hot 2020 race held in June. Kyle Busch is the only other active driver with multiple victories. Busch's wins were in 2015 and 2019 to claim his two titles. Six other active drivers have a single victory each.
All-time, Hamlin, Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart each have the
most victories all-time at Homestead-Miami Speedway with three. Busch and Carl Edwards each have two.
Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 1.5-mile oval, 267 laps (400.5 miles)
Banking: 18-20
degrees
Straightaways: 1,760 ft., banked 4 degrees
Grandstand Seating: 46,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 50 mph
Opened: 1995 (first Cup race in 1999)
Website: http://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HomesteadMiamiSpeedway
Twitter: http://twitter.com/HomesteadMiami
Pre-Race Schedule:
Practice: Saturday, March 22, 1:05 - 2 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video
Qualifying: Saturday, March 22 at 2:10 p.m. ET
on Amazon Prime Video
Say What?!
"I look forward to returning to Homestead-Miami Speedway. It’s my favorite track that we race at. Homestead-Miami Speedway is a driver’s racetrack. It’s so much fun to run right up against the fence. You have to be disciplined in
how you drive and save your tires. It’s a track that’s been good for me in my career winning a NASCAR Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship. The Miami atmosphere is just one of the things I love about this time of year. There is nice weather, and fans always show up to support NASCAR racing. I can’t wait to get on track in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet." - Austin Dillon
"Homestead it's still one of those racetracks you go to where tires fall off, you slip and slide around, and you work really hard as a driver all race all day long. You have a lot of options, you can run the bottom, run the top or run the top to the bottom. So, you can find where your car works best, you can find clean air, and it's just one of those tracks that you just drive all day long and it's a lot of fun." - Michael
McDowell
"Homestead is a place I look forward to going to every year. I love being able to have options of where to run on the race track, whether that is on the bottom, or in the middle or around the fence. I really enjoy being able to run the fence primarily at Homestead, but it can also reach out and bite you. I think that the No. 43 has had really good speed in
qualifying the last couple of weeks so that is something that the No. 42 Pye-Barker team and myself have to look at to get better, but all in all, we’ve been able to race halfway decent. I think that there are some key learnings from Vegas in a mile and a half program that we can implement going into this weekend to try and make our cars better. Also racing under the sun definitely makes Homestead slick, I feel like temperatures are going to be a little bit cooler than they have been in the past
when we’ve been down there so that could play a factor in it as well." - John Hunter Nemechek
"I always enjoy going to Homestead. Ripping the fence is such an awesome feeling, and I have had some success there in the Truck Series with a second-place in 2022. Hopefully, we can recreate that success with a solid run this weekend." - Zane
Smith
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography.
