From a NASCAR Fan’s View
The Cup teams take on the Homestead-Miami Speedway today and it should prove to be one of the more interesting races in this early 2025 NASCAR Cup season. For a change this weekend, there doesn’t seem to be a dominate manufacturer. In weeks past, the Fords have shown up with good speed and then not tended to perform all that well in the final laps. The Chevys have generally run good and shown they have the speed only to be silenced for the victory by the three wins by Christopher Bell. He has stolen the headlines with his quest for multiple wins to start off the season only to fall sort last weekend to Josh Berry and the Wood Brothers Ford.
Taking a quick look at the qualifying tells the story of every make having a chance at winning this one and all three makes show up with regularity in the top twenty plus starting positions. Even the speeds are close and less than four tenths of a second separate the top twenty-three qualifiers. These days, that may not seem like much when compared to each other but, it can add up to a lot when it happens with consistency which is one reason this fan doesn’t put a lot of stock in qualifying when it comes down to the final laps of race.
The pole winner, Alex Bowman, has been relatively consistent so far this season even though his finishes haven’t necessarily shown any particular dominance so far. He does sit fifth in points in this early part of the 2025 season. In fact, all four of the Hendrick teams sit in the top six of the points for the season so far. William Byron is the points leader so far but is closely followed by Christopher Bell. I do find that at least the slightest bit fascinating since Bell has three wins and Byron only has one. Byron has the stage points and that’s the biggest factor in the points lead.
Kyle Larson has had a rough start to the season but has still managed to move up into the sixth spot in points. It actually looked as though he a good chance at fulfilling his hope for the sweep at Homestead. He won the craftsman Truck series race and looked to be on track to win the Xfinity race until a very late race caution didn’t work out in his favor. He was leading by about sixteen seconds when the caution came out which removed all that advantage. He looked as though he was going to win but that caution changed his possible win to a fourth-place finish. That’s kind of how the year has gone for him. Not that he has completely lost out but he could have been in a better position had things gone just a little bit differently in the first races of this season.
I only bring all that up because he is one of the favorites every time the Cup teams show up to Homestead. He is not alone today as there are several wall huggers quite capable of running with him. The usual names are Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Willaim Byron and Bubba Wallace. Any one of these drivers could take it to Victory Lane today and it wouldn’t be all that much of a surprise. That’s one of the reasons why I think this could be a very interesting race and why I’m not exactly sure how it’s going to go. It would be easy IF these drivers I just mentioned were the only ones with a chance to win. But they’re not.
There are a bunch of drivers that are capable of winning this one at Homestead and more than a few that need and want to. Some of them need a win to turn around a relatively humdrum start to their 2025 season. Take last week’s winner, Josh Berry, for example. Not many expected Him to win but circumstances made it so. There are those that just haven’t been able to catch a break so far but they enter today’s race with renewed determination to change how their season is going. Names that come quickly to mind are Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and a host of others.
So, the question that comes to my mind for today’s race is will it be one of the favorites that takes the Trip To Victory Lane or will it be someone unexpected. You know, someone like Chase Briscoe, Kyle Bush, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain or a host of others. I assure you, I don’t know but I am sure of this one thing. The one that wins today is going to have to work for it and survive till the end…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© March 23, 2025 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
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