Billionaire Rick Hendrick’s HMS dominate Cup standings with top 3 sweep after Homestead race

Hendrick Motorsports has taken complete control of the NASCAR Cup Series standings. They now have the top three spots after Kyle Larson’s win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

A post on X by Jeff Gluck gave insight into how HMS drivers William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Alex Bowman now sit in the top three. The three NASCAR drivers who drive the No. 24, 5, and 48 Chevrolet for HMS are in the lead with 244, 208, and 205 points after the race at Miami Homestead Speedway. Jeff Gluck wrote about the top 8 positions in the standing currently.

This change in standings came after Kyle Larson won his 30th career Cup Series win at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In the final laps, Larson chased down his Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman, who had taken the lead with 33 laps to go. However, Bowman hit the wall in Turn 4, allowing Larson to pass and take the win by a margin of 1.205 seconds. This was Chevrolet’s third win in the last five Homestead races.

“It was far from perfect,” Larson admitted. “I got into the wall too many times, but I had to keep pushing. A lot of hard work went into this win.” (via USA today)

Bowman, who led 43 laps, was frustrated after finishing second. He shared,

“I choked that one away,” he said. “I burned up my tires and hit the fence too hard.” (via USA today)

Following close after the top three in NASCAR’s cup series standings are, Tyler Reddick from 23XI, Christopher Bell from Joe Gibbs Racing, and Chase Elliott, again from Hendrick Motorsports. The latter finished the race in 18th place.

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What happened between Kyle Larson and Sam Mayer at Homestead's Xfinity race?

Kyle Larson’s weekend could have gone even better. After winning the Truck Series race on Friday, he was on track to win in the Xfinity Series as well, which would have kept his hopes alive for a rare triple-header sweep. But a late-race incident with Sam Mayer cost him the win. Mayer took full responsibility for the mistake. In an interview with NBC Sports' Dustin Long, he shared,

“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 tried to get everything I could get, but it's obviously a bummer for both of us. ” (0:08 onwards)

Kyle Larson had built a 16-second lead after leading 132 laps, but a caution with 10 laps to go erased his advantage. On the final restart, Mayer made contact with the back of Larson’s No. 17 car, throwing off his acceleration. Larson dropped from first to fourth, ending his chances of winning. Larson finished fourth in the Xfinity race and came up just short of joining Kyle Busch as the only driver to sweep a triple-header weekend.