Kyle Larson's bid to sweep Homestead races ends in OT; Justin Allgaier scores Xfinity win
03/22/2025 07:52 PM
Kyle Larson's bid to sweep all three NASCAR races this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway ended on an overtime restart in an Xfinity Series race he dominated.
Larson's misfortune was Justin Allgaier's fortune, as Allgaier overcame a pit road penalty to score the win and claim the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize for a series-high sixth time. The victory also marked back-to-back Xfinity Series wins for Allgaier for the second time in his career.
MORE: Homestead results
MORE: Driver points
Larson had a 16-second lead with seven laps left when Taylor Gray spun on the frontstretch to send the race into overtime.
After pit stops, Larson, who won Friday night's Truck race, remained the leader. Sam Mayer was second. When it was time to choose lanes, Larson chose the inside lane and Mayer followed him instead of restarting on the outside lane on the front row.
Mayer said he had gotten poor restarts on the outside lane and didn't feel he would have a chance to win from that lane.
#NASCAR … Sam Mayer was 2nd before the final restart but chose to go behind Kyle Larson on the inside lane instead of taking the outside lane on the front row. He explains why … pic.twitter.com/kTPHfFKnNu
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) March 22, 2025
As the field came to take the green flag, Mayer ran into the back of Larson, disrupting Larson's restart and costing Larson a chance to win.
"He just lagged back and was trying to time it, I'm sure, to try to poke it three wide to my inside by the time I got to the line," Larson said of Mayer. "(He) lagged back and just slammed the (expletive) out of me and had my rear tires off the ground. Then I'm just going the whole frontstretch just spinning as he's still underneath me."
#NASCAR … Kyle Larson explaining how the contact from Sam Mayer on that overtime restart cost him a chance to stay in the lead pic.twitter.com/XF7UBmmc8s
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) March 22, 2025
Mayer explained what happened:
"I haven't mistimed a restart like that in a long time and that's why I'm so bummed out because, for one, I ruined his race because, obviously, he's going for the sweep and I took that away from just by a silly mistake."
#NASCAR … Sam Mayer on his contact with Kyle Larson on the overtime restart: "I haven't mistimed a restart like that in a long time … I ruined his race." pic.twitter.com/tafiOF2lNF
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) March 22, 2025
Mayer finished second to Allgaier. Austin Hill placed third. Larson, who led 132 of the 201 laps, was fourth. Sheldon Creed finished fifth.
Stage 1 winner: Sammy Smith
Stage 2 winner: Kyle Larson
Next: The series races at 5 p.m. ET Saturday, March 29 at Martinsville Speedway on the CW Network.
